INTERVIEW: For Jan Vazquez, Flip Circus is all about family
Photo: Jan Vazquez is one of the performers and also the Ringmaster of Flip Circus. Photo courtesy of the artist / Provided by Alan Miller PR with permission.
Jan Vazquez is a fourth-generation circus performer, and throughout the years he has built his career to amazing heights — literally. He and his fellow circus performers can be seen in Flip Circus, a family-friendly spectacle that is setting up in the parking lot of the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, from Friday, March 21, to Sunday, April 1.
“It is a family show,” Vazquez said in a recent phone interview. “Everybody is going to have fun here. We have an extraordinary cast of world-class artists, and I perform in the show. I have my own act. I’m an artist. I’m also a Ringmaster.”
Being the Ringmaster is quite the responsibility and quite the honor for the lifelong circus performer. In the role, he has the unique opportunity to interact directly with audience members who are assembled beneath the big-top tent.
“I maintain the rhythm of the show, and my other job as a Ringmaster is to make sure that everything is going fluidly, that the lights are working properly, the sound is sounding good, that the artists are in top shape, that they’re performing at their best,” he said. “I have my own act with my sister. It is called a Rolla Bolla act, so it is a balancing act. The Rolla Bolla is basically a board on top of a cylinder, which I have to stand on and keep the balance. Then my sister goes on my shoulders, and she does these amazing balance tricks. And we have many other acts, an international cast of world-class artists, so we have Bingo, who is this girl who does this awesome slack-wire balance act, which is not very common nowadays in the circus, but it’s very classic. We have, of course, a clown. You cannot have a circus without a clown, and we have the Bravuuri Troupe, winners of Finland’s Got Talent, really crazy acrobatics with jump ropes, and many more other amazing artists.”
Vazquez grew up in the circus life and wants to keep this cultural art form alive. It’s his family that runs Flip Circus and its other brand, Circus Vazquez, which has origins dating back to Mexico City in the late 1960s. “We put a lot of heart into our show, and we try to do our best to give the people the best experience, the best circus show possible,” he said.
Working with his sister on stage is fun and challenging. They talk after every performance to work out any details; occasionally there are fights, but nothing too serious. Here’s how they begin developing an act …
“Basically it starts with just talking, kind of discussing, sit down and maybe write down some ideas, kind of brainstorm what we can do,” Vazquez said. “For example, for our act, the Rolla Bolla is usually a single-person act who does the balancing, right. So we were going to initially do separate Rolla Bollas. She was going to do hers; I was going to do mine and do a synchronized act. But … why not just do a duo act where I balance on the Rolla Bolla, and my sister goes on top of my shoulders and starts doing handstands and balancing. So it was just kind of playing around with ideas to see what we could incorporate. We added some juggling into it, and we’re not jugglers by profession, but being in a circus, you get to learn all these different tricks and disciplines. So we thought maybe we could mix it up with other acts. We kind of just merged some stuff together until it started to take form. … After deciding what we were going to do, the hardest part is just getting started, starting to try new things that we never tried before.”
Vazquez added: “It’s always best to be physically ready, try to work out, but some of the acts it’s not just about strength. It’s a lot about technique, the way you do the trick. You have to try to make it as effortless as possible and just a lot of repetition — start out really, really simple and then build up.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Flip Circus, featuring Jan Vazquez as the Ringmaster, plays under the big-top tent in the parking lot of Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, from Friday, March 21, to Sunday, April 1. Click here for more information and tickets.
