When Colby Balch enthusiastically shakes your hand, you momentarily worry your fingers will fracture.
A Sandy Springs native, Balch, 34, makes his living with that powerful grip. He's a "catcher" with the Flying Caceres, a trapeze act that's featured in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s “Barnum’s FUNundrum,” which will be held through Sunday at Gwinnett Arena.
The Marist High School graduate grew up infatuated by Ringling performances at the old Omni arena, yet distinctly recalls telling his folks that the flying trapeze was "something I could never do." He pursued an economics degree at Stanford University, then learned the trapeze after taking what he figured would be a fun-in-the-sun job at Club Med in the Dominican Republic, where circus arts training is a guest option.
His career has flown by since he went professional in 2006, joining the Flying Caceres and then the Flying Farfans, with which he toured Japan, Germany, Spain and Israel.
Last December, he was at the start of a backpacking tour of Thailand with his girlfriend Ashley Minkus when he got a Facebook message that the Flying Caceres wanted him as an emergency catcher replacement. Balch jumped because Ringling was "the pinnacle of working in the circus" and because the aerial artists were attempting the nearly impossible quadruple somersault trick, only the third troupe to try it in Ringling's 140-year history. By early January, he was in Miami, where, after only one overnight run-through and a single dress rehearsal, he was donning a sparkly costume with a big R on his chest.
We caught up with the high-spirited catcher as he strolled through Piedmont Park with his girlfriend on a spring-like day off this week while the Ringling train moved from Philips Arena downtown to Gwinnett.
On his feeling before performing at Philips, where he's seen many games and concerts: "Looking at it from the opposite direction -- not being in the seats looking down but being on the floor looking up and thinking to myself, 'Wow this place is going to be filled with people watching me' -- was astounding. It felt like the scene in 'Hoosiers' where the small-town Indiana basketball team walks onto the floor of this massive coliseum and just looks around, staring dumbstruck. A cool feeling."
On his opening-night jitters: "I have a sense of butterflies for every show. As a catcher you have a high level of responsibility and an anxiety level that goes along with that. You want to do your best so that the flyers do their best. So, yeah, opening night here was a big rush, a big spike. But having performed more than 1,000 shows, I know I can do it."
On his (lack of) a workout routine: "I'm not a gym person, I don't lift weights. I'm always physically active [especially when warming up for and performing in 10 or more shows a week]. It's not about muscle size, it's about overall core strength and fitness."
On what it takes to be a top catcher: "I almost approach it intellectually, as opposed to physically. It's about knowing what the flyer is doing so you can understand what they're going through and can react in the best possible way to accommodate that. A flyer is flying through the air at a really high speed -- up to 75 miles per hour when they're rotating in a triple or quadruple somersault -- and they have a split second in which they finish the trick in which you have to catch them. And it's not just about catching them but catching them and controlling them in a way that they feel secure and smooth and are able to gracefully finish. While I am admittedly undersized for a catcher [at 5-foot-11, 155 pounds] ... the passion with which I approach catching deepens the flyers' trust in me."
On collaborating with the Flying Caceres's six flyers: "There are some tense moments, but honestly that's one of the most beautiful parts of the circus -- when you approach the line of impossibility and you straddle it. And you know that one tiny little snowflake could tip you over the edge, and somehow you manage to pull it off. When you're able to complete the trick and return the flyer to the pedestal, you always turn around and you grin or laugh [with the flyer]. It's a moment of recognition that we just accomplished something together that defies reality or nature."
Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s “Barnum’s FUNundrum”
11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday; noon, 4 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Gwinnett Arena, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth. Tickets, $14-$35, at www.ringling.com, ticketmaster.com or the arena box office, with limited VIP seats at higher prices.
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