Circus Juventas is ready to take off with return of summer show

Jul. 24—Circus Juventas is flying again.

In so many ways.

With live performances shut down by the pandemic is 2020, St. Paul's youth circus school is ready to perform before audiences again under the Big Top at its home on Montreal Avenue. Circus Juventas' summer show will take flight July 30 through Aug. 15.

In the summer show, "Galaxium," performers fly to a distant planet on a mission to find a couple that disappeared (into thin air, it seems) decades before.

And of special note for audiences — flying returns to the annual show. In circus-speak, flying means trapeze. It's the first time in seven years that performers will soar, flip and grip as they swing and sail high in the air on the trapeze.

Dan Butler, who started Circus Juventas with his wife, Betty, 25 years ago, says they felt like they were "watching 26 years our lives go down the drain," when COVID-19 closed the school and performances. "It was the hardest year and hardest experience in our career." Between March 14, 2020, and Aug. 14, 2020, Circus Juventas lost $1.8 million, he says.

Like so many performing programs, Circus Juventas adapted, proving to be as flexible as its acrobats twisting through the air. Classes moved online, Zoomed from a deck outdoors behind the Big Top. Although the classes changed — there's no dangling from silks or spinning on ropes at home — "the kids just embraced it," Butler says.

Sensing that the students felt isolated, coaches delivered care packages to homes, he adds.

As students could come back to in-person classes, they were divided into pods, Butler says. Each student had designated equipment, and pieces that had to be shared were cleaned and sanitized. Programs have opened up as restrictions have eased.

After last summer's show was canceled, the Butlers decided to stage a holiday show for the first time. That wasn't able to run until after the holidays, but performances sold out, with audiences limited to 250.

The summer show features 75 of Circus Juventas' most advanced students.

About 'Galaxium'

Betty Butler is behind the theme and the story for each year's shows, which have ranged from "Grimm," inspired by the dark fairy tales in 2011, to "Steam" in 2018, which told its tale with a steampunk flair. Betty says she usually works two to three years ahead on the show ideas.

Although it was originally planned for 2020, the space travel-themed "Galaxium" proved to be prescient for this year, with billionaires going into space and the government releasing information on UFOs (now called Unidentified Aerial Phenomena).

In the story, a young space industrialist embarks on a journey her great-great grandparents took 100 years earlier and never returned. She and her crew travel across the galaxy to a world of beauty and ancient civilizations. There's a little bit of "Black Panther," a little bit of "Avatar" and a lot of sci-fi influence in the story, with the circus skills enhanced by costumes, sets and lighting.

The space mission in "Galaxium" fits with the mission of the circus school, Betty says, to go past your dreams and push your limitations. All the while, your fellow performers "hold you and keep you safe." The trust and the heart-pumping acrobatics: "That's going to make anyone feel alive."

'GALAXIUM'

— What: Circus Juventas' summer show "Galaxium"

— When: July 30-Aug. 15 (16 shows)

— Where: Circus Juventas Big Top, 1270 Montreal Ave., St. Paul

— Tickets: $50-$30; circusjuventas.org/summer-show-2021/

Circus Juventas founders took flight as teens

Circus Juventas founders Dan and Betty Butler met as teenagers in Sarasota, Fla., where they trained at Sailor Circus, one of the oldest circus schools in the country. They trained with legendary, retired performers from Ringling Bros., including Tom Edelson (Guinness Book World Record holder on flying trapeze) and Gunther Wallenda of the Walking Wallendas (internationally renowned high wire walkers).

Betty says before she found the circus, she'd tried everything from a bowling league to ice skating, "but once I started training with the circus, it resonated with me like none of the other activities had ever done."

Dan had been a golfer and a hockey player.

The Butlers trained at the Florida State University Flying High Circus and moved into careers outside of the Big Top. They had three small children when they moved to St. Paul and started an after-school program called Circus of the Star in 1994 at a recreation center in Highland Park. The program grew and became Circus Juventas, the largest performing arts circus school in North America, with more than 1,500 students in year-round classes and summer camp programs. The Big Top school and performance space on Montreal Avenue opened in 2001.