Circus Bella’s lighted marquee beckons circus goers approaching from the Embarcadero or Salesforce Pak. Carnaval carts with popcorn, cotton candy, and adult beverages are staffed with cheery servers and the iconic red-and-white-striped tent is warm and cozy. The venue’s intimate scale brings an immediacy to the proceedings, and sightlines are well managed with chairs surrounding a raised circular stage.
Bedazzled from head to toe, the acrobats of Circus Bella’s Kaleidoscope shine brightly, offering feats of strength, grace, and flexibility. San Francisco’s own homegrown Circus Bella, a mainstay of free summer park programs, has pitched their tent under a veritable forest of dazzling skyscrapers. Taking advantage of the tent’s high ceiling, Director Abigail Munn and her troupe present a series of stunning aerial acts.
With clowning to tickle our funny bones and performers whose skills leave us in awe, Circus Bella offers a respite from real world responsibilities. While billed as a “holiday spectacular,” Kaleidoscope is refreshingly free of any representation of the omnipresent Winter holidays. Appropriate for all ages, opening night’s audience includes a cohort of corporate holiday party attendees, as well as intergenerational groupings who perhaps first discovered Circus Bella outdoors in a local greenspace.
Clowns Calvin Kai Ku, Jamie Coventry, and Natasha Kaluza are the heart and soul of Circus Bella. Taking the stage between acts, their sight-gags, pratfalls, comic antics and elastic expressions have me laughing out loud at every turn as umbrellas burst out of rainslickers and fire extinguishers shoot rainbows of snakes. Munn makes a wonderful foil as a stern but indulgent ring mistress attempting to regain control of the clowns and move the show along.
In a bit worthy of “The Lucy Show,” Kaluza, dangling from a waist harness, attempts to fly through a small star-emblazoned hoop. The embodiment of ineptitude her skinny legs churn below her wonky pastel tutu as she soars above her hapless compatriots who run hither and yon in an effort to get the target in a place where she might hit it.
The specialty artists each have their own apparatus. New this year, on the slack-rope Esther de Monteflores has me agape throughout her routine. Somehow, she walks on, rolls over, and even strikes the splits while balancing on a draping rope strung across the stage. Also new this season is Garrett Allen, who uses his muscularity and astute equilibrium to perform deep side bends and one-armed handstands on a growing stack of metal chairs, which he assembles as he goes, rising ever higher into the tent’s canopy.
Floating in air, with limbs woven around two long straps, aerial strap entertainer Veronica Blair is the embodiment of sultry strength and sophistication, as she offers dramatic split-legged poses and thrilling mid-air somersaults. Lyra artist, Dwoira Galilea strikes alluring shapes in and around her fast-spinning aerial hoop in a display of elegance and flexibility. With otherworldly suppleness and the grace of a dancer, Elise Hing crafts a mesmerizing routine. From a handstand, she folds her torso backward until her legs shoot out past her ears, as her warm smile and sparkling eyes bely the difficulty of her contortions.
Toni Cannon walks vertically up the Chinese Pole, assuming a cross-legged perch near the top. Hands free, his clenched thighs hold him in place as he arches backward. We gasp in fear as he suddenly plummets downward, head first, only to stop abruptly mere inches above the deck, with the reclasping of his thighs.
All the performers and the roustabouts get in on “The Big Juggle,” in which a dozen jugglers share responsibility for keeping three dozen pins in the air while circling around, climbing upon, and cavorting through each other. This means juggler Jefferson Freire has his work cut out for him if he is to best his castmates, a feat he accomplishes with aplomb, tossing his pins with gusto as he rides a towering unicycle.
Rola Bola artist Ori Quesada has fashioned a trick so difficult that Munn tells us no one else in the U.S. performs it. Standing on a board, he surfs to and fro over an 8” hollow tube, while flipping metal bowls off the end of the board onto his head, where they amazingly land inside each other forming an impressive stack. A near miss adds to the excitement and emphasizes the precarity of this trick.
The production values are superlative throughout. Autumn Adamme’s Vegas-worthy costumes sparkle in the transporting lighting of designer Tristan Fabiunke. The Circus Bella All Star Band, led by accordionist, composer, and music arranger Rob Reich, set the stage for a joyous and inventive show, as their brassy opening fanfare draws from a variety of influences including Klezmer and carnival music. Performing from their bandstand above the stage, the ensemble is responsive to the stage proceedings, ready with a slide whistle or a drum roll as appropriate.
Near the end of the show, Munn sings a tuneful rendition of “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” The lyrics “It's a Barnum and Bailey world, just as phony as it can be, but it wouldn't be make-believe, if you believe in me,” serve as a reminder of our role as participants in the magic of theater. It is a fitting, if poignant, finale, which might also make a heartfelt opening number.
San Francisco is fortunate to have in Circus Bella a circus-arts-based non-profit performing arts organization offering high-quality entertainment that is family-friendly without be obsequious. May this second annual December show, running December 13 through January 5, become a long-running tradition.
Review by Jen Norris, published December 15, 2024
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Production Credits
Abigail Munn | Director
Veronica Blair | Aerial Straps
Toni Cannon | Chinese Pole
Jamie Coventry | Clown
Jefferson Freire | Juggling and Unicycle
Dwoira Galilea | Aerial Hoop
Elise Hing | Contortion
Natasha Kaluza | Clown and Hula Hoops
Calvin Kai Ku | Clown
Garrett Allen | Chair Stack
Esther deMonteflores| Slack Rope
THE CIRCUS BELLA ALL STAR BAND:
Rob Reich | Bandleader - Percussion,
Michael Pinkham Saxophone,
Kasey Knudsen Trumpet,
Ian Carey Tuba,
Jonathan Seiberlich
Violin, Shaina Evonik
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Director, Producer & Ringmaster - Abigail Munn
Music Composition & Arrangement - Rob Reich
Costume Design & Fabrication - Autumn Adamme & Dark Garden Unique Corsetry
Lighting Designer - Tristan Fabiunke
Production Manager - Carlo Gentile
Tent Boss - Kirk Marsh
Roustabout & Company Artisan - Jack Weinstock
Clown Coach - Michelle Matlock
Contortion Choreography - Leslie Tipton
Lead Sound Engineer - Andrew Heller
House Manager - Rhonda Sauce
Roustabouts - Circole Beye, Damari Gilbert
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