The coronavirus pandemic has made summer activities pretty scarce for kids. Getting together for the usual summer camps alongside other programming that would normally entertain kids – while giving parents a break and a place to send the young ones – is currently off the table. Virtual programming being offered does serve up a small respite to the mundane new normal that has encapsulated everyday life, but it is just not on par with the usual outlets.
To add a little something special into the mix, Kitchener-based Jesse Garth Reimer-Watts is offering to take his expertise in circus arts education to your backyard, giving kids the chance to learn a fun new hobby – and parents some much needed downtime. Coming to your home while following all social distancing protocols, Reimer-Watts will bring his circus kit and teach skills to eager young students.
Before the pandemic hit, Reimer-Watts was on track to owning the Ninja Warrior Factory in Kitchener, however, it was forced to close and set him adrift. He began looking for ways to continue to pursue his goal of reaching as many people as possible through his work and eventually came upon an idea that led him down this current avenue. He did not want to fall off the deep end after losing his former job and came up with this new idea after reaching out to some former students.
“I just got in touch with some old students that we had a good rapport [with] and everything and I offered to show up in their backyard to follow all the COVID protocols and everything but to keep it going, and some of them took me up on the offer,” said Reimer-Watts.“I’ve just been doing it kind of casual just to keep my myself and some people just in more of a steady routine in life. I really want to help the world in a general sense, be a better place to live, more compassionate, and understanding and creative and all sorts of things. I find a lot of fulfillment in working with kids and helping them to learn [to] become well-rounded individuals [and] learn how to engage with their own learning… I just really find a lot of fulfillment and offering an environment where people get to explore in ways that they’re maybe not used to, to discover different sides of themselves that they’ve been out of touch with, and stuff like that.”
Working as a performer in the circus arts for many years learning at places like Atlantic Cirque, he stayed on the career path for about a decade before deciding that his heart was in teaching the skills he had learned to others. What he teaches has infinite skills to master, he says, noting you could “spend many lifetimes and probably only scratch the surface.”
Each session he will teach kids new skills like obstacle course training, juggling, acrobatics, strength training and more. The basics are physical skills that can be translated to other activities.
He says this is something he would happily grow into a business, but it is not something he wants to do alone. He is also looking at learning skills in the field of magic.
To contact Reimer-Watts, email him at jessereimerwatts@gmail.com or call 519-829-8877.
