This college encourages students to get high —
on a tightrope, trapeze or trampolineIllinois State University's Gamma Phi Circus has been wowing audiences since the 1930s. It's a rigorous, risky, unpaid activity, but the student acrobats 'do it because they love it.'picture
Performers in Illinois State's Gamma Phi Circus practice their "wall trampoline" routine, bouncing off their backs and then climbing to the top beam or flipping off of the glass wall. (Chuck Berman, Chicago Tribune) By Ted Gregory, Chicago Tribune April 10, 2011 Reporting from Normal, Ill.— Some teenagers leave home to go to college. Some leave to join the circus. Nena Woo did both. Woo attends Illinois State University and is a member of one of the rarest organizations on U.S. campuses: a collegiate circus. "When I left high school, I really wanted something new, something different," said Woo, a senior from Bourbonnais, Ill. "I wanted to do something I didn't even know about, and when I found this, I was like, 'Wow, this is it.' " Her specialty is the aerial hoop, a metal contraption about 40 inches in diameter suspended about 30 feet from the floor. Woo performs in and around it. She also walks the tight wire and swings on the trapeze. Never mind that she is afraid of heights. "I hate heights," she said. "But I hate that I hate heights. I'm trying to get rid of it." Illinois State's Gamma Phi Circus will mark its 80th year of performing with three shows starting Friday. It is one of only two university circuses; the other is Florida State's Flying High Circus, started in 1947 by an Illinois State alum. Performers don't receive scholarship money or academic credit, and they aren't paid. Some have performing experience but most of the 60 student members have none. "I think we have the most dedicated, hardest-working students on campus," circus Director Marcus Alouan said. "They give up hours and hours of time. They put their bodies through incredible amounts of abuse and stress and … they do it because they love it." The two-hour performances draw an average audience of 6,000 to the university's Redbird Arena and feature standard circus fare — juggling, tumbling, unicycles, teeterboard and clowns.read more at:http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-illinois-college-circus-20110411,0,4873803.story 
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