Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys


On Sunday, Beatrix will walk out of the arena at Circus Juventas for the last time, and that thought has me up early this morning. It's not like I did not know it before, but it's hitting especially hard.

I started working with Circus Juventas in 2005, before Patrick and I were even married, before Beatrix was even a concept. I was brought in on a special project to reconcile a backlog of credit cards, quickly solved some other issues (including getting a retroactive sales tax refund of several thousand dollars), was brought in regularly, went on staff, increased my hours, and stayed for 17 years as staff until 2022.

Beatrix first came in to work with me at less than a week old. She attended her first spring show just ten weeks after she was born — she loved the lights. She started the preschool program (the called "toddlers," that was one of the changes I made) when she was two, and has not looked back since.


Patrick started rigging when she was still in Side by Side. Here he is turning the Star the year she did that act.


Our cat Dandelion was her show gift in 2015, because she was in all three show sets and he was cheaper than flowers.


As she grew older she added camps, and classes, until she was taking 15+ classes a week. She continued through covid, even taking some classes by zoom. She dropped some that she still misses, for various reasons (ladder trapeze and low wire come immediately to mind).
 

She was able to move into advanced classes, like double trapeze.


She started taking a lot more of the theatrical elements, like ringmaster and theater and dance, where she really found her groove. She worked tirelessly to advance to the highest levels of dance.


Fire dance was a huge goal.



Her goal was to be in the summer show by the summer after her junior year, but she achieved that a year early by being cast in Janglala her sophomore year.


She moved into a character role ("Molly the maid") last year in Lumiere, and became "Lady Licorice" this year in Whimsy.


Through it all she has made friends, worked hard, been disappointed, spent countless hours at circus, slacked off sometimes, moved up levels, dropped classes, discovered a hip disability that we did not know that she had that precluded her from doing elements of the aerial acts she loves, learned a ton, made more friends, adored her coaches, become a leader, and gained so, so much.

Patrick does not do things halfway. He was all in as soon as he started rigging, currently spending about 4 full months a year at every show under the Big Top. He went out to Washington DC with CJ when they were featured in the Smithsonian festival. He has grown incredibly tight with his rigging crew.

I have moved beyond being staff and into a role as mom and volunteer, developing and deepening relationships with other parents. Leaving being on staff was painful, but those relationships have been incredibly rewarding.

Beatrix says this is her last circus adventure, and when she walks out after the senior picnic on Sunday it's going to be a huge change for all of us, one I have not exactly fathomed yet but that had me up early thinking about this morning. "May all your days be circus days" is about to have a new meaning.





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