When Ekatarina Bazarova takes to the sky in her glorified hula
hoop, it’s just another day on the job. But for the hundreds of
children watching Alice Pleasance fly for the first time, it’s pure
magic. And that is precisely what keeps the performers and creators
of the Circus Chimera in the business, year after year.
When Ekatarina Bazarova takes to the sky in her glorified hula hoop, it’s just another day on the job. But for the hundreds of children watching Alice Pleasance fly for the first time, it’s pure magic. And that is precisely what keeps the performers and creators of the Circus Chimera in the business, year after year.
“There’s no where else in the world where you can take your family and get two hours of live entertainment that you can afford,” said Roy Ordaz, ringmaster and associate producer of Circus Chimera’s “Alice in Wonderland,” that visited Hollister Monday and Tuesday. “It’s something that everybody can appreciate, no matter who you are or where you’re from.”
Each year Circus Chimera rolls into Hollister in early summer, one of nearly 150 stops in their performance season that goes from February to October. The performance is centered around a different theme every time – this year the performance follows Lewis Carroll’s classic tale of a little girl’s misadventures in a land where nothing is as it seems.
“To tell a story like this you really need to use all the elements of performance you can – dance, gymnastics, music, everything,” said Victor Ivaschenko, the show’s choreographer.
The circus is one of western society’s oldest performance arts, dating back to the earliest days of the Roman Empire and, in the style of the traditional European circus, Circus Chimera does not feature trained animals but focuses instead on feats of human skill and athletic prowess. Performers ranging in age from 16 to over 30, many of whom have trained since early childhood or were raised in circus families, come from all corners of the earth to strut their stuff under the big top.
“It’s a young cast, but it’s a talented cast,” said Ordaz. “You have to be very, very careful when you’re hiring performers at the beginning of the season. It’s not like you’re picking people to work at Walmart.”
Cast members hail from as far as China, France and Russia – in fact, Ordaz is the only American in the troupe. Often, instructions have to be given in multiple languages during rehearsal and interpreters from outside the company are called in to help.
“I love being able to work with people from all backgrounds, countries, and experience levels, you learn a lot from them,” said Ivaschenko, who is himself a native of Russia. “Even though we seem to have little in common on the outside, we all become very close, like a big family… I think that’s why so many people come back every year, because it’s about more than money. You have to get paid, of course, but the atmosphere of the circus is like nothing in the world.”
The performers and crew have only three weeks of rehearsal time in the winter before they hit the road and are required to be responsible for themselves on stage. As such not just anybody can run away and join the circus, at least not this one.
“There’s more to it than sequins and bugle-beads, that’s an old adage that simply isn’t true,” said Ordaz. “When you’re hanging 40 feet up in the air you better know what you’re doing, or you’re just not going to last long.”
All the hard work pays off, though, when the children in the audience get a first glimpse of the Mad Hatter’s balancing act or the Cheshire Cat’s tom foolery.
“I haven’t been to a circus in years, but I wanted to take my grandchildren,” said Paul Hain. “This is really a wonderful show, you can tell they’re really getting a kick out of it.”
Today the Circus Chimera crew is loading up their nearly 50 trucks and trailers to bring the magic of Wonderland to a whole new audience. But they’ll return to Hollister next year with a whole new bag of tricks in store.
“Every year I think we get better,” said Ivaschenko. “And every day it’s a new challenge. That’s why we love it.”
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected].
