Note: this photo was pre-pandemic. For now and the foreseeable future both performers and audiences will be masked.
For the first time, since March 16, 2020, we will be presenting shows in our circus ring at City Museum. The first one is November 22. Our performance troupe, the St. Louis Arches, just finished a sSuccessful run under the big top with Circus Flora. You can see the act here. Our alumni are opening circus shows around the globe. Melvin Diggs opened with Les 7 Doigts de la Main’s Dear San Francisco at Club Fugazi. November 9, Keaton Hentoff-Killian opens Humans 2.0 in Brisbane, Australia with Circa Contemporary Circus.Terrence Robinson returns to Royal Albert Hall in London to open Luzia with Cirque du Soleil. One alumni who has not stopped performing the whole pandemic is Sidney ‘Iking’ Bateman a.k.a. Reggie. Wrestling was considered ‘essential’ in Florida and he has been working all this time. He’s taking his circus skills from the round ring to the square ring. His grand entrance features a trick he did Circus Harmony since he was 14 and has garnered over 85 million TikTok views.
Many of our alumni and students have been working all this time as teachers, electricians, and other jobs that have kept the world going since we shut our City Museum ring down on March 16, 2020. It was a big step when we went from not being able to see each other at all to performing outside and practicing outside and socially distanced. Our teachers getting vaccinated was a huge step and relief.
We cautiously started having small classes inside totally masked,socially distanced, and religiously disinfecting everything. We were very excited when we were able to work together and touch each other in human pyramids, which is what a lot of our work is built on- pun unintended. Our older students getting vaccinated was another step forward. We now look forward to even younger students being vaccinated.
Our first show for a large audience was in June, for the Circus Flora’s St. Lou Revue, which was thrilling. We were then excited to create a one hour show for Cardinals Care at Stifel Theatre. We’ve been doing outside shows at a variety of events for months now. Live, indoors performances coming back is what makes it feel like the world is opening again.
Our performance troupe wears masks even when performing their very physically demanding shows to protect their youngest members, who have not yet been vaccinated (but hopefully will, soon.) We also require masking from everybody who enters our circus school space at City Museum. This will be true for our audiences, as well.
Going forward, we will now include video in many of our major works. We did find it was a great way to reach a larger audience. (You can see some of our pandemic projects on our Youtube page: The Balancing Act, Sister City Circus, and Circus Harmony Interactive Cookbook. Our newest project, Architecture and Acrobats, is built around both live and video performance. But Circus is meant to be seen live and we are overjoyed to be performing live again.
Usually, the public does not see what goes into the eight minute act or the full show that they see. Still, the reason many of our performers and student performers put all the time into training, creating, and rehearsing for those few minutes in the spotlight isto share what you do with an audience and feel their appreciation. Starting November 22, we will be doing that again in our own little ring on the third floor of City Museum. Come see us- and don’t forget your mask!