The Circus is Coming to Town
Yoyo the Clown |
Dramatic elements of the live theater and the joy and exuberance of a circus performance are combined by Circus Flora, a one-ring European-style circus which will offer three days of shows next week on Nantucket.
For 20 years this St. Louis-based company has enchanted audiences with stories of beauty and mystery by skillfully weaving together animal and human acts, complete with captivating costumes and set pieces and accompanied by live music.
This year’s show is called “Marrakesh” and is inspired by the Charlie Chan detective stories. The elephant Dondi gets the starring role and will play the famous globetrotting detective who spends the show investigating an international crime.
On Nantucket, Circus Flora performances include an Opening Night Gala Under The Big Top on Friday evening, July 27 with dinner, a live auction and a circus performance followed by dessert and dancing to music by Entrain.
The fun continues on Saturday, July 28 and Sunday, July 29 with 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. circus performances each day, as well as a 5 p.m. Seaside
Katya |
Barbeque dinner on Saturday, July 28. All performances and festivities will be held at Tom Nevers Field. Tickets are on sale at www.nantucketatheneum.org and at the Atheneum’s box office in the garden at 1 India Street. Circus tickets are $15 for children, $35 for adults, and $75 for box seats. Tickets to the barbecue are $30 for adults and $15 for children.
Animals always have had a major role in Circus Flora, and Circus Founder Ivor David Balding says they are considered full-fledged members of the circus family. This year’s performance includes eight horses, three ponies, a donkey, one goat, one rooster, a dog named Bonzer, and Dondi, a 33-year-old Asian elephant who joined the Circus Flora family of performers this year.
Balding’s love of animals is clear. “One of the main elements of classical circus is performing animals. The presentation of animals in a loving, non-exploitive manner is a statement of both the importance and the possibility of significant interspecies communication. Circus without animals to me is a contradiction in terms.” he said.
The Flying Wallendas |
Circus Flora is named after an elephant. Flora, with Balding as his trainer, performed with the circus for 15 years and retired to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee in 2000. Dondi will be the first elephant in a circus production since Flora’s retirement.
Dondi has been a part of Phil and Francine Schacht’s family for 32 years. Phil Schacht is an elephant trainer and his 20 year old son Joshua performs with Dondi. The circus family travels to performances with a custom-designed, semi-tractor trailer truck for Dondi and an Airstream trailer for the family members. Caring for the 8,000-pound elephant involves everyone, since she drinks about 20 gallons of water an hour and eats three to four bales of hay and 50 pounds of grains, fruits, and vegetables a day.
The Circus Flora human performers are equally as amazing as their animal counterparts. This year’s show brings back many of the characters Nantucket audiences have come to love in three years of circus performances. Nino The Clown, played by Giovanni Zoppe, will play the Dondi the Detective’s number one son. Other favorites returning are: Yo-Yo, played by Cecil MacKinnon; equestrian star Katja Shumann; the world-famous high wire act The Flying Wallendas; The Flying Pages, with their awe-inspiring trapeze artistry; and Sasha Alexandre Nevidonski, who combines equestrian and aerial stunts.
St. Louis Arches. Photo by Jeane Vogel Photography
New performers this year will be: Alesya Gulevich, “The Human Slinky,” who dances with 50 hula hoops; horseback ballerina Tosca Zoppe; and Andrew Adams and Erika Gilfether, who perform aerial feats of magic, using straps and partner acrobalance.
For details about Circus Flora, visit www.circusflora.org. For more information about The Nantucket Atheneum, visit www.nantucketatheneum.org.
