Removing your shoes is required when setting foot on the mat-covered floor of the southwest Atlanta loft where Imperial Opa Circus practices.
From stilt walkers to snake lady-trapeze artist Vivian Kyle, Imperial Opa has a core cast of about 10 members and a network of more than 200 affiliated artists. They’re busy rolling, jumping and, in the case of aerialist Dorian DeGray, dangling contorted in a hoop harnessed in the air.
“I am better in the air than I am on the ground,” DeGray said, greeting a recent visitor.
The main room of the loft was filled with martial artists, fire breathers and body-stackers who jumped out of a human pyramid formation when a female member nearly bumped her head on the ceiling.
At the base of the pyramid was Steve Seaberg, 83, who has performed with Imperial Opa since its founding in 2009.
“It keeps me in shape, young and it’s good for my mind,” said Seaberg, a professional acrobat in Atlanta for more than 25 years. Also an artist, Seaberg has designed several murals in Cabbagetown and spent three years teaching humanities at Clark Atlanta University.
Seaberg’s age does not hinder his abilities in the Atlanta-based circus. He is responsible for designing outrageous body-stacking formations as well as sharing his extensive acrobatic knowledge with the group.
“Now, when I go to the grocery store, I see people and think, ‘Where would they fit on a pyramid?’” Seaberg said.
Imperial Opa founder Tim Mack began his circus career touring with Cirque Du Soleil as a photographer. Once he parted ways with that famed troupe, he began to develop exciting and dangerous acts of his own with no professional training.
“I failed a lot of times,” Mack said, “but it’s about getting back up.”
Imperial Opa has been his full-time profession for the past three years, but he is no longer alone; a support team has developed along with the tight-knit circus family that lifts, tumbles and falls together.
Imperial Opa Circus is available to perform at corporate and community events as well as nightclubs, with the performers divvying up the proceeds, but Mack has a vision of performing on a large scale. The circus is raising funds for its upcoming show, “The Clown Dies at the End,” planned for later this year. You can catch Imperial Opa Circus practicing at Piedmont Park beginning on May 25.
Katina Dunkerly has performed with Imperial Opa for three years but has been a professional hoop performer for nine years. With a master’s degree in autism and behavioral disorders, Dunkerly moved to Atlanta in search of a community, and found the circus.
Dunkerly, who is 5 feet tall, gained eight dress sizes after having an emergency appendectomy. She credits her hooping passion with helping her lose the weight and get back in shape.
“Hooping helped me work on different muscles in my body,” Dunkerly said. “You can express yourself in a multitude of different ways.”
Acrobat Tristan Boswell, 27, has been in Imperial Opa for six months. When he is not on the base of a body-stacking formation, he teaches urban gymnastics around the Atlanta area and has been a stuntman in the movie “Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” He also is doing stunts for the upcoming film “Cell,” based on the Stephen King novel.
A circus would not be complete without fire performers. Imperial Opa has a few, including Atlanta native Zac Binx, 23. Binx has been with the circus for more than a year but has been a fire performer for seven years. He studied fire breathing, fire eating and fire swallowing in California, but ultimately returned to his hometown to perform with Imperial Opa.
Binx’s flame-filled act may look dangerous, but “it doesn’t hurt if it’s done correctly,” he said.
