Oct. 3, 2008 — The cheering and clapping of 400 elementary and middle school students from all over the island filled the Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School auditorium Friday morning during a performance by the Cirque le Masque traveling circus troupe.
"We're based in New York," said stage and tour manager Mia Caress, "but the performers are originally from all over the world."
The group fascinated the children with juggling displays using colorful rings and bats that lit up in the dark. One performer spun multiple balls endlessly on his fingertips and even let some students attempt to mimic him.
In addition to these ground acts, the troupe performs aerial acts in their main venue on hanging silk sheets and trapeze. The students were still impressed; the roar of the crowd was constant.
"When you go to a smaller place and the people have never seen anything like it, the audience's reaction is so beautiful," Caress said.
Caress, a third-generation circus performer whose mother and grandmother were both in the Ringling Brothers Circus, explained how the circus often becomes a family business.
"Circus performers start when they're very young and a lot of people are second, third, fourth generation in the circus," Caress said. "It's really common to have family acts."
One act, called "hand-balancing", which involved immense physical strength and precise gymnastics, was performed by the Garza family, a father and his two children.
Caress also explained how circuses, which had been very popular earlier in the 20th century but were eclipsed by movies and television, have been gaining popularity again. This is due in part to the presence of big circuses like Cirque du Soleil. Caress is now in this smaller, European-style circus, the direction she thinks the business is headed.
"It's something everybody loves. Kids come and adults come," Caress said, "you can't believe the 'oohs' and 'ahs' from anybody from three years old all the way until they're 90."
The event was organized in part by Karen Gutloff, marketing manager for the UVI Reichhold Center for the Arts. The center is the host for the troupe, which will be performing at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday. The performance at Boschulte was a free preview for the island's students.
"Part of Reichhold's goal is to expose the youth to the artists and get them involved in the arts," Gutloff said.
Tickets for the shows are still on sale at the Reichhold box office for $18, $25, and $35. To contact Reichhold, call (340) 693-1559.
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