Show always goes on in 'circus life'
Performers say the constant tour is both difficult, rewarding
BY CHRIS GAETANO
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Jacob Gold, 19 months, of Monmouth Junction, gets an autograph on his cast from Cole Brothers Circus clown "Parollito" before the Labor Day performance in South Brunswick.

It's five stories tall and squats upon the field like a giant red and yellow clown. It smells like an animal and has been there since Friday.

That's when the Cole Brothers Circus big top went up next to Crossroads South Middle School on Major Road in South Brunswick.

"It takes about three hours to put up," said the circus' marketing director, Bill Tebbetts. "And inside, it's about the size of a football field."

Over the course of the holiday weekend, the circus, hosted by the local Lions Club, thrilled and delighted audiences with animal shows, stunts, comedy and amazing feats of human agility.

The show was the 10th the Lions Club hosted and the third using the Cole Brothers Circus. The circus itself claims to be the largest big-top show in the world and has been in operation for 122 years. Over the course of the weekend, the Lions Club made about $5,000 from ticket sales, which went to the three local rescue squads, two high school scholarships and eye exams and glasses for children in need.

The circus featured animal acts, such as Craig Rogers' Amazing Air Mutts, who leaped 5 feet in the air to catch Frisbees; the Moulin Rouge Poodles, featuring poodles that walked, danced and balanced on balls; and the Painted Pony Posse, miniature horses with puppet riders atop them that did a merry-go-round drill. It was also the first time in two years that elephants were once again on display.

Feats of human agility were also featured, such as Russian gymnast Svetlana Golobolova, who performed acts such as twirling a baton with her feet and juggling with her hands while standing on her head; a group of Kenyan acrobats who jumped rope with their hands and joined together in various odd shapes; and a trapeze act set to the best of Michael Jackson. There were also comedy bits with various clowns such as the Amazing Andrey, a small man in a gigantic, inflatable suit; a horse race with various clowns; and a magic show. Dangerous stunts were also performed before amused crowds, such as a man performing various tricks on a giant spinning wheel suspended high in the air, and a human cannonball fired into a net.

The Lions Club will be bringing the circus back, possibly sometime around May 2007.

"The cooperation of the Cole Brothers Circus was outstanding, along with the care of their performing animals," said Doug Renk, the chairman of the South Brunswick Lions Club.

Family tradition

The circus, as described by Tebbetts, is a mobile community employing more than 200 performers, workers and trainers, all under an intense schedule. The show is constantly touring with performances seven days a week for 10 months of the year.

While based in Florida, people have come from all over the world to display their many talents. Entire families travel with the circus, with children being home-schooled under the big top. Many have been with the circus for years. According to Tebbetts, turnover is very low.

"Everything's self-contained. All we need is water and a big place to play," said Tebbetts.

Many performers, such as strongman Andrey Medeiros, the aforementioned Amazing Andrey, have circus work in their blood. Passed from father to son, mother to daughter, Medeiros' family has been performing in circuses for four generations. Born in Brazil, he and his family have traveled all over the world to be in shows. Having started his professional performing career at the age of 8, he and his family traveled with circuses for more than 20 years.

Performers such as Medeiros say that it's not so much a circus job that they are in, but a way of life.

"This is a life - circus life. I think it's the perfect word to describe this kind of thing," said Medeiros who, through his travels, learned how to speak English, Spanish, Italian, Bulgarian and Portuguese.

Medeiros' family has since gone on to other shows, but he stayed behind to be with the woman he would eventually marry and have a child with. It was a difficult decision to part ways with the family he performed alongside for so many years, especially given that his contract with Cole Brothers had, at that time, run out.

"I had a contract to go with another show, but also my wife had a contract to stay in this show, and it came to a decision: I go with my family on the other show, or stay in this show with my wife, but no job," said Medeiros.

In the end, however, Medeiros, after a wedding beneath the big top, was given the present of a job with the Cole Brothers Circus. He has ridden a motorcycle on a tight rope as well as his current strongman act. He still keeps in touch with his family but contacts are sporadic as they are presently performing in another country. Still, he says, that is the nature of circus life.

"They are working in another country and I am in this show ... but this is the life," said Madeiros.

A computer programmer

turned ringmaster

Many of those bitten by the "sawdust bug," as it is called, trace their interest to their family, even for those not connected to any circus dynasty.

Ringmaster Chris Connors said that his involvement with the circus began when he was a small child. His parents were avid circus fans and would often travel across the country in order to catch them, with clowns even feeding him his bottle as a baby on some occasions.

"My father never blinked an eye to travel 100 miles to visit circus people," said Connors.

Before Connors joined the circus, he had been a computer programmer at IBM with a double-major in marketing and broadcast communications, though he had done some performance work on the side. While he had always been interested in the circus, his plunge into the life came 10 years ago when he followed a girl to the circus.

"I chased a girl a few years ago, and she wanted me to join the circus but I wasn't ready at the time. I was working for IBM and I thought I had it made," said Connors.

Eventually, though, Connors realized computer programming wasn't in the cards. Despite warnings by older clowns to not enter the circus life, he took on an offer to become ringmaster for a friend's traveling show. He has been performing ever since.

The work of maintenance, setting up the floor, setting up the big top, setting up the trailers where they all live, practicing routines, constantly, every day for 10 months, can be an exhausting experience, with life on the road sometimes taking on a surreal quality.

"After a while, you don't know what day it is, unless it's payday. Holidays and stuff like that can be confusing when you're on the road. You're out from March to November and you really don't have any day off; it's work and work and traveling," said Connors.

In the few spare moments he has, Connors likes to go visit the historical sites of whatever town he's in at the time.

"I don't always have time to go and sightsee. I just have enough time to do grocery shopping and laundry," said Connors.

Most of the shopping gets done at Wal-Mart.

"Since I've been in the circus, I think I've been to 100 and some odd Wal-Marts," said Connors. "It's like a cathedral for circus people."

Connors also enjoys the show "CSI" and met one of the stars while on the road once. Other famous people he has run across in his travels include former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as well as members of the rock group Aerosmith.

He has also met his fair share of "normal" people on the road as well. After saying this, Connors paused for a moment.

"Normal people. I don't think I know what normal is," said Connors.

Despite the work and the stress, it is the roar of the crowd, the happiness brought to the audience, that the performers live for. It is why they do what they do.

"When I get in the ring and do my best, and listen to people ... and listen to applause, that is the best part of the show," said Medeiros. "You can't buy that emotion."