“Join clubs and get involved!” said every student, professor, and parent I have ever spoken to. Especially as a freshman, it is tough to determine what clubs are cool or weird. Every school’s climate is different, but Ithaca College has a huge variety of clubs that I wasn’t even aware of.
How did I end up joining the circus? Well, I went to the student organizations fair and walked around aimlessly until we passed something…strange. We saw this tower of people, one that looked about eight feet off the ground. Then, a guy came out from behind the human tower and asked us if we were interested. I said “I wish,” and kept walking while my roommate signed up.
About a week later, none of my clubs were super exciting. Quite frankly, I was bored. My roommate decided to drag me to her club meeting to “spice up my life” as she called it. Around half past 8, we walked into the gym and met up with a bunch of people on the far side of the basketball court. These people looked like average, everyday people. Well, except for Mike with the blue hair.
After a few short introductions, we jumped straight into our warm-up: a game of “The Blob”. It’s basically tag, but you get an extra person every time you tag someone. Eventually, the person who’s “it” assembles a huge line of people who run linked to each other to take out the remaining players.
It was exhausting, to say the least.
After a small stretching session, I was instructed to try out any trick that looked fun or interesting. But there were so many different things going on. There was a guy flinging a cylinder off a string (Diablo), another guy balancing on a unicycle, a small group doing all types of acrobatics, a few jugglers, people swinging tethered balls (Poi), even a guy with a whip –and I’m talking like an Indiana Jones whip, one of those 6-foot long ones. Talk about frightening.
I eventually gathered the courage to walk over to a girl towards the opposite side of the room who was whirling around in a hula hoop. She had red hair and this red and white dress on that flared anytime she did a trick. She was so excited that I wanted to try hula hooping.
I eventually learned the girl’s name is Naomi and that she is a History major in her junior year. After drilling in the proper technique of a super-cool-but-easy trick, I asked her how she ended up in the circus.
A: I’ve always wanted to run away and join the circus –that’s what I told my mom. Icircus was actually one of the main reasons why I came to Ithaca College
Q: How did you end up specializing in hula hooping?
A: Well, my mom is a theatre director and during The Wizard of Oz, she wanted the tornado to be made out of hula hoops. There was this hula hoop dance class happening in town and I went and learned some tricks. That was my sophomore year of high school
Q: What were your initial reactions when joining Icircus?
A: I was pretty intimidated, but I wanted to be them! They all seemed so scary, which I quickly figured out is not the case. Everyone is so open to teaching people and bonding with them over random things, like researching pirates. I had no reason to be afraid of them –they are all so friendly.
Q: What do you like best about this club?
A: I really like the “kids” [people] here –I met some of my closest friends here. I also like the feeling of accomplishment I feel after I leave each practice. My life is a circus without the tent –I live out my dream here at Icircus and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
We kept practicing until the end of rehearsal. Naomi had asked if I was going to come back.
Believe it or not, I decided to give it another try.
This time, I wandered over to one of the jugglers, Nick. He always had this beanie on his head and these hipster glasses –not really the look of a juggler. It turns out that he’s a cello performance major in his junior year. Nick taught me some basics about the act of juggling and how to work up to juggling four balls at a time. That night, I had only gotten to two, but I had such a good time discussing life in the circus.
Q: Have you done any of your tricks before joining Icircus?
A: Actually, no. I learned everything I can do right here in Icircus.
Q: What was your initial reaction when you first joined?
A: It was insane. The presence [of the upperclassmen] was mind-blowing! There were people who looked like pros when they were only newbies.
Q: Speaking of newbies, do you have any advice for them?
A: Just come and experiment with us. Be open-minded and try new things –it’s ok to make mistakes. Just trying different things will help you find your niche and where you truly belong. Unlike other clubs [on campus], we have no set direction for you to go in. You choose what you learn and how you learn it –whether it be us teaching you or learning on your own. We’re all individuals here and that’s not easy to find.
Eventually, a short, stocky guy named Daniel hopped in the conversation, giving me further insight to what life is like in the circus, especially as a newcomer.
Daniel is an exchange student from Australia majoring in Physical Therapy. He is only at Ithaca College for one semester but has already learned so much from Icircus.
“I’ve learned how to juggle and am part of [Apple Fest’s] acro [performance],” says Daniel. “I like walking around and try[ing] new things –it’s like a playground.”
When I asked him about his adjustment as a “newbie” in Icircus, he said that someone once told him to “get comfortable with being uncomfortable,” Daniel believes that is what helped him adjust as well as he did.
“[Icircus] is just a jumbled mess of happiness,” says Daniel with a wide smile.
It wasn’t until the end of practice when I saw it –the thing that is hard to come by: a family.
ICircus is a family away from home. They are a bunch of individuals who just want to “spice up their life”. The “Ring leader”, Emily, defines ICircus as an “open space and community for people who are willing to come out of their shell and try something new,” Emily is a senior athletic training major who has kept up Icircus’s connections, particularly with the circus school called Circus Culture in Downtown, Ithaca. The owner, Amy Choen, is an Ithaca Alumni who is also the founder of Icircus.
You can catch ICircus’s charity show for Big Brothers Big Sisters right here in Ithaca, New York on October 7, 2017.
Ok, at least I can say I joined the circus.