circus

Includes information from Genesee Community College:

The National Circus Project brings its exciting, fun-filled circus performance to Genesee Community College's Stuart Steiner Theatre in Batavia at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22. With juggling, plate spinning, devil stick AKA diabolo, as well as comedy, this performance will encourage audience participation and is full of surprises!

The day before the performance, on Thursday, Feb. 21, the experts from National Circus Project will hold six free workshops, which are also open to the public, at GCC. Please call GCC's box office at (585) 345-6814 for details about the workshop schedule.

Tickets for the family-friendly National Circus Project performance on Friday night are just $8 for adults, and $5 for seniors (55+) and students (16+) and GCC faculty/ staff. GCC students with ID are $3, and GCC alumni with ID will receive a $2 discount on an adult ticket.

To reserve seats, contact the GCC box office at boxoffice@genesee.edu or (585) 345-6814.

The Westbury-NY-based National Circus Project is an educational outreach program, an arts-in-education program, a physical education external program, and a cultural arts external program.

According to their website, "Kids love to watch circus, and are very motivated to try the skills we perform. Our workshops are challenging, without being overwhelming or frustrating. This gives students an opportunity to learn patience, self-discipline and good practice habits (while having fun!)."

They say learning circus skills has these benefits:

• It's noncompetitive
• It's cost effective
• It builds self-esteem
• It teaches cooperation

To find out more about the National Circus Project, click here.

Press release:

The Genesee Center for the Arts at Genesee Community College has released its spring lineup of events and opportunities, and it is going to be an emotional, fun and powerful season. 

First, the Roz Steiner Art Gallery at GCC will display a collection of paintings by Muhammad Zaman entitled "Finding Amal" from Jan. 22 - Feb. 22. Amal, meaning "hope" in Arabic, is what Zaman hopes to inspire through his work.

"Finding Amal" features compositions of urban calligraphy that combine the three languages that are the cornerstones of the artist's culture: Arabic, English and Bangla. Each individual canvas expresses a word, phrase or concept as if they were messages dedicated to the entire human race.

The artist will lecture on Jan. 31, at 12:30 p.m. and receptions will follow at 1 and 5 p.m.

The Roz Steiner Art Gallery is open to the public Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The gallery is also open during special events as published at www.genesee.edu/campuslife/arts. Admission is free.

For more information, contact Gallery coordinator Mary Jo Whitman at (585) 343-0055, ext. 6490, or via email: mjwhitman@genesee.edu. 

The following live performances will take place in GCC's Stuart Steiner Theatre at the Batavia campus.

The National Circus Project brings its exciting, fun-filled circus performance to GCC in Batavia on Friday, Feb. 22, at 7:30 p.m. With juggling, plate spinning, and comedy, this act encourages audience participation and is full of surprises! The experts from National Circus Project will also hold six workshops, which are also open to the public, at GCC on Thursday, Feb. 21. Call (585) 345-6814 for the full workshop schedule.

The Forum Players will perform "Encounters: A Social Issues Anthology" at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 7, Friday, March 8, Saturday, March 9, and a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. on March 10. This anthology, directed by Norman R. Gayford, professor of English, is a collection of six short pieces, with poetry interludes, that use stories to explore a variety of issues facing society today.

The first piece, "The Unspoken 200," written by Ehinomen Okojie of Winston-Salem, N.C., attempts to reverse the desensitization that results from using hashtags to summarize tragedies. In April 2014, 276 female students were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in the Town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria. Today, 195 of those females are still missing! The Unspoken 200 tells the story of one of the kidnapped girls.

"I wrote this play because it became easy for myself, as well as other people, to simply type the hashtag #bringbackourgirls, and merely forget them a few seconds later," Okojie said. "Through the play, I could empathize with these girls, and I believe it will do the same for many people.

"It will challenge how they live their day-to-day lives, making them appreciate the things that are so easy to come by and to remind us all that over 60 percent of those girls are still missing. Today, it is easy for us to reduce tragic events to a hashtag. I am using this play to make people truly understand that the tragedy these girls have suffered is not and never will be equitable to a couple of words." 

The second piece in the production is "Save the Date," written by Caity-Shea Violette, of Boston. Just hours before her wedding, the play's main character, Andrea, meets her estranged lover in a park. In a tug-of-war between passion and timing, they explore the expiration date of "the one that got away."

Shifting from romance to humanity, the third social issue explored in "Encounters: A Social Issues Anthology," is in "Sister," written by Kita Mehaffy of Santa Fe, N.M. This piece tells the story of Andréa, down on her luck, who sees Alex in the park early one Sunday morning.

Andréa hopes to find the humanity in a woman who had previously looked right through her. Andréa attempts to prompt Alex's memory of their previous face-to-face encounter, but to no avail. Alex only sees what she wants to see when Andréa responds with agitated frustration. "Sometimes being invisible wears on a girl," Andréa says.

The anthology's fourth act is "Summer Storms," written by Jaisey Bates, of Los Angeles. Bates was inspired to write this piece in two phrases: "they were dancing" and "I had a dream, but now I'm woke."

These words, created in the wake of the tragedies that took place during the summer of 2016 "support mutual healing, strengthened community and positive change," Bates said. "That we might build with our joined words an enduring shelter from such storms; that we might write a new story worthy of our children, our children's children; that we might learn, in the precious few moments we are gifted, to walk together in beauty on this beloved ground."

The anthology concludes with a powerful one-minute scene called "Boulder Holder," written and performed by Crystal Jackson of Pacific Grove, Calif. This scene is about violence in schools. Encounters will also be performed at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 7, for students at GCC's Batavia campus.

On Friday, April 26, at 7:30 p.m. GCC's Forum Players also present the Children's Theatre production, "The Lamp is the Moon," written by Kirk Lynn. The program introduces Shawn, a bright young girl with a head full of science and imagination, which makes naptimes particularly difficult.

Her friend, Lamp, triggers a wide-awake adventure with the dream of learning to fly and becoming the moon. With the guidance of the audience, this voyage is fit for mission control as Shawn and her lamp escape naptime and blast into space.

"I don't like to nap, but I do like to dream," Shawn says.

This show debuted at the Seattle Children's Theatre in the spring of 2018. 

The 2019 spring season concludes with GCC adjunct professor Tara Pocock artfully directing a 20-piece modern dance showcase entitled, "Freedom: A Modern Dance Show About Your Rights."

The program questions what are basic human rights and freedoms in today's ever-changing world. This powerful performance will take place on Friday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Stuart Steiner Theatre.

Tickets for these shows in the Stuart Steiner Theatre are $8 for adults, and $5 for seniors (55+) and students (16+) and GCC faculty/ staff. GCC students with ID are $3, and GCC alumni with ID will receive a $2 discount on an adult ticket. To reserve seats, contact the GCC box office at boxoffice@genesee.edu or (585) 345-6814.

On July 6th, 1956 I was 9 years old. We were living on the top floor of a house at 20 Ellicott Avenue. We had moved there from one street over at 26 Thomas Avenue because my parents sold our house, but had not found another one yet.

Very early on the 6th, before sunrise, my parents got my brother Dan and me up to go see the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus train arrive and unload.

The train would be unloading on Cedar Street. My Uncle George and Aunt Helen Reilly lived at #5 Cedar and my aunts Peg and Kate Reilly lived at #27.

A Railroad Town

Batavia back then was a railroad town. Cedar Street was in the southeast part of town and connected Route 5 (East Main Street) with Route 63 (Ellicott Street). Four railroads crossed Cedar Street. Right where it met Route 5 was the Erie.

In 1915 my grandfather moved his family from Mendon to Batavia when he got a job as a foreman on the railroad and purchased the house at 27 Cedar. It was a stone's throw from the (then) four tracks of the main line of the New York Central. The property at 27 Cedar stayed in the family until 1990 as the home of my two aunts.

About a quarter of a mile farther was the so-called “Peanut” branch line and that is where the circus train unloaded. Then in another quarter of a mile was the Lehigh Valley Railroad. They are all gone today except two lines of what is now Conrail, which was moved away from 27 Cedar in the late 1950s.

Unpacking the Circus

As I recall, we drove to my aunts' house at 27 Cedar and then walked to the railroad crossing. I had certainly not seen anything before like the activity which took place. A well-oiled team of hundreds of workers unloaded the circus equipment from the train with tractors, loaders, cranes, and by hand.

The materials were loaded onto wagons and then pulled by truck and tractor to the circus grounds, which were located about a mile away on East Avenue. The route was Cedar Street to East Main Street, quickly onto Clinton Street and then to East Avenue. This involved closing those streets to traffic, and circus workers and police acting as traffic directors.

Of course, what people wanted the most to see were the circus animals, especially the elephants. The lions and tigers and other animals in cages were transported by wagon. Often the cages were covered with tarps to keep the animals calm and not give the spectators a free look. They would have to wait until they paid for a ticket to see them.

But the larger animals, such as show horses, were walked by their handlers. At some point we walked back to my aunts' to wait for the elephants to come marching by.

I realize that for many years people were concerned about using animals to entertain people and especially reports (often true) of abuse of the animals. This concern and protest eventually led to inspections and laws being passed to protect the animals. This finally caused Ringling Brothers to shut down for good in 2017, probably a good thing.

A Line of Elephants

However, when you are 9 years old and a line of elephants walks in the street by your aunts' house, it's a pretty impressive sight.

I have been to zoos and also took my kids to the Ringling Circus in the arena in Rochester in the early 1990s, but I never again got that close to, or was so awed by, such huge and impressive animals. Should they have been out of their natural habitat and walking through a city neighborhood? No. But when I was 9 it was a pretty cool thing to see.

From there, we somehow went to the circus grounds on East Avenue where the Big Top Tent and other parts of the circus were being set up. (Several years later the land was sold to developers and my childhood friend Charlie Mancuso's parents had a house built there.)

Trouble with the Big Top

The biggest job of all was setting up the huge tent. First of all, it had to be unrolled as you would a tarp on a baseball infield, except many times larger. It became a tradition over the years to enlist local kids to help with this in exchange for a free ticket.

So, I volunteered (probably with my mom's reluctant permission) and grabbed hold and began to pull. Well, somehow I fell and the huge tent was being pulled over the top of me! I guess they heard me yelling and the pulling was stopped and they fished me out from under there. I was so embarrassed and I think that was the end of my day at the circus grounds.

Here's the sad thing: I did get my ticket, but probably due to getting up so early and getting stuck under the huge tent. I never went to the circus show. I'm sure I'm more disappointed about it now than I was then, but still...

End of an Era

When I researched about the circus to jog my memory, I found out that 1956 was the last year the Ringling Brothers used the Big Top Tent.

On July 16^th, 10 days after the Batavia show that year, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the world (including 800 circus workers) were told by John Ringling North, the owner, that using the tent was no longer profitable and that the circus would be shut down for the season immediately.

The 800 workers were given only eight days severance pay and allowed to take the train back to circus headquarters in Sarasota, Florida. It was the end of the Big Top Era.

Image courtesy of Dave Reilly.

Garden Brothers Circus have brought to town clowns, jugglers, magicians, acrobats, stunt riders and everything else that goes with a professional, touring circus.

Including elephants.

This is the last tour that elephants will be included in the Garden Brothers Circus, so miss the show at 7:30 p.m. at Falleti Ice Arena and maybe you miss your last chance to see a circus with elephants.

These pictures are from the 4:30 p.m. performance today (no elephant pictures because I couldn't stick around until the end of the 90-minute show, but from what I saw, this is a circus well worth seeing).

This might be a surprise to you. Perhaps not. There's a circus in town. There's been some posters around town, apparently, but I didn't learn about it until I drove past the fairgounds today.

They performed last night and will perform again tonight.

Performances are at 5:30 and 7 p.m. Adult tickets are $15 each. Two children can get in for free with a paid adult.

The circus is produced by Walker International.

Please enjoy our tour around the big top... and the midway, and the petting zoo and everywhere else at the circus as the crews of Carson & Barnes got ready for the big show going on right now over at the Genesee County Fairgrounds.

From the Daily News (Monday):

• A memorial service has been scheduled Friday at 4:00pm at the Oakfield-Alabama High School for 17-year-old Erik Mooney who perished in a fire Friday at his Lewiston Road home. The Rev. Mark Perkins of Oakfield-Alabama Baptist Church will officiate. Erik's obituary is in today's paper.
• Reporter Paul Mrozek went from the pumps to the car dealerships to find out how some folks are coping with the escalating price of gas. No surprise, he found that quite a few commuters were trading in their big-rig trucks, trying to go from gas guzzler to fuel sipper. The Batavian sought your stories about how to handle the pinch at the pumps last week — and a few folks already started the dialogue. Now it's your turn. Log in and tell us how it has hit you and how you're planning to cope. And if anyone has any great ideas for a way out of the mess-turning-disaster, please, share.
• Everybody loves a circus! Well, one will be in town on June 10, when the Batavia Kiwanis and Genesee County Agricultural Society welcome the Carson & Barnes Circus to town. Get your seat in the big top between 4:30 and 7:30pm for the show at the Genesee County Fairgrounds. People are invited to watch the big top go up for free starting at 8:00am. Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Holland Land Office Museum, First Niagara Bank, the YWCA and the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.
• Once you've had your fill of acrobats and elephants, head out to the airport between July 2 and 6 for the Batavia Boogie, a skydiving extravaganza hosted by the Frontier Skydivers. For more information, visit Frontier's Web site — if for no other reason than to check out the great photos.
• Intern Kristen Kotz wrote a fine piece about Batavian Joseph Langen's new book, The Pastor's Inferno, a "fictional account of a priest ... who seeks redemption after abusing a young, male parishioner at his parish." You can purchase the novel or download an ebook version at Book Locker.

Subscribe to the Daily News at BataviaNews.com, or pick up a copy at a local newsstand, such as Main Street Coffee.