What a challenging year 2020 was and what a strange year 2021 is starting to be! When we closed our circus ring at City Museum on March 16 we had no idea how the rest of the year would develop from the spreading of the pandemic, the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, the accountability of the presidential election, and the insanity of the insurrection.
Through it all, we kept going. At first, Circus Harmony only offered classes and shows online. In the summer, we started doing some things outside, masked and socially distanced. We created our most moving show ever, The Balancing Act: Walking the Pandemic TIghtrope. This fall we began micro-classes- no more than three people- in our City Museum ring. We partnered online the Circus Circuli in Germany to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Stuttgart and St. Louis being sister cities in Sister City Circus. This winter we started rehearsing acts again- still masked and socially distanced. Our next online show will be The Cooking Show and Cookbook– an actual cookbook with each recipe paired with a circus act. We plan to release it on March 16. The one year anniversary of our lockdown. Wait? What? A youth circus creating a cookbook? Another unexpected aspect of these unprecedented times.
Our alumni who have been performing around the world have all been in different situations. Claire Wallenda is sheltering in place with her Wallenda family in Florida. Terrance Robinson and Melvin Diggs were in Moscow with Cirque du Soleil when the virus hit the world and made it back to the States and Canada. Kellin Quinn was in St. Louis and was able to perform in the fall with Book Kennison as part of Midnight Circus- which ditched their tent and performed outside in Chicago Parks. Kellin has also gone online and built a following on his YouTube channel and started a clothing line. Elliana Hentoff-Killian and Cecilia Boyers have been helping to keep Circus Harmony running in St. Louis online, outside and with micro classes. Kyran Walton and Oliver Layher left Ecole Nationale de Cirque, a circus college in Montreal in March and sheltered in St. Louis where they started teaching outside for Circus Harmony. When they went back to circus college in Canada, they continued teaching for us online. Keaton Hentoff-Killian has been part of Circa Contemporary Circus in Australia. They were touring France when the pandemic started and he was able to get back to that island nation right before it closed its borders. Australia’s austere CoVid measures have meant that Keaton and Circa have been able to rehearse and perform in Australia.
Sidney Iking Bateman had made his move from the circus ring to the wrestling ring in January, after he caught the eye of the folks at WWE during a publicity stunt that partnered circus performers and wrestlers. While Cirque du Soleil shut down, wrestling was considered an ‘essential service’ in Florida. WWE NEXT gave him the wrestling name of Akeem Young. Sidney Iking had already started posting his life story and a hard-to-watch video poem, “We Matter” about growing up Black in America. Then they started using him as a sommelier with WWE’s Carmella. Someone at WWE thought Reginald was a better name for a sommelier and he became Reginald Thomas- Reggie for short. For those of us who believe such things, it seems to me that our late, wonderful Reggie Moore may have had an angelic hand in this new opportunity. Carmella’s rival, Sasha Banks- who was recently seen on The Mandalorian- challenged ‘Reginald’ to a match. So it came to be that Sidney ‘Iking’ Bateman aka Akeem Young aka Reginald Thomas made his national primetime television debut on WWE Smackdown on January 22, 2021. This Sasha Vs Reginald video has 1,236,948, as of this writing on January 24.
Sidney Iking trained with Circus Harmony for 7 years and then at Ecole Nationale de Cirque for another 3. You can see his acrobatic ease in this fight. If you look at the comments on the YouTube video, people were certainly impressed with his moves (and also that he spoke French- which he learned at circus college in Montreal).” He’s always loved WWE. He did great things in circus- toured the world with Les 7 Doigts de la Main and their phenomenal show, Cuisine and Confessions. He toured the world again with Cirque du Soleil’s Luzia. When I asked him about becoming a wrestler, his reply was, “ I’m still flipping! I’m still entertaining. It’s just a square ring”
More importantly, Sidney Iking also posted this on his Facebook page: “I am so beyond blessed, I can’t say it enough! I’ve realized awhile back that it’s much bigger than me. It’s about inspiring the youth, giving back, helping kids see the bigger picture and the endless possibilities in life. It’s my job to wrestle, do circus, real estate investing..but it’s my DUTY to pass on all the lessons I’ve learned along the way. I found my purpose in life a long time ago and it’s really nothing to do with me but more about what I can do for a bunch of people. Changing a culture, the mindset of a group of kids that have very little hope. I’m walking this path for every person around the world who may be afraid to do so. Be the light the people need you to be.” And being part of the WWE gives him a platform he could not have found in the circus. “
Any teacher or parent knows, deep down, that no matter what you think is best, every child has their own path and they need to find it and walk it themselves. In the end, what we really want is for our children to be happy and successful. Faye Alexander passed his lessons on to Warren Bacon who shared his knowledge with me and then I started Circus Harmony which was able to provide a path for Sidney Iking Bateman who has taken the torch and is blazing his own trail! (Mixed metaphor intended.) My own biological children don’t believe I am watching WWE. I can’t believe that myself and Circus Harmony were in a video about the WWE: The Truth About WWE’s Reginald (Carmella’s Assistant), which itself has over 100,000 views.
This has been a crazy 10 months and everything has been unpredictable, different, and downright crazy. But in some cases, like this one, that can be a good thing! Professional wrestling uses the term ‘kayfabe’. It means presenting staged performances as genuine or authentic. That seems to describe this year in politics. It is hard, these days, to tell what is fake and what is real, what is staged and what natural. At a time in history when reality seems like a movie script that no one would believe, maybe a youth circus performer turned wrestling star is just the person to tell the truth.
You can follow Sidney Iking on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
You can help the next flying child find their path by donating to Circus Harmony. One of the options is the Reggie Moore Scholarship Fund .