Miracle baby Angel with her dad Right: Angel’s grandmother, who performed archery as Princess Moira
An aerial view of the family circus
they are still absolutely hilarious. includes mum Kitty, dad Istvan, I have a cousin, Mooky the Clown, Angel’s elder sister Summer, 24, who works at the Blackpool Tower and brothers Robert, 16, and Nevis, circus. He is huge fun in and out of 11, as well as Summer’s husband, the ring and has me in stitches. Salvatore Samvito, an Italian “Although I am from a circus performer who specialises in highfamily, I am part of a bigger family wire and escapologist acts. The every year. When you hit the couple met when Summer toured road, you are all one big family. Europe as a low-wire performer. You get to spend your time with “I don’t have any special circus amazing people, from all sorts of skills, although I have been Angel works at the King’s cultures. When I was growing up, practising foot juggling,” says Angel. Arms, Polebrook my best friend was a little girl called “But everybody does more than Namuna, who was from a Mongolian family of one job in a circus and my business skills mean acrobats, although her father was a strongman. I can get involved in the admin side and do We still keep in touch, through Facebook. the bookings and venues. There is a massive “The future? Who knows, one day I might run amount of planning involved in hitting the road my own circus. I could return to college – I enjoy with a big circus. It’s not just a case of turning studying – but I don’t think I will. People ask if up and putting up a tent!” I’ll ever meet someone and settle down, but Apart from the family, there will also be a that’s not part of the plan. I love this area, which host of other performers – including clowns, of has always had circus connections. Polebrook course. And according to Angel, there’s no such and Kings Cliffe are both associated with circus thing as a sad clown behind the painted smile, people and one of the most famous performers even off-duty. of all, Coco the Clown, is buried at Woodnewton. “Clowns really are the funniest people “Polebrook will always be my home when I’m you’ll ever meet,” she says. “They often have not on the road, but it’s the circus life for me.” a different personality outside the ring, but Angel with her sister Summer
Angel as ringmistress last year in Southwold
BIG TOP? SMALL CHANCE! Want to take your family to the circus? It isn’t as easy as you’d think... In the past you probably didn’t know there was a circus in town until the trucks arrived and they started erecting the big top on the local park. Astonishingly, in this era of social media, it is pretty much the same today. True, many circuses do have websites and Facebook pages. Unfortunately, most range from bewilderingly incomprehensible to hopelessly out of date: I found one that hadn’t been updated since 2014! And the vast majority of those that do supply information on forthcoming dates and venues appear reluctant to mention any performances more than a week or two ahead. The best way to check out the latest information on circus tours in the UK is by going to www.thecircusdiaries.com, which lists all the big circuses, as well as the smaller and edgier ones. These days, many combine circus skills with dance and theatre and there are also some interactive troupes that both perform and hold workshops to teach youngsters how to juggle and clown around. If you’re too impatient to wait until the day a circus suddenly parks up on the local rec, here are some that have confirmed they are coming to town (or nearby!) in the coming weeks: CIRCUS PAZAZ Billed as the best little big top circus in town, Circus PaZaz offers classis circus entertainment for all the family, plus circus skills workshops for children. It’ll be at Kimbolton School Fete on June 24. www.circuspazaz.com CIRCUS ACROJOU Formed in 2006, Acrojou’s performers combine circus, visual art, theatre, dance and engineering disciplines to ‘create narrative at the rich meeting point of bodies, structures and materials’. It’ll be in Peterborough on September 2. www.acrojou.com CIRCUS OF HORRORS A new wave Gothic-style circus billed as ‘an amazing amalgamation of bizarre, brave and beautiful acts woven into a sensational shockhorror story’, this one contains adult language and is unsuitable for under-16s. See why on November 24 at Corby Cube and November 25 at Thomas Clarkson Academy, Wisbech. www.circusofhorrors.co.uk
NENE LIVING JULY 2017
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