Troubled youths flip for Cirque class

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Friday, March 12, 2004 | 4:30 a.m.

Starting at age 11 Darrin had a singular hobby -- breaking into houses.

"I normally would go into vacant houses, see what's in there ... and find some good stuff," he said recently in an interview from Spring Mountain Youth Camp -- a facility for juveniles with felony rap sheets where he's been since November, after getting caught committing a burglary.

As of seven weeks ago, however -- at least during one afternoon a week -- Darrin, now 15, has a new hobby: juggling, stilt-walking and tumbling.

The baby-faced former burglar says he has learned to trust and communicate better with the other 14 felons during the circus arts class, offered by an offshoot of Cirque du Soleil called Cirque du Monde.

Darrin also said he may even look into performing as a career. "It could give you something to do on the outs," he said, using inmate slang for the outside world.

The Las Vegas Cirque du Monde class is one of 34 similar classes worldwide, ranging from Rio de Janeiro to the Australian outback.

Formed in 1993 Cirque du Monde has taught thousands of youths "in a climate of trust and understanding," said Esther Gagne, assistant director for social affairs and international cooperative development for the program.

Locally, the class is part of an Artists in Residence program set up in partnership with Las Vegas Leisure Services. It lasts eight weeks, with a performance the final week.

The idea behind the program is to use the arts to help rehabilitate 12- to 18-year-olds who often bear long criminal histories before they're old enough to vote or see an R-rated movie.

In its small way, the class could be considered as part of a debate gathering steam statewide about the growing number of juveniles under 18 being sent to prison.

The question asked by many in and out of courts is whether more teens should be kept in the juvenile system -- where programs such as the Cirque du Monde's, together with schooling and counseling, may offer more chances of rehabilitation.

On a recent Tuesday, while wind whirled snow around the camp outside -- home to about 100 youths -- the camp's gym was the site of a human pyramid, followed by stilts and juggling. The 15 youths in the gym were there because they expressed interest in the program.

Dave DeDera, a former clown for Ringling Bros. and a 16-year veteran of programs using circus skills to help young people on the fringes of society, said the Spring Mountain group had advanced greatly in its first five weeks of work.

"Kids like this ... don't have a lot of structure or discipline," he said.

The program "also brings in a little self-esteem, a sense of accomplishment in their lives.

"And it teaches teamwork, since they tend to be loners ... At first they were standoffish and didn't want to talk to each other.

"Now they know that to open up doesn't mean someone's going to smack 'em."

Justin, 17, knows about being smacked -- and even shot at.

The tall, well-spoken teen said he had been in gangs as long he remembers, just like his parents, as well his one of his three brothers, who was killed when he was shot in the head two years ago.

Justin was in a shoot-out between gangs last year. He and five friends exchanged bullets with a carload of rival gang members while stopped at a red light. He said no one got hurt, but when he left the car and ran, the police soon caught up with him, resulting in felony gun and assault and battery charges.

He said the Cirque du Monde program helped him work with the others in the group, most of whom were from different -- though not rival -- gangs.

"It helps me ... to not just have my own opinion and ... get acquainted with other people's insides," he said.

Justin said he was glad he was tried in the juvenile system and not as an adult.

He was well aware of the conditions placed on his sentence. "If I mess up here, I don't get a second chance," he said.

"Next time I get caught, I go to the adult system."

Justin said prison "turns you into a savage ... your home is an institution and you commit a crime just to go back again."

He wishes the class was "more hours, more days -- there's not enough time to learn all this."

Luis, 16, who was sent to Spring Mountain on battery charges, said time is important when your freedom is taken away.

The class, he said, "gives me time to think."

In his years teaching from Vermont to California, DeDera said he has seen teens with criminal records choose the circus as a career after participating in programs like Cirque du Monde's.

"This is an outlet ... but it's also a way to earn a living -- and there's nothing better than working at what you love," DeDera said.

He said he thinks some sort of follow-up program with teens after they get out of Spring Mountain would extend the class' benefits and give its students more opportunities to develop themselves as people.

"It's hard to stress ... to the powers that be ... and for them to see it as something important," he said.

"People might just see the beginning and end of the class -- but it's the process that's important."