Surrey's annual performing arts festival for kids will bring family-friendly circus, music and theatre shows to Surrey Arts Centre for a weekend, May 23-25.
Tickets are sold for Surrey SPARK Stages, a collection of performances for tweens, toddlers and babies presented by Surrey Civic Theatres.
For 2025, the five featured shows are A Simple Space (by Australia's Gravity and Other Myths circus company), Braided Spirits (an upbeat mix of DJ music, singing and Indigenous traditional dance), Ginalina Joins the Circus (showcasing Juno-nominated Ginalina and musical pals), I Wish I Was a Mountain (by Toby Thompson of Theatre Royal Bath in the U.K.) and Whipped Up! (called "a hilarious one-of-a-kind performance where babies are the customers and caregivers are along for the ride at Tiny’s Diner").
Ranging from $19 to $25 on tickets.surrey.ca, show tickets include drop-in activities including hoop dancing with Notorious Cree (aka Northern Alberta's dynamic James Jones, also featured in Braided Spirits), circus art with Circus Lab, puppet play and artmaking.
While SPARK Stages shows on Saturday and Sunday (May 24-25) are for everyone, the performances on Friday, May 23 are reserved for Surrey school students to attend as part of the festival's Make a Memory program. Working with the Surrey School District to identify schools in need, SPARK partners with local businesses to subsidize classroom tickets to performances.
Whipped Up! is stimulating for tiny audience members and hilarious for parents/adults, according to Jill Rogati, who created and performs the interactive show for U.K.-based Soap & Rope Theatre.
"The impetus for developing this piece came from my experience as a new mother," Rogati wrote in an email to the Now-Leader. "To counter the isolation that comes with caring for an infant, I relied on the Baby and Me movie showings at Cinema Salem. This setting provided a rare public place that welcomed my crying, pooping, nursing baby, while I engaged my adult brain with some art. Our hope is to create a similar space for babies and their caregivers."
The half-hour show, performed six times during the three-day festival, is for only babies (0 to two years) and their caregivers/buddies (ages 6+). "We ask that ages 3-5 years old not attend," Rogati added.
Recommended for kids five years and up, A Simple Space is a circus show involving seven acrobats backed by the beat of a live percussionist. "You'll hear every heaving breath and be immersed in each gravity-defying moment," promises a post on surrey.ca/spark. "Don't miss this inspiring display of strength, skill, and creativity." Check out the video on gravityandothermyths.com.
Kids aged 7+ should enjoy I Wish I Was a Mountain, Toby Thompson's re-telling of Hermann Hesse’s short fairy tale, Faldum. "This is beautiful storytelling, full of wit and wonder as it asks some thoughtful questions to ponder," according to a post on the festival website. "Do we really need the things that we want? What do mountains feel? How did time begin? Adults are kindly asked to leave all answers to these questions at the door. Children, please come as you are!"
Meantime, Juno Award-nominated Ginalina returns to Surrey with her musical circus, a hands-on show that invites everybody to join in through dancing, singing, juggling, hula hoop and wonder.
