Did you ever want to be in the circus, swinging around on ropes and juggling? The UC Davis Mondavi Center is hosting three free workshops Feb. 5 where families are invited to learn some basic circus skills.

“They’ll learn to climb a rope, hang from a rope and do aerial work,” said 32-year-old master’s student Kevin O’Connor, who is one of two artists who will teach the workshops. “There will be juggling, too.”

O’Connor is using the workshop as a way to explore how the Mondavi Center can be used to bring people in for creative energy that can then be returned to the outside community, a part of his master’s coursework.

Other skills taught in the workshop will include making human pyramids. O’Connor said there is no risk of high falls, as none of the platforms are more than 1 foot off the ground, and all ages are welcome.

“It’s great if you wear two layers of clothing, mainly to protect your skin from the friction of the ropes,” he added.

O’Connor graduated from the three-year circus program of the École Nationale de Cirque in Montreal – the national circus school that spawned Cirque de Soleil.

Each workshop will be 90 minutes long, and the first one kicks off at 10 a.m. Reservations can be made by emailing ucdavisdance@gmail.com, and class sizes are limited. No more than seven people can be included on one email reservation.

Janice Bisgaard, spokeswoman for UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance, said the the event is the kickoff for the Institute for Exploration in Theatre, Dance and Performance.

The new institute is set up to allow research to be conducted on campus and with direct interaction with the campus community, as well as allow more interaction between the students and performers who make up the Department of Theatre & Dance.

“We’re really excited at the responses we’ve had among the greater community for the workshops,” she said. “It’s a wonderful way to be kicking off our new institute.”

The workshops will be held at the Mondavi Center’s Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, located at One Shields Ave. in Davis.