Former trapeze artist visits circus for her 80th birthday
JASON BEHNKEN/staff
Teresa Jones gets a hug from Ivan Vargas at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus at the Forum on Thursday night. When she was a trapeze artist in the 1950s, she didn't much care for the clowns, she says.
By JULIO OCHOA|
from TBO.com
January 05, 2013
TAMPA --
She never talks about that other life. Flying high above rapt audiences gaping at her airborne choreography, the graceful twists and turns in her sparkly sequined costume, was something that happened such a long, long time ago.
"I did it, and when it was over, I moved on," says Teresa Jones matter-of-factly of her years as a trapeze artist with the famous "Flying Zacchinis" troupe of Tampa. "I didn't really bring it up to people."
More than 50 years have come and gone since she's been back to the circus.
She buried one husband, divorced another, raised two children and worked as a counter clerk for a rental car company. The photographs and handbills of her high-flying days, performing at state fairs and with circus companies all over the country, have yellowed with age and were packed away in dusty boxes.
JASON BEHNKEN/staff
Teresa Jones gets a hug from Ivan Vargas at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus at the Forum on Thursday night. When she was a trapeze artist in the 1950s, she didn't much care for the clowns, she says.
By JULIO OCHOA|
from TBO.com
January 05, 2013
TAMPA --
She never talks about that other life. Flying high above rapt audiences gaping at her airborne choreography, the graceful twists and turns in her sparkly sequined costume, was something that happened such a long, long time ago.
"I did it, and when it was over, I moved on," says Teresa Jones matter-of-factly of her years as a trapeze artist with the famous "Flying Zacchinis" troupe of Tampa. "I didn't really bring it up to people."
More than 50 years have come and gone since she's been back to the circus.
She buried one husband, divorced another, raised two children and worked as a counter clerk for a rental car company. The photographs and handbills of her high-flying days, performing at state fairs and with circus companies all over the country, have yellowed with age and were packed away in dusty boxes.
Teresa Jones
Jones was recruited to be an aerialist with the Flying Zacchinis. At left is Eddie Zacchini. At right is George Alvarez, whom she married
Then, out of the blue, a fellow resident at the Bayshore Presbyterian Apartments in South Tampa presented her with an 80th birthday present: A ticket to Thursday's performance of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus at The Forum.
It was time to go home and relive some of that glorious past, if only as a spectator.
A lot more to read at:
http://www2.tbo.com/entertainment/breaking-news/2013/jan/05/former-trapeze-artist-visits-circus-for-her-80th-b-ar-598247/
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