FROM ACADEMICS TO ACROBATICS:
How Circus Club Unites and Excites UK Students WRITTEN BY KRISTEN ROBERTS
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oom 104 in Barker Hall on the University of Kentucky’s campus is a hidden spot for many students, but for others, it’s a second home for one night a week. Inside the room resides the UK Circus Club, the only university club of its kind in all of Kentucky, according to staff advisor Kylee Pipgrass. Nearly 20 participating students enter the cold, quiet room after signing a waiver acknowledging the dangerous activities they are about to take on. The room heats up as aerial acrobats take advantage of the blue silk curtains hung about 15-feet-high from the ceiling, as well as a lyra hoop and trapeze. Jugglers, contortionists, stilt walkers, cyr wheel artists and unicyclists remain on the ground but utilize the space to enhance their skills all the same. The club was founded by former UK student Jess Farace in 2021 with the help of Meg Wallace, a philosophy professor and the club’s faculty adviser. Farace took Wallace’s Circus and Philosophy class in the fall of 2021, where Wallace said she teaches students circus skills as well as how philosophical thought processes apply to circus arts. Wallace said many students left the class thinking, “This is great, but I want more circus,” and Farace was one of those students. Farace then went to Wallace with the idea of creating a circus club, which they did. “I think the very first day we had about 50 people who came in,” Wallace said. She said some people show up not even knowing what circus arts are, and most members come in with no prior experience whatsoever. “It’s not about getting people together who are experts at this in any way; it’s about getting people who are curious to learn something new and do something a little different,” Wallace said. Wallace has been practicing circus arts for 13 years ever since her first aerial class in Louisville, Kentucky, she said. Amber Singh, the current UK circus club president, said Wallace has taught several club members a lot of what they know. Though the club operates without any trained teachers, the members learn through skill sharing. Anyone at any skill level can join the club, Singh
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PHOTO BY HOLLY NETZLEY Peyton Cummins performs tricks on the aerial silks at a University of Kentucky Circus Club meeting on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024, in Barker Hall in Lexington, Ky.
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It’s not about getting people together who are experts at this in any way; it’s about getting people who are curious to learn something new and do something a little different.” - MEG WALLACE
CIRCUS CLUB CO-FOUNDER AND FACULTY ADVISER