Once a year, Circus Harmony presents a full length show featuring over twenty of our flying children and an incredible live band. This year, the show was titled Bravura, a musical term meaning exceptional ability and brilliant style. This is also a great description of the flying children who performed in this archetypical adventure. 
The theme was based around archetypes. archetypes: Death, Dreamers, Trickster, Builders, Mavericks, Lovers, King, Queen, Explores and Warriors all played a part. In the show, the King searched for the Trickster who stole his crown and finds out that one person can wear many hats. Hats are like labels. They are something put on you that can cause people to make assumptions. Wear a construction hat? You’re a builder. A wreath of flowers? A dreamer. Soldier’s helmet? You must be a warrior. Similarly, people make assumptions about you based on the color of your skin, your religion or even just your neighborhood. These features of your life do not need to define you any more than a hat you might wear.
At Circus Harmony, we let our children define themselves! In this show, you will see one person can play many characters. In the same way, each of us has aspects of many archetypes that make up our personalities. We each have a little explorer, a bit of maverick, and some trickster in us. We can have aspects of both a kingly leader and a nurturing queen, no matter our gender. Our programs help individual children find their own power. We help young women to be strong, young men to be graceful and everyone to work together. We help our children make their own labels instead of being seen by society’s labels put on them because of their race, religion, neighborhood or diagnosis. 
We give children incredible opportunities! This fall, one of our students got to perform at the White House and the Kennedy Center! This year, Circus Harmony was named one of 17 Circuses Changing the World by Buzzfeed. It is hard for some people to understand how being part of a youth circus can be a life changing experience. But it has been for many of our young people. In the words of one alumnus, “The circus didn’t change my life, it saved my life!” All by letting them define themselves. Currently, we have alumni working around the world. We offer 27 classes at City Museum and are working at 10 off-site locations. We help over 1,600 people a year defy gravity through Circus Harmony and TrapezeSTL, our flying trapeze center. 
Bravura was presented by a marvelous mini-multitude of our magnificently multi-talented youth circus performers and is made possible in part by the support of the Missouri Arts Council, Regional Arts Commission, Boeing Employee Community Fund, Cardinals Care and REA Charitable Foundation. We are grateful to Laurence Hillman of www.laurencehillman.com for his lessons on archetypes. If you missed the show. keep an eye on www.youtube.com/circusharmony for videos. 
Jessica Hentoff, Artistic/Executive Director of Circus Harmony