A visually impaired girl pets a four-legged performer following the Circus of the Senses performance at the Big Apple Circus on Wednesday. (Ivan Pentchoukov/The Epoch Times)Spotlighted sign language interpreters helped those with hearing impairments. Meanwhile, Big Apple Circus founders Paul Binder and Michael Christensen narrated a play-by-play description to those with vision impairments.
“The first year we did it, it was only blind kids and then we realized that there is an underserved community of hearing impaired kids as well,” said Binder.
A canine performer poses for a photo during a “touch session” for hearing and visually impaired children at the Big Apple Circus on Wednesday. (Ivan Pentchoukov/The Epoch Times)
Binder and Christensen paint a lively picture of the performance with their announcements, which are broadcast to headsets for children with vision impairments. The founders, who have been doing the play-by-plays for years, learned a few tricks to keep the children engaged. They call out the climax of each performance a second or so in advance, so those that can’t see can clap in unison with the rest of the crowd.
“Usually we don’t like the audio descriptions on other things, but we like it for this [performance] here,” said, Yokasta Urena, 32, who was attending the show for the third time with her daughter Aolani, 8. Both mother and daughter are visually impaired.
Aolani said she liked the trapeze act best.
This year’s performance is the 24th installment of Circus of the Senses. Children with disabilities are treated to the show for free.
Barry Lubin, who plays the comical character named Grandma in the show, has been with the circus for 25 years.
A visually impaired girl feels the leather strap of a horse costume during a special “touch session” in the ring of the Big Apple Circus on Nov. 9. (Ivan Pentchoukov/The Epoch Times)What’s unique to this situation is that not only do we get to entertain these people, but also we get to meet a lot of them,” said Lubin.
Following the performance, children were invited into the ring for a special “touch session.” They felt the performance costumes, petted the animals, shook hands with the acrobats, and spoke with the performers.
“It’s great to see all the children’s reactions to the overall performance. It’s pretty special to see how they respond,” said Martha Lord, executive director of the Big Apple Circus.The Big Apple Circus was founded as a nonprofit performing arts and outreach institution. In addition to Circus for the Senses it offers Clown Care, a program that has clowns visit children in local hospitals. Another program, Vaudeville Caravan, brings the circus to the elderly in Montrose, N.Y., and Chicago, Ill.
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