INTERVIEW: NY-NJ audiences can enjoy intimate Flip Circus
Photo: Flip Circus is finishing up a run in Paramus, New Jersey, and will soon head to Yonkers, New York. Photo courtesy of Flip Circus / Provided by Alan Miller PR with permission.
Flip Circus, which was created during the COVID-19 pandemic, offers audiences the rare chance to enjoy the circus arts up close and personal. The tent, which is currently standing in the parking lot of the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, is one of the smallest of its kind in the world, offering an unparalleled experience of intimacy for fans. After Jersey, Flip Circus, which is staged by the world-famous Vazquez Family, heads to Yonkers and Staten Island in New York, with an in-between stop in Pennsylvania.
Underneath the tent, performers wow children and adults alike with acrobatic feats, body-bending maneuvers and dizzying spins of the hula hoop, according to press notes. A live band complements the oohs and aahs for the audience of 800 in the big-top tent. Many different cultures and countries are represented amongst the hard-working professionals both on stage and behind the scenes. There’s Ringmaster Arthur Figueroa, a returning host for the evening, plus Gleyston “Bubi” Guiner, a clown performer from Brazil. Pavel Valla Bertini, from the Czech Republic, is a unicyclist extraordinaire, while the Reyes Brothers, from Chile, are skilled jugglers.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox spoke with Alexa Vazquez, one of the acts featured in this year’s circus. In the 2024 iteration of Flip Circus, the fourth-generation circus performer — whose is a member of the Vazquez Family — offers a hula hoop routine and a Cyr wheel sequence. For the uninitiated, the Cyr wheel is like a large hula hoop that connects outstretched arms and legs. Here’s what she had to say …
On what audience members can expect at Flip Circus …
“I always like to say they can expect the unexpected. As soon as they walk into Flip, you’re going to see a show that’s for the entire family. It’s a show that takes you from adrenaline to happiness to energetic to a lot of emotions that you’re going to be feeling, not only emotions, but you’re so close to the action on the stage that you feel almost a part of the performance as well. … One of the things nowadays, when you go to the movies, for example, you can’t really see a whole family film. It’s either for the kids or the adults, and the circus is not like that. It’s for the whole family. There’s something to enjoy for the kids, for the dad, for the mom, for anybody who wants to go.”
On how Flip Circus was first developed …
“It started with Circus Vazquez. We’ve been in the circus industry for over 50 years, and then actually Flip was created through the pandemic. We like to call it our pandemic baby because as we were in the pandemic, we started deciding that we wanted to venture outside of Vazquez. … Vazquez is actually one of the biggest tents in all of the United States. In Flip, it’s one of the smallest.”
On what she performs in the show …
“Every year we have to change our acts. As part of a family, we’re here all the time, so changing our performances every year is fundamental. And this year they decided it was hula hoops with the combination of the Cyr wheel.”
On what it’s like growing up in a circus family …
“We’ve been training since we were kids. I started training with gymnastics at the age of 6. … Then performing I started at 15, and I haven’t stopped ever since. … I do aerial as well. So that adds a little bit more of a scary kind of thing for the audience. You’re up in the air most of the time, but for hoops or any ground act, you have to build the momentum and excitement of what you’re doing next. So hoops is more about energy, more movements. A lot of the kids really love it because they can get a hoop at their local grocery store, and then they can go home and be like, ‘I want to be a circus performer.’ So that’s our idea where you take something ordinary into something extraordinary.”
On the decision to not have animals in the circus anymore …
“We have to revolutionize all the time. We have to be unique, and I think animals were a big part of the circus industry for many years. Although we miss them, we no longer use them. We don’t find it necessary to keep using them. I think the show is great without them. It’s an amazing show.”
On how business has been going in the New York and New Jersey area …
“We tend to sell out pretty quickly. It is a small tent, so we do add more shows during the week to keep up with the crowd. Yonkers is one of our favorite cities. The crowd really loves the show. They keep asking us to come back, and that’s why we’re coming back every year.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Flip Circus continues in Paramus, New Jersey, through Tuesday, March 5. The circus then moves to Yonkers, New York, from March 8 to April 2. Click here for more information and tickets.
