Circus Flora, this year, put up a theme of “A Trip To The Moon”, based on Georges Melies 1902 film, Le Voyage dans la Lune.

You can read all about the production

here

My friend Ruth Hartsell had volunteered for the Circus Flora show on the 15th of June, 2013,so I volunteered, too. The show is from 1pm to 3pm, and we were present, as required, at noon. We had a detailed briefing by the House Manager, Harold (Scott and he share the task, dividing up the circus seating area between them). We were told how to read the tickets, how to deal with potential problems (eg. people arriving with tickets for the same seats…check if the dates are different), and so on. We cleaned the area and the seating, and could help ourselves to a snack of baby carrots, have plenty of water, too.

We cleaned the area and the seating, and could help ourselves to a snack of baby carrots, have plenty of water, too. Here’s Ruth cleaning the chairs (I did my part, too, I was not merely photographing her!)

I was very thrilled when Harold announced that at this show, photography and videography was allowed; usually, it is not. My job was to hand out programs to the patrons as they entered, and welcome them; I did this with great enjoyment, but also got in a few nice scenes.

These two were not part of the circus either on the afternoon that DnA went, or this one. However, they constantly keep practising their knife-throwing. Here they are picking knives after the practice:

The Flickr account has several more photos, which you can see if you like.

I am posting several videos that I took, you can click on any of them if you have the inclination. magic man Johnny Peers and the Muttville Comix were hilarious to watch. Johnny went to the Ringling Clown College in 1971, and all his dogs have been rescued from pet shelters, and then trained. The St.Louis Arches are a troupe of young performers, 12 to 21 years old, coached by Jessica Hentoff, and others. They have their "home ring" at the City Museum. They have been appearing with Circus Flora since 1989; since 2007, they have been collaborating with the Galilee Circus, a Jewish Arab youth circus from Israel. This is their 24th anniversary! Kellin Quizz is all of 16 years old, and he too comes from a City Museum background, where his mother runs Circus Harmony, St.Louis' only comprehensive social circus school. He trains with Richard Kennison. The Flying Wallendas have their own Wiki entry, and their website is here Here'an image of the concentration Toni Wallenda brings to his performance: (That's what zoom is for, on cameras!) I could not identify these two acrobats, but enjoyed the performance very much:' It was amazing to see such a large group juggling together: Lisa Dufresne brought out her horses (or ponies, I don't know which is the right technical term): The Flying Pages were pretty amazing, too! Here's a cross-over, executed by Jill and Kerri Pages: The musicians in the band were excellent, too: Here's the rapt audience:

Let me close with these images….

a pic of the Flying Wallendas:

Here’s Di, another volunteer, who made that lovely St.Louis hat she’s wearing:

What the circus dog said when his trainer asked him to multiply 3 by 2 by 75:

And one of the heart-stopping moments on the trapeze:

Hope you enjoyed Circus Flora as much as I did, and thanks to them for making it possible for me to share these moments with you!