Local circus promises flying animals, BMX riders
Gail Mirabella is a dog trainer for the Circus Athena, Athens' first organized circus. ALLISON LOVE/StaffBy MORGAN JOHNSON
from: redandblack.com
February 16, 2012
ATHENS, GA--Ben Austin’s personal life is a sideshow to his day job.
As director of Circus Athena, Athens’ first organized circus performance featuring talented locals and visitors, Austin is seeking the most unusual way to recreate his past in the present.
But the University graduate’s journey to the circus started out-of-state.
“I was a cook for a traveling geology field school with my girlfriend,” he said “One of the students on the trip bought himself a unicycle when we were in Santa Fe … I play the accordion, and my girlfriend said I should have had it with me so there would be an accordion and unicycle. So I bought an accordion on the trip. It felt like we were in a traveling circus.”
Although Austin’s traveling circus ended, his interest in the unusual remained.
“I play the piano — it’s my main instrument,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of bands and we’ve always been really theatrical wearing costumes on stage. More and more I found that my friends were doing circus stuff — unicycle riders, fire spinners and trapeze artists.”
With ideas seeded in his mind, Austin’s circus show sought to be a reality.
“I came back to Athens after that trip and I was working with a catering company,” he said. “‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’ you know? I knew I needed to make something happen and not just chill forever. Once the Morton Theatre came through, and they were willing to have me, that got the momentum going.”
His momentum led him to the streets, where he found inspirational circus acts in all forms.
“I just looked around Athens and saw all these people doing their own thing, but there was no unified show,” he said. “Take hula hooping: you can’t just put on a hula hoop show. It can be super entertaining for like 10 minutes, but then it gets boring. You have to put it together.”
And so he did. With a cast of nearly 70 performers, Austin’s past few months have included hunting down talent from the area … in a not-so-traditional way.
“As far as finding people, a lot of it was word-of-mouth,” he said. “I did a lot of Facebook stalking. I had an idea that a BMX rider would be good, and I Googled ‘BMX riders Athens’ and came across this guy. I found him on Facebook, we met up and he agreed to be in it. If I were trying to do this 20 years ago, before the Internet, it would’ve been really hard to find people.”
With numerous talents in tow — including famed dog trainer Gail Mirabella and the Dynamo Flying Dogs —— audiences have much to look forward to.
“There hasn’t ever been anything like it before in Athens,” Austin said.
ATHENS, GA--Ben Austin’s personal life is a sideshow to his day job.
As director of Circus Athena, Athens’ first organized circus performance featuring talented locals and visitors, Austin is seeking the most unusual way to recreate his past in the present.
But the University graduate’s journey to the circus started out-of-state.
“I was a cook for a traveling geology field school with my girlfriend,” he said “One of the students on the trip bought himself a unicycle when we were in Santa Fe … I play the accordion, and my girlfriend said I should have had it with me so there would be an accordion and unicycle. So I bought an accordion on the trip. It felt like we were in a traveling circus.”
Although Austin’s traveling circus ended, his interest in the unusual remained.
“I play the piano — it’s my main instrument,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of bands and we’ve always been really theatrical wearing costumes on stage. More and more I found that my friends were doing circus stuff — unicycle riders, fire spinners and trapeze artists.”
With ideas seeded in his mind, Austin’s circus show sought to be a reality.
“I came back to Athens after that trip and I was working with a catering company,” he said. “‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’ you know? I knew I needed to make something happen and not just chill forever. Once the Morton Theatre came through, and they were willing to have me, that got the momentum going.”
His momentum led him to the streets, where he found inspirational circus acts in all forms.
“I just looked around Athens and saw all these people doing their own thing, but there was no unified show,” he said. “Take hula hooping: you can’t just put on a hula hoop show. It can be super entertaining for like 10 minutes, but then it gets boring. You have to put it together.”
And so he did. With a cast of nearly 70 performers, Austin’s past few months have included hunting down talent from the area … in a not-so-traditional way.
“As far as finding people, a lot of it was word-of-mouth,” he said. “I did a lot of Facebook stalking. I had an idea that a BMX rider would be good, and I Googled ‘BMX riders Athens’ and came across this guy. I found him on Facebook, we met up and he agreed to be in it. If I were trying to do this 20 years ago, before the Internet, it would’ve been really hard to find people.”
With numerous talents in tow — including famed dog trainer Gail Mirabella and the Dynamo Flying Dogs —— audiences have much to look forward to.
“There hasn’t ever been anything like it before in Athens,” Austin said.
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