Australia, The Great Adventure

Circus Latino

Circus Latino has been in Roxburgh Park – we had seen the Big Top as we drove past - the kids wanted to go of course, and so did I (I always want to go to the circus when one ‘comes to town’). And I suggested that perhaps we could go and meet some circus people and find out what it’s like being in the circus.

So one Sunday afternoon I dropped in as the show was finishing and asked at the ticket office about it, who sent me to someone else, who then introduced me to Gustavo, the man in charge, and I think from what I later heard, he was the owner too. Anyway, Gustavo was very friendly, welcoming and happy to talk to me. He hails from Argentina, so he told us in his lilting Argentine accent that we would be very welcome to come and perhaps they would even be able to show us some juggling and stuff too.

So I arranged with him to come back on Thursday afternoon at about 1pm with my three boys and possibly Tim. In hindsight, I think 1pm was too early as everyone was still eating lunch, and they were busy, busy, busy. Altho, I don’t know if it would have made any difference turning up later; would there have been a lull in the frenzied activity before the night’s performance? Perhaps, perhaps not; I will never know! Oh well. So they were busy, busy, busy, and Gustavo was really apologetic that they couldn’t show us more stuff and spend more time with us, that part was disappointing, but hey, we still had an absolutely brilliant time. It would be so much fun and totally fascinating to be able to “join” the circus for a few days and watch and learn. An hours visit in the afternoon really doesn’t give you much insight into what circus life is like.

So altho we didn’t get to meet many circus people or see any juggling, we still got to go inside the Big Top and walk all around it on the outside - it’s very big - we also met Marty who showed us around and told us some stories about circus life, he showed us his caravan and we talked a little with Gustavo, but he was very busy. Marty was busy too, when we met him, he was preparing the toilets for the night’s show. As usual, we get somewhere and Kael is “busting” and we need to find some toilets. But for us this ended up being a good thing because we got chatting with Marty who said he had “a spare 5 minutes” to show us around, but I think we distracted him for at least 15 minutes more than that!

We asked about the history of ‘Circus Latino’ and were they on tour from South America, or had they originally come from South America and were now permanently in Australia permanently. And yes, they are on tour from South America - I think. Gustavo, Ariel and Mario Barralle come from an Argentine circus family and their Big Top is very old. The Circus Latino Big Top is about 20 years old and that is very old for a circus tent and apparently most big top tents don’t last that long these days – hmmm sounds a bit like most other stuff you buy these days, things are just not built to last any more… Anyway, this particular Big Top has been around the world starting in Scotland, but I don’t think it started out as the Circus Latino Big Top - altho again, I’m not sure about that.

Another interesting snippet we heard about the Big Top was that originally it was 6 metres bigger than it currently is and when it became the Circus Latino Big Top Gustavo and Ariel (who I think look very much alike) they took it apart, cut out a section from the middle and then put it all back together! I would have had absolutely no idea if I hadn’t been told and it wasn’t pointed out to me.

Inside it still seems huge, I mean, it is huge and it looks even more impressive on the inside. They have a stage with a beautiful sparkly star backdrop and big theatre type curtains rather than a sawdust ring and tiered bench seating. I found their seats to be far more comfortable than benches and you didn’t worry about falling through the gaps, because there weren’t any. I remember that being Brydon’s fear the last time we went to a circus (he would have been about 4!)

While we were inside admiring the Big Top, Brydon asked Marty if they had any tightrope acts - I’m not sure when this had come up or even why, but he had been very interested in highwire work and the balance and skill involved, I think we’d been talking about balance. So he was disappointed when Marty said no, they didn’t, not yet anyway, but it was something that could happen in the future. And altho they had no tightrope walkers as such, they did have performers who were working rather high off the ground, suspended from wires doing amazing and incredible things, more about that later. Apparently Gustavo used to do the tightrope, but is giving it a break, after breaking his wrist really badly the last time he fell. I just think it’s incredible that it can be done at all and have nothing but admiration for those who can coz I certainly can’t.

Marty also told us that Circus Latino only has a crew of 4 to do things like put up the Big Top which I reckon would be a big job even with 20 people and pretty much everyone chips in and helps. Brydon was disappointed that we’d be away so we’d not see them packing up the Big Top which probably would have been quite a sight to see. Something else that would have been really interesting would have been to find out what other countries Circus Latino had visited, and marked it out on a world map - especially as Brydon has been doing circus acts ever since and we said to him if he got good enough he could join a circus and travel the world!! However, it is only now as I type this up, that I think about that. Oh well.

In the course of our conversation we told Marty we wanted to find out more about circus people and how they lived and all that kind of stuff, so he offered to show us his caravan. He had a very big caravan – it was the kind that needed to be towed by a truck, not just a Nissan Patrol or something. The boys were very impressed, especially as it had it’s own shower and toilet! It was a bit of an effort, but I managed to keep the boys from making themselves too at home and jumping on his bed or something even worse!

We talked with Marty about lots of different things and he told us about his brother who collects tarantulas!!! Not my idea of a good time! Altho, I must admit, they fascinate me, from a distance tho! I have said to the boys they can have pretty much any type of pet once we get back from travelling (as long as we have the space for it) except for rats and mice - I can’t stand the smell of them - and I have to admit that I might draw the line at tarantulas too. Quite happy with the idea of snakes, lizards, even giant millipedes, but giant hairy spiders… hmmm… not so sure.

Marty’s brother got his first tarantula because he was terrified of spiders, so he wanted to face his fear head on. Now he has lots and lots of them, a whole room lined with shelves and shelves filled with tarantulas! They are his pets and he lets them out, lets them walk on him and stuff!!! Aaaggh!!! I just don’t think I could handle that, and then there’s the feeding aspect! Marty’s brother also has this gigantic tarantula called Molly who was as big as Marty’s hand, and as his hands were bigger than mine, this spider was bigger than my hands! And apparently she’s really, really poisonous, so she doesn’t get let out or handled! Can’t imagine why!!!

At this stage I didn’t know Marty was actually Smarty the Clown, rather, I’d thought him to be one of the crew, I guess that’s because we met him fixing the toilets for the night’s show. I asked him if he did anything else in Circus Latino. That’s when we found out he became Smarty at night! I’m still not sure how he got into clowning, but before he became a circus clown, he was clowning at what I think would be one of the toughest gigs out there and I reckon that this would have been a hard crowd to please. He was clowning at Monster Truck Shows!!

When I asked how he got into the circus, Marty said he’d got a call from a friend who’d seen an advertisement for people needed to help put up a tent for a circus in Queensland. After a year, they put him on permanently and when he finally left that circus he had a couple of other circuses calling him up wanting him! Obviously Marty is a very good clown. And after seeing him in the show that night, I would say that yes, he’s a really good clown.

In fact, he first met Gustavo in Circus Royale (I think that’s the one he said), and Gustavo just didn’t want to perform in a circus, he wanted to run one, and so Circus Latino was born! Actually, I have no idea how Circus Latino started, I am just guessing, you know, putting 2 + 2 together and getting 5! And yes I got 5 because it is Arielle Barralle who owns and runs Circus Latino, not Gustavo!! So anyway, when Circus Latino came to Oz, they gave Marty a call and asked if he’d like to join them. And I guess the answer was yes, considering he was there

When we arrived in the evening for the night’s performance, one thing I noticed was that all the performers do lots and lots of things to make the whole circus experience work. On the night, not only do they perform, sometimes more than once, they are also the ushers, the ticket sellers, food vendors and circus souvenir sellers, as well as clean out the toilets and stuff during the day! The young lady who sold us our tickets had her glittery circus makeup on and I’m fairly sure she either did the Trapeze or Lyra, Marty was an usher before he went off and became Smarty the Clown and another usher turned out to be the fire dancer who my boys named ‘Pheonix the Fire Guy’ and the young man who we bought our fibre optics thingys from turned out to be Ariel Barrelle who glided gracefully about on the straps and did some amazing juggling too.

Not only were these people skilful and talented acrobats, jugglers, clowns and the stars of the show, they did all the other work too. From the short time we were there to what we saw at the evening show, everyone pulled together and shared the load, they were really chatty and friendly to strangers, and they obviously loved performing, you could see that in their faces. Marty said it wasn’t a bed of roses for sure, but he loved it anyway, and I guess that would be true of all of them. I didn’t get to talk in depth to any of them, except Marty, and even then, it wasn’t for that long – more’s the pity, I would have loved to have spent some time getting to know these amazing people, finding out about them and adding their stories to my ‘Tell Me Your Story’ collection, every life has an amazing story and I’m sure theirs’ would be no exception! Maybe some time in the future, for who knows what the future will hold?

Circus Latino was fantastic, we had a wonderful night. The only thing the boys were sad about was that they didn’t get a ride on the rides, we missed out on that one, oh well, they were just merry-go-rounds and stuff, but try telling that to a distraught 5 year old! Aside from that one small hiccup, we had a great night. We have said that if we go again, which we might do, especially as Tim wasn’t able to join us, then we’ll make sure that Kael gets a ride He enjoyed the circus heaps, although he wasn’t as vocal as Brydon about it - Brydon LOVED the circus and he told everyone he saw how great it was and him and Kael were doing various different circus acts for many days after, and even now, a few weeks later, they are still mentioning the circus and how great it was and how great it would be to go again.

Xavier was not so enthusiastic in his response to the circus and he took a bit of time to warm to it. It was dark and loud and very strange, so at first he just cried, although not as hysterically like the little girl in front of us. After a while he stopped and enjoyed himself, but I was thinking that somehow I might have to dash home and give him to Tim during intermission, I must admit the thought was not very appealing. So just a word of warning, for those of you with young children (Xav is 2) the circus could be unsettling and distressing, at least at first, but Xav did settle after a while.

The circus was great, there were lots of different acts, all people skills, not an animal in sight, not even dogs! The atmosphere was exciting, theatrical, magical. And the thing that probably amazed me the most was the focus of the performers. It didn’t matter if they made a mistake, and there were a few mistakes, they regained their focus and continued on with the act; they did not let the mistake affect the rest of their act, they pulled it back together and still did their best.

During intermission we met up with Smarty and Brydon & Kael had their photo taken with him. It would have been great to get photos of all the performers, but to do that would have taken a lot more organisation on my part as I would have needed to get their permission and all that kind of stuff and although my camera’s good I don’t think it would have been good enough to capture the type of shots that would do justice to the acts. Besides, you really need video, to capture all the action.

We also used the loos that Marty had been preparing earlier – it was funny, a woman ahead of us couldn’t figure out how to flush them, (they were floor flush) but my 5 year old knew exactly what to do without being told. And then we introduced ourselves to ‘Pheonix the Fire Guy’, actually I introduced myself as Brydon was too shy, but once mum had broken the ice Brydon and Kael made themselves known as well in their indomitable style. ‘Phoenix the Fire Guy’ is the name the boys gave him, officially he’s a fire dancer, and his name is actually Chris. He told us that he restrains himself during the show and doesn’t throw his ‘fire stick’ as high as he can because if he threw it as high as he could, he’d set the top of the Big Top alight! He also gave me some tips on using my diabolo which I got for Christmas – he uses it as part of his practicing. And I am sad to say, I still haven’t got round to using it.

Below is a list of the acts we saw on the night. I’m not going to tell you too much about the acts themselves, and honestly, what I do say just doesn’t do the acts justice. If you want to know more, go and see the show, which we really, really enjoyed and highly recommend - they move around every couple of weeks so are sure to be near you some time soon.

The Rola Bola performed by Gustavo/Mario Barrelles
- this involved balancing on very wobbly things high up in the air and juggling
Straps performed by Ariel Barrelles
– I was reminded of the rings in male gymnastics, but I found this to be much more artistic
Washington Trapeze performed by Viviana Martinez
– a lot of balancing, juggling and spinning with most of it done on her head! I looked up ‘Washington trapeze’ on the internet and found that it is also known as “Heavy Trapeze” which refers to a variation on static and swinging trapeze where a performer performs a headstand on the bar, which is what she did!
Fire Dance performed by Chris Edwards
– dancing with fire, spinning sticks and all that kind of hot stuff, my boys LOVED this act, it was their fav and they were so impressed that you could feel the heat from the flames, and it did look amazing because they turned the lights out so the flames really stood out.
Lyra performed by Kyrra Pimblett
– I think this was the giant hula hoop in the air with lots of high in the air gymnastics - using the internet again, I discovered that this is also a constellation in the northern hemisphere, I’m not sure if this act was called Lyra because it’s named after the stars - which it could be - or for some other reason, which I couldn’t find on the internet. Oh well, I guess the internet can’t answer every question.
Gauchos performed by the Troop Latino
– this involved drumming, traditional dance and using hard things on strings that went bang when they hit the stage; they twirled these things really fast and I reckon if you got hit with one it’d really, really hurt. I had no idea what a Gaucho was, so again I looked it up on the internet and again learnt something new. Gauchos are South American cowboys and in my quick scan of the information, Argentina featured heavily, and those things on strings that they whirled round really fast are called ‘boleadoras’.
Juggling performed by Ariel Barrelles
– he used lots of balls and things, even soccer balls and fire. Mmmm, fire. The boys were impressed again
Cloud Swing performed by Alison Smith
– a really, really high swing, just a type of flat rope with no seat so she could wrap it around her feet and do some amazing things. From where we were sitting it looked like she was about to touch the roof of the tent. She also did this thing where she fell forward off the swing and it looked like she was falling off, someone screamed when we saw it. Brydon told me that he thought she was going to fall too, so he’d been scared – I’d watched her wrapping the swing around her ankles so I knew she was about to do something…
Tissue performed by Kyrra Pimblett
– this is where she wraps herself in two very long pretty curtains and spins and stuff, hooking it around her and dropping and hanging and looking beautiful.
Bubbles performed by Rebbecca
– little bubbles, big bubbles, amazing bubbles that can fit over the top of people. Cool. The boys loved this act too.
Trampoline performed by Troop Latino
– big trampoline with lots of great flips and bouncing
Clowning performed by Smarty
– Smarty the Clown interspersed the show with his antics. He was great on the audience participation, mostly he got kids up (Brydon told me he didn’t want to go up, he just wanted to watch) and adults too. He did lots and lots of funny things. Smarty also found a ragdoll clown and I thought Brydon was going to wet himself he was laughing sooo much. During the act Smarty fell over which turned out to be not deliberate and he asked if we’d noticed, which we hadn’t. Apparently during one show he’d actually slipped off the stage as it gets pretty slippery up there with the Bubbles act.

All the acts were amazing and we loved them all, a wonderful night out and the boys have been doing circus acts ever since! Do yourself a favour and go to the Circus, the Circus Latino, they are really good.

And if you’re interested, I also wrote a poem about our visit to the Circus, called “A Night At Circus Latino”.

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