Local youths flying high with Circus Smirkus
Yes, you really can run off and join the circus - at least if you spend years training for it and can master the likes of the trapeze. That’s how four area youths earned spots this summer with Circus Smirkus, an international, nonprofit, traveling youth circus that performs six shows this weekend, starting tomorrow, at Elm Bank in Wellesley.
Rather than lolling at the pool, 18-year-old Lindsay Culbert-Olds of Arlington, 16-year-old Jamie Nanni of Wayland, and Olivia Saunders of Acton and Lily Maltz of Newton, both 15, are spending most of their time this summer in the Big Top, on a 70-show Northeast tour.
Culbert-Olds, who graduated from Arlington High School this spring, specializes in hanging high above the circus ring on straps as she performs spine-bending moves such as the “meat hook’’ and the “arm breaker.’’ Nanni, a junior at Wayland High School, is a daredevil aerialist. Saunders, a sophomore at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, is a nimble acrobat as comfortable in a human pyramid as she is defying gravity as a tumbler on the ring floor. And aerialist Maltz, a sophomore at Newton South High, has mastered the gasp-inducing “drop’’ on a stretch of high-hanging fabric.
“I just love being in the air and upside down,’’ said Maltz. “It’s just so much fun.’’
It’s also hard work. A tumbler since the age of 4, Culbert-Olds caught the circus bug at age 8 when Circus Smirkus was featured on a PBS children’s show, “Zoom.’’ After training for five summers at a Smirkus-run summer camp in Craftsbury, Vt., and getting extra workouts during the school year, she auditioned for Circus Smirkus. It took three tries to get in.
“It’s very competitive,’’ said Abby Callard, the troupe’s house manager. “We’re always looking for talent. But we’re also always looking for a special spark.’’
This year, six of the 26 spots in the circus went to Massachusetts residents, chosen from hundreds of applicants from across the country and overseas.
“Being a trouper though is also about understanding that it’s not all glory,’’ said Callard. “Our performers also sell concessions, set up the rings, put pads on the bleachers, load and unload the props truck, help in the cook bus, and, after the show, they pick up trash in the bleachers.’’
The performers seem to like the added responsibilities. “It’s awesome to be on the road like this. We get to a site and troupers get to set up everything,’’ said Culbert-Olds.
But their passion lies in - or above - the ring. Saunders took up circus arts after 10 years of gymnastics and one trip to see Cirque du Soleil. She then spent two summers at the Circus Smirkus camp in Vermont, and, like Culbert-Olds, trained weekends at the New England Center for Circus Arts in Brattleboro.
“When I compete for gymnastics, I’m there for the team and I’m just focused on the skills I have to do,’’ said Saunders. “But in the circus, there’s a lot of room for creativity. We’re always trying out new ideas to improve the tricks even while we’re on tour.’’
For Maltz, flying high at the circus seemed inevitable. “Lily was adventurous even at a young age, playing on top of the playground equipment, not on it,’’ wrote her mother, Robin Maltz, in an e-mail. Maltz’s penchant for new heights led her mother to sign her up for rock climbing, which led to a seven-year career on a climbing team, where she made it to national competition.
But Maltz found her own way to the circus. A taste of the trapeze on a Club Med trip sent the then 8-year-old straight to the Internet, where she found a class with a former Ringling Brothers performer. Eventually, she also found her way to the Smirkus camp and the Brattleboro center.
“It was so exciting to get to the camp. There were so many new things to learn, like juggling and unicycle and clowning,’’ said Maltz. “But I liked the fabric best, so I stuck with that. I like doing the drops. It’s not scary at all. You just start with small drops and then they get bigger and bigger.’’
Some Smirkus performers go on to become professionals. Scouts attend the shows, and last season Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey recruited three troupe members. For now, Maltz, Saunders, and Culbert-Olds are keeping all options open.
“I’m starting at Mount Holyoke College in the fall and I’ll likely do biology or premed for physical therapy, which could keep me at the circus because I’m having a hard time letting go of it,’’ said Culbert-Olds. “I’m just really hooked.’’
HOMETOWN ROCKERS: In 1998, when the Center for Arts in Natick launched its popular teen band series, Rock Off Main Street, a group led by Neil Popkin was the very first to take the stage. Fast-forward a decade and Popkin, his sister Becca Popkin, and their band War Tapes are signed to Sarathan Records and on a cross-country tour promoting their debut CD, “The Continental Divide.’’
Things are going well for the goth-pop group, which had airplay on NBC’s New Year’s Eve show with Carson Daly and performed on the season finale of an ABC TV show, “Greek.’’ But they haven’t forgotten their hometown of Natick or the under-21 crowd.
At 7 tonight they play a free all-ages show at the Hot Topic store at the Natick Collection, and tomorrow at 8 p.m. they open for VNV Nation at the Paradise, 967 Commonwealth Ave. in Boston; tickets are $20 in advance, through links at www.wartapesband.com.
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