Queens Tribune

The Big Apple Circus is returning to Queens this weekend with a special treat for Big Top fans.

The New York founded circus is continuing its special 30th anniversary tour, “Celebrate,” at Cunningham Park in Fresh Meadows from May 10 to May 26. The show features acts from an international cast of performing artists and original music from award-winning Broadway composer Michael Valenti.
“It’s a great tradition of joy and wonder,” Paul Binder, the circus’ co-founder and artistic director, said.

The show’s theme, celebration, will drive all of the performances planned for the anniversary show.
“Each act will represent a different form of celebration,” Binder said.

Binder, a native of Brooklyn, helped found the circus in 1977 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the performing arts and public service.

“My partner and I had been one of the early street juggling teams,” Binder said. “We were recruited to work with the Casino de Paris. The Nouveau Cirque de Paris people saw us working there and said, ‘C’mon, let’s put you in a show with us.’ We toured all over France,” he said. “That was the beginning of the Big Apple Circus. All of our circus experience came there.”

Binder, inspired by the intimacy of European circus acts, decided it was time to share his experiences with fellow New Yorkers.

“I thought it would be a wonderful thing to create a circus for New York City,” Binder said. But he wasn’t satisfied with simple entertainment. “We set out to create a world-class performing-arts institution that would serve the communities where we performed,” he said.

The circus’ flagship community program, the Clown Care Center, sends more than 90 clowns to pediatric centers across the country, making nearly 250,000 one-on-one bedside visits annually.

“We try to change the energy,” Matthew Pauli, a veteran of the Clown Care Center and this year’s Grandma the Clown, said. “There’s so much going on that nobody can control. We’re the only people in the hospital with white coats in complete control over a dire situation. It’s very exciting to be a part of.”

“It’s difficult to say which I prefer,” Pauli said of his two roles. Grandma the Clown has become something of a mascot for the circus, which has featured a Grandma act in each of its 30 years.

“She’s the face of the Big Apple Circus,” he said.
Pauli said Grandma’s fans can expect something new this year – they’re planning a musical act with the circus’ band for the anniversary show.

But Grandma isn’t the only one with a new act. Sarah Schwartz, a native of Hanover, Germany and two-year company veteran, will perform in a new dance and acrobatic routine called Golden Statues.

“We’re painted from head to toe in gold,” Schwartz said. “We move very slowly from one position to another. People don’t really understand how we get from one position to the other. You’ll have to be an acrobat to understand what’s going on.”
“It’s a lot of work but great fun,” Schwartz, who spent a year preparing for the act, said.

“Celebrate” will also feature hula-hoop dancing, juggling performances, animal acts, aerial acrobats and feats of strength and agility – all within 50 feet of the ring.
“It’s a wonderfully intimate production built for families,” Binder said. “It’s going to be a very strong show.”