Circo Chen

In the city of Lisbon, Portugal, there were four different circuses this winter. Two of the four are owned by Victor Hugo Cardinelli, another one is at the Coliseum, and the one that I worked at, is called Circo Chen. The owner of our show is a man named Miguel Chen. I haven´t really talked much about our actual show, so here is what´s happening everyday.

First Half:

Tigers - worked by Veronica Chen, Miguel´s daughter.
Clown - skit to fill in time so they can take the tiger cage down.
Silks - a Brazilian guy named Dola, he has been really nice to us, helping with set up and rigging.
Hula Hoops - some lady that is married to one of the clowns.
Gladitors/Fire - this act is pretty unique, a Romanian girl and guy sling around fire on the ends of chains and whips. Nice people.
Whips - this guy comes out like an American cowboy with our flag made into a shirt. He is great with the whips and the lasso. I think he is Portuguese.
Clown - Amelio does a clown skit. It´s the funniest one in our show.

Second Half:

Flying Trapeze - The Flying Pages. (that´s me!)
Clown - skit to fill in time so we can take down the trapeze net.
Exotics - also worked by Veronica Chen. Let´s see...there are 3 camels, 1 llama, 1 yak, 1 ox, 2 cows, and a buffalo. Also, a hippo that was apparently too moody to work, but I did get some pretty good pictures of her.
Rope Trapeze - also a very unique act done by Hans and Kia. Hans climbs up these two ropes and slides down different ways. It´s a muscle act.
Duo Mistique - a hand balancing act done by the same couple that does the Gladiator act. Amazing.
Teeterboard - done by a Romanian group called Troupe Bascula. There were nine people in the act. Every trick is done to hands, none to the mat. These are the people that I hung out with the most on the show.
Clowns - looooong skit that I never understood because they were speaking Portuguese.
Finale - Saxophones and walk around.

Throughout my month and a half in Lisbon, I visited each of the other shows in my free time. I was a little circused-out, but there are a few things about the European circus that I noticed are different from the American circus. First of all, they always close the show with a clown skit. And the clowns always play either the saxophone or trumpet right before or during finale. Also, the clown skits were up to 30 minutes long. In America, I have never seen a clown skit go that long. Secondly, the main clown (which was also our ringmaster) is dressed the same with the same makeup in every show I went to. White face, white hat, weird outfit white long white socks, and white shoes.

During performances, Willy, Anthony, and I would help set up our net at intermission since we opened the second half. During sold out shows, it was hard to manuver around people, especially since I had to crawl through the seats to pull one of the pulleys. A member or two of the audience would usually say something to me in Portuguese. I would just smile and say "Only English," and keep on singing whatever song was playing over the speakers (which was usually Fergie, Sean Kingston, or 50 cent...weird.) But during the kids shows, when they all come for field trips, I would talk to the kids. They had no clue what I was saying, but it was fun. I would point up to my rigging and then point at myself and then wave, trying to tell them that I would be up there and I would wave at them. Sometimes they got it and sometimes they didn´t. But after my first trick of the act, as I was styling, I would look down and wave...and then they got it. It´s always fun to interact with the audience. That is why I love juggling. It´s not so serious, and you can really connect with the audience.

Anyway, that is pretty much our show in a nutshell! It is over now, and I fly home tomorrow! But it is a great experience to remember!