BIDDEFORD — For Amity Stoddard and Sellam El Ouahabi, the circus is coming to town and that happens to be Biddeford.

The couple is opening the Sellam Circus School inside the Pepperell Mill in September and to kick things off in the city, they are launching the first-ever summer circus arts day camp in Biddeford’s Rotary Park running from Monday, July 2 through July 13 at Rotary Park, 550 Main St. in Biddeford.

Offered inside a huge red-and-white striped big-top tent as part of its Maine Coast Summer Circus Arts program, the camp aims to introduce children and adults to ongoing programs provided by the circus school.

Stoddard said that the new facility will run year-round and offers after-school classes in circus arts, as well as a semester-based, competitive-entry Professional Circus Arts Training  program.

“The School will host a Sneak Preview Party from noon to 5 p.m. July 7  in the Pepperell Mill, at 40 Main St., Building 13, Suite 135,” Stoddard said.  “Come get a glimpse of the space, learn about upcoming classes and events, and sign up.”

Bringing the circus arts to southern Maine has been a dream of the couple who met while performing for Circus Smirkus in Vermont.

Stoddard is from Warren, Maine and joined the circus later in life at the age of 30, but says she had been trying to find her way into the circus since she was a little girl.

“I was born and raised in Warren, Maine, just outside of Camden. Sellam and I met at Circus Smirkus, in 2010,” Stoddard said. “I had worked at Smirkus from 2003 to 2005, and then I left to return to grad school. I was studying architecture at the Boston Architectural Center, when I had the opportunity to work for Big Apple Circus.”

She left school and worked at Big Apple for a few years, and then decided to work in Manhattan, changing hats again.

“I worked for a British design firm on Wall Street. I ate my lunch every day on the steps of the New York Stock Exchange. It was great fun, but I missed the circus,” Stoddard said. “The driving, the long grass, the sound of the tent going up, the band, all of it. So I left New York and went back to Circus Smirkus in 2010 to cook for the summer, and that’s when I met Sellam.”

The couple was married a year later and as El Ouahabi’s performing career was winding up, he chose to teach new generations and pass on circus knowledge he’s acquired through the years.

“My friends and I in the circus, we became what we call a world community,” El Ouahabi said. “That is the circus. It is a world community. I met so many people, learned many languages, and so much of what I gained was more than tricks. It was a way of life.”

El Ouahabi began his career at age 13 as a member of the Hassani acrobatic troupe in Tangier, Morocco. He later performed with the famous Ben Karim Troupe and became a solo circus artist at 19.

For more than 30 years, he thrilled circus crowds with an array of acts, including acrobatics, human pyramids, hand balance, aerial straps, trapeze, the Wheel Of Death, aerial silks, hand-to-hand and adagio while traveling extensively in Europe, South America and Asia performing with 26 different circuses.

“I started in Morocco with friends, just playing around at first. I was born in Tangier, I grew up in Kasbah — the heart of the city, the oldest part of the city. Most people don’t know about Morocco, and its history of acrobatics,” El Ouahabi said.

According to El Ouahabi, the Moroccan acrobatic style is very distinct, coming from the side using side somersaults, called Arabians; side aerials — not gymnastics style, but much higher than gymnastics, over the head; and something else they call tinsica, which is like a front walkover, but again, from the side.

“In Morocco, tumbling is centuries old,” he said. “We were the first to create the human pyramid. The acrobats train on the sand beaches, if you can imagine how hard that is. The human pyramid was created for times of war: It’s a lookout tower — a way to get up high and be able to see your enemy coming.”

The two weeks of circus arts day camp at Biddeford’s Rotary Park are open to students from ages 8 to 18 and is structured as a day camp. Each session will run Monday through Friday with camp opening at 9 a.m. and ending at 3 p.m.

El Ouahabi said campers will have the chance to learn juggling, partner acrobatics, trapeze, aerial silks and other circus skills.

“The Sellam Circus School is offering a built-in discount for the Biddeford camp, in order to celebrate their inaugural year in their hometown,” he said. ” Each camp week costs $300 and students are welcome to sign up for both camps or just one. In addition, there is a 10 percent Circus Family discount, for siblings that would like to attend the camp together and a Circus Friends discount that gives $25 off to kids who get two of their friends to sign up.

“Circus is not just for those who want to be a performer; it’s for every person, every walk of life, every age,” El Ouahabi said. “It’s about creating what I call connection – a connection between your own mind and body, and a connection to those around you. Circus has always been about bringing people together to celebrate their unique gifts, and at the same time, to find common ground.”

For more information about the Sellam Circus School or the circus camp, visit www.thesellamcircus.com.

— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be reached at 282-1535 ext. 326 or by email at [email protected]