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Circus Flora spreads circus tradition through outreach
(by Matt Blickenstaff - May 27, 2009)
As Circus Flora returns to Grand Center for its 23rd season, it brings with it not only a talented cast of two- and four-legged performers, but a unique spirit of tradition, simple wonders and philanthropy.
Ivor David Balding, co-founder, artistic director and producer of Circus Flora, knew from the outset he wanted to create a show vastly different from the commercial three-ring operations he had formerly worked for.
“At best, they were three-ring spectacles, and at the worst they were boredom,” Balding said. “I really wanted a circus that was going to concentrate on performance and art, not selling popcorn.”
Balding, with founding members Shelia and Sam Jewell and Alexandre Sacha Pavlata, established Circus Flora as a not-for-profit organization in 1987. Since then accessibility has been one of the cornerstones of the one-ring show. Today, tickets run as little as $8 and no seat is farther than 42 feet from the action.
“Ringling is trying to be affordable in the big arenas but then you’re so far away you can’t see anything,” Balding said. “In the front row at Circus Flora you can touch the horses, but I don’t want you to.”
The audience’s closeness to the performers engenders a certain connectedness, said Katherine Nevidonski, company manager for Circus Flora.
“You literally see the sweat pouring off the performers’ faces and their muscles straining,” Nevidonski said. “There’s that one-on-one eye contact with the performers.”
These connections are not limited simply to the artists and the audience, said Flora’s Executive Producer Joel Emory — the circus brings families together too.
“Too much of the time, people get home from work or from school, they sit down in front of the TV and bask in the glow of the cathode ray tube,” Emory said. “Circus Flora gives families an opportunity to do something together and engage in something, a real human experience.”
Since 1987, Circus Flora has teamed up with area schools and charitable organizations to provide this chance for family bonding as part of its Share the Circus program, donating tickets to underprivileged families across St. Louis. In 2008 more than 3,500 children came to see the show free of charge.
“David wanted the circus to be family-oriented and directed towards family entertainment and I think a big part of that includes reaching out into the community,” Nevidonski said.
Share the Circus is just one outreach program sponsored by Circus Flora. The circus offers two weeklong camps where underserved kids come to learn basic circus skills like tumbling, juggling and wire walking. For its eighth year the Community Circus Camp has teamed up with Craft Alliance to offer visual arts alongside circus acts to the 30 student classes starting on June 8.
“Learning how to juggle, that’s something these kids can be proud of,” Emory said. “I genuinely believe that sort of experience and that success has an impact on the kids’ lives.”
Last year, Circus Flora worked with Epworth Children and Family Services and traveled to local residential facilities to teach displaced kids the tricks of the circus trade. The bi-weekly classes culminated with an exhibition under the big top where the children could show off their skills. It’s through outreach and education that Circus Flora spreads the circus tradition.
“I think it’s important art forms maintain and perpetuate the traditions from which they came,” Balding said. “Nowhere is that more self evident than with the Ianna Spirit Riders.”
For four years, Circus Flora’s Ianna Spirit Riders program has trained young students in the ancient art of vaulting, balancing and dancing on the backs of cantering horses
Jennifer Murphy-Buck, the program’s director, runs the students and horses through the steps at Three Creek Farm in Weldon Springs, surrounded by the farm’s menagerie of goats, dogs and screeching peacocks. As the horses lope around a 42-foot hay mockup of the circus ring, riders Rosie Eastman and Lemond Carmickle nimbly hop onto the massive creatures and balance precariously before flipping off.
This valuable training comes at no cost to the students beyond a little work caring for the horses and some tough physical exercise. Many of the students became involved with the program through Circus Harmony, an area youth outreach circus, and come from diverse social backrounds.
“They learn to take care of each other,” Murphy-Buck said. “Over the time they’ve spent together they’ve come to be a team, which has been really cool to watch.”
• The Ianna Spirit Riders can be seen performing with Circus Flora on June 4 at a “Peanut Free Preview” for children with severe nut allergies and throughout the season from June 5 through 21 in Grand Center at the corner of Grand Boulevard and Sam Shepard Drive. Tickets are available at all Metrotix outlets, by phone at 534-1111 and online at www.metrotix.com.
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