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Clowning Around

Forget the Red Nose at This Circus

    The term “athletics” has long been boxed in by the slam dunk, the grand slam or just plain slamming into fellow players at the 40-yard line. But for some, swinging a bat, club or racket is just not their thing. Some would rather swing from a trapeze.
     “The European-based circus tradition takes an enormous amount of physical training,” says Victoria Angello, managing director of the Kinetic Arts Center, which has classes like aerial technique, acrobatics and contortion. “Some kids like soccer or baseball. But for others, this is their sport of choice.”
     Training at Kinetic Arts offers the rare but beautiful opportunity for participants to reap the benefits of a rigorous physical activity without the intense competition, which can put so much undo pressure on kids and turn some level-headed parents into raving lunatics. The performance aspect, however, can mimic the rewards of game time, Angello says. “Kids get an incredible sense of self-confidence and self-possession. Once they know they can perform, they realize they can take on anything, be it an oral report in school or leadership roles.”
     A parent of a circus performer herself, Angello devised the most brilliant class schedule, which
holds adult classes concurrently with those for kids, so parents don’t have to sit on their keesters while their children have all the fun. And if swinging from a trapeze, rope or tissue is a little too death-defying for you, Kinetic Arts also has a slew of classes that will keep you connected to the floor including modern dance, Pilates and tai chi.
     The most serious class? Clowning. Turns out that the red-nosed cliché lies at the bottom of the clown hierarchy and has no place at Kinetic Arts, where students instead emulate greats like Buster Keaton, Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett. “You have to be incredibly vulnerable and show every emotion physically,” says Angello. “You have to be larger than life.”
     So, if you happen to go to a circus and see a bunch of smiley faces stuffing themselves into a little car, Kinetic Arts Center asks that you kindly not think of them. But if you are ready to take silly seriously, they are a great team to join.