The close of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in May 2017 brought traditional circus to an end. Now, when someone decides to become a circus performer, they picture themselves performing on a beautifully designed stage with zero animals and being addressed as "the artist" backstage; they think about working in circuses like Cirque Du Soleil. As the biggest circus company in the world, Cirque Du Soleil only hires top-level circus performers and acrobats regardless of nationality, which means the competition is worldwide. As one of the most powerful countries, America is poorly equipped to produce such high-level performers due to high cost of training, lack of systematic training, and the lack of high-quality show market, which makes the dream-chasing journal extremely difficult.
America provides little systematic circus training opportunities due to lack of consistency and high cost. As we all know, to become an artist, a dancer, a theatre director, one should go to New York; film, la; jazz musician, New Orleans. These places provide not only education in the field, but also work opportunities for people with different skill levels. While Las Vegas is the place for working circus performers, the best training a circus-performer-to-be could find in there is private lessons with performers from Cirque Du Soleil shows who hope to make a couple extra dollars. While valuable knowledge could be passed on, performers from big circus shows usually feel entitled to charge as high as $120/hr for private lessons. To become a professional circus performer, similar to sports, requires long and consistent training and constant supervision and instruction (refer to the training hours in professional circuses in China: ten hours a day, six days a week). The average weekly salary in Las Vegas as of February 2021 is $1224, which makes it unrealistic to maintain the consistent training.
Moreover, big cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York all have circus studios that provide training for all levels, while it can be more consistent than the private lessons, the problems of high cost and lack of system still exist. Some studios provide both recreational classes and more serious training programs for aspiring circus performers. These programs usually require the students to train 15 to 20 hours a week with prices ranging from $1400 to $2000 per session (4 months), and they are usually one year programs with possibility to extend. The first problem with 20 hours of training per week is that it is far from enough to reach a high level within a few years. The second problem is that with half a week being occupied by training, the students can only do a part-time job to afford the training expense. While some may have another skill and education to find a higher-paying job, most of them are stuck with minimum wage, which makes the training expense a heavy financial burden. On top of that, it may take up to four years to become a semi-professional, which is as far as the program will take someone, but semi-professional is far from world-top level that Cirque Du Soleil is looking for, so even after a few years of hard working, the dreamland still seems far.
The lack of high-quality circus show markets around the country is another factor that stops aspiring circus performers to achieve their dream. A high-level circus performer consists of two parts, circus and performing. Systematic or not, there are many studios in the country that teach circus, which includes acrobatics, juggling, handstand, and aerial skills and so on, but learning the skill and being able to do it in front of hundreds of people without panicking, shaking or having trouble breathing is a different skill, and the only way to practice is by doing it in front of hundreds of people. Corporate events are a popular occasion for performers of all levels to find work. However, the chain of popularity is no friend to mediocre circus performers. Glorious dancers in bikini, magicians, high-level circus performers, and experienced entertainers who have 12 different outfits and skill sets are all above a semi-professional newbie circus performer. After all, these corporate events need gloriousness, that's why the glorious bikini dancers are so popular. Thus, under the fierce competition, the new circus performers become the agents' last choice because they are not professional, but without the performing opportunities, they can never be professional.
To conclude, for people who determine to become a professional circus performer, throughout the country of the United States, there is no one city that provides them the resources they need, which makes their dream inaccessible. Reasons such as lack of systematic training, high cost of training, and the absence of high-quality circus show market are three big barriers an aspiring circus performer needs to face.
What an interesting topic of discussion. I used to go to Ringling Brothers circus events growing up and its sad to hear that they won't be performing the same way they did before again. It's also cool to see how this stretches into economics since the lack of this traditional circus has left many performers stranded. Worse yet, as you mention, there isn't a market in the U.S. anymore for performers who are rising stars in the field. We can only hope that more opportunities to perform present themselves so these growing circus performers get a chance to spread their wings.
I love the perspective you are able to bring to this as a modern-day circus performer! I would love to hear more about your experiences traveling around and being part of a circus. I really enjoyed going to the circus when I was a child. They are so magical and beautiful! I am also glad that circuses are acknowledging their history of animal cruelty. I hope that moving forward they will find other alternatives like the digital projections of animals featured.