CIRCUSNEWS.COM REVIEW OF THE BCC CHILDREN'S CIRCUS

Circus Reviews: 2003 Berkshire Children’s Circus

This past Friday night I had the distinct pleasure of seeing the Berkshire Children’s Circus perform at the Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield. Pittsfield is on the Massachusetts-New York border, some 3 hours from either Boston or New York City. I had been invited to see the show by BCC’s director Dick Hamilton. In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that I did have a second invitation, and a personal interest in this show. Giles Holt (who you see below on the slack wire) is one of my Circus Arts Explorer kids. Still, even if Giles and his young sister Isabel were not a part of the circus camp, it was well worth the drive out from Boston to see BCC’s 10th annual circus.
You usually expect parents to attend these kind of summer camp shows, but their was obviously a large number of patrons from the community at large. Well over 500 people came to see the show, as did local radio and TV stations, and at least one local newspaper reporter. The community involvement and support of this youth circus was just amazing.

From the very beginning Ringmaster and Artistic Director Sean Fagan did an exceptional job making the show flow. I do not know what Fagan’s background is, but BCC clearly made an exceptional choice in hiring him.

The rolling globe act displayed a wide range of skills that can be done on the globe, including hoola hoops, poi and juggling. While missed by most of those watching for the significant skill it involved, I was very impressed with the globe hopping that was a part of this act.

The first clowning act was surprisingly funny. When I first saw the number of kids that took the stage for this act, I expected a disaster. After all, who in their right mind puts up 23 kids into a single clowning act? I have to give credit where credit is due, as th turned out to be one of the best acts in the show. The huge number of kids in this act were used exceptionally well in an act that was truly funny. (Devan, keep clowning, you have a bright future ahead of you).

The aerial acts were OK, though the poor lighting really detracted from these acts (a brief clip is available here that shows the lighting conditions). I think I would have enjoyed these acts a great deal more if I could have seen more of them. In the future, extra flood lights, or spot lights would greatly improve these acts.

I was amazed to see Giles on a slack wire. You really get a feeling of pride when you see one of your kids doing something that you did not teach them to do, and doing it well. Almost as amazing to me is what they used to make the slack wire rig. As you may notice, the stand is a normal, every day 15 foot hammock stand with a slack wire where the hammock should be. While this won’t work for a tight wire, this is a brilliant, very inexpensive way for all youth circuses to add a slack wire.

If you only see one act from this show, it should be the slumber party act. This clowning / acrobatics act far outshined all other acts in the show. This act was better than any of this years crop of clowning acts from Circus Smirkus or Ringlings.

With all the wonderful things that were a part of this years BCC show, I will take a moment to address a major issue I had. Sitting behind me for the entire show was a father that clearly did not want to be there. He made a point of letting every one around him know he was only there because he had a child in the show. This parent had a negative comment for every act, and every kid in the show, including his own. This was a major distraction to the entire show. To all circus parents: If you love your child enough to go to the show, also have enough respect for what your child is doing to go with a positive attitude.