THREE QUESTIONS WITH AURA CARDINALI OF BIG APPLE CIRCUS
Q: What's the most challenging part of the act when you're singing and walking the wire at the same time?
A: Many times I feel like I have to stop (singing), because I feel like I'm getting dizzy. I'm singing so much that I have very little air to breathe. And I have to be strong. I do men's work, not women's work. If I just went out there looking pretty and just sang, that would be fantastic. I don't do that, so I really have to work. I get tired working my muscles. It's very difficult.
Q: What sort of training do you have to do to stay on top of your game?
A: I train a lot. I do vocal training, and I run a lot. I lift weights for muscle (strength). But mostly I work on my singing for four or five hours at a time. I'll sing one song after another, and it strengthens my lungs.
Q: What do you like most about working for Big Apple Circus?
A: I love the one ring, because I grew up working in one ring with my family. I like it when the audience is closer to me. I can express myself when I sing, and I look at the audience a lot. I have a lot of contact with them. Being that close, I can make the audience feel what I want them to feel. I want them to be happy and have fun while I'm out there. … People react differently to my act. I've had people tell me that they cried as I came down the wire singing. I don't understand. I didn't want them to cry, but they said the emotion I gave them made them cry. That's very wonderful to hear things like that. That gives me the strength to keep going and give more to them when I come in the ring.
February has traditionally been the month for circuses to head South and take advantage of, ostensibly, warmer weather. Though the weather has not cooperated much of late, the three traditional circuses playing locally — Big Apple, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey and Atlanta's own Universoul Circus — are on their way, promising night after night of family fun.
The first, Big Apple, will set up its high wires, trampolines and cages starting this week, with Universoul likely to draw the last gasp from an Atlanta circus audience March 2.
BIG APPLE
Every once in a while, vocalist Aura Cardinali admitted, she might throw in an unexpected word or two while singing her signature song during a Big Apple Circus performance.
"Whoa … whoa," she may exclaim.
No, it’s not some sort of artistic inflection. It happens when Cardinali momentarily loses her balance.
As half of Duo Guerrero, a high-wire act she performs with husband Werner Guerrero, Cardinali said she’s the only artist of her kind in the world — singing while walking the wire at dangerous heights. It’s hard enough having her husband standing on her shoulders while she balances the two of them on a sliver of cable, without having to belt out a tune in the process.
“People don’t believe she’s singing live,” Guerrero said of his wife. “They think it’s recorded.”
The pair, both in their 50s, have been snagging awards for their high-wire work since the 1990s, but it wasn’t until 2001 that Cardinali brought singing into their act. It was a natural for the lifelong vocalist, who can sing in five different languages, including her native Portuguese.
Since she added off-the-ground vocals to Duo Guerrero, it’s become the couple’s trademark, one that helped them win honors at the prestigious Monte-Carlo International Circus Festival in 2007.
In their debut stint working for Big Apple Circus, Duo Guerrero teams with the rest of the acts to the tell the story of “Luminocity,” the company’s latest production blending circus tradition with Broadway-style storytelling and theatrics.
The show illustrates the rat race and razzle-dazzle of a melting pot metropolis, using the skilled circus performers as the medium. For instance, you’ll see a juggler taking on the role of a food cart vendor playing with produce, a horse trainer acting as a policewoman wrangling a fleet of equines, and Duo Guerrero as a pair celebrating New Year’s Eve high above the ground.
It all takes place under the big top in Big Apple’s intimate single ring. Even the back row at Big Apple remains no more than 50 feet from the action, giving guests an up-close and personal view of Duo Guerrero.
Audiences watching Cardinali croon a song in Portuguese while on her husband’s shoulders as he descends the wire will likely release a few unexpected exclamations of their own.
Jan. 30-Feb. 17. $20-$80. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park, Parking Lot A, 1775 Founders Parkway, Alpharetta. 1-800-922-3772, www.bigapplecircus.org.
UNIVERSOUL CIRCUS
Atlanta-based UniverSoul Circus, which prides itself on audience participation, an intimate feel and many African-American performers, brings its 20th anniversary traveling show to town Feb. 12, with up to three performances a day during weekends.
The circus features typical acts, such as elephant trainer Jorge Barreda, whose animals perform with beautiful show girls, and the Olate family and their cuddly dogs, which delight audiences with tricks and antics.
The Olates have been performing for more than three decades around the world. Richard Olate is a second-generation circus artist.
“I have been training and performing since I was 12 years old,” he said.
The Russian Swing, performed by the Shukau Acrobatic Troupe, will soar into the upper area of the big top, which will be set up at Turner Field. The Russian Swing is a pendulum device that sky-rockets performers into the air, where they leap from it into the arms of the catchers
Hip-hop dancers from the U.S. and Caribbean also perform, and Universoul always gives willing audience members a chance to get drafted into some of the fun and action.
Feb 12-March 2. Turner Field’s Green Lot. 755 Hank Aaron Drive S.E., Atlanta. $27.85-$38.85. info@universoulcircus.com, www.ticketmaster.com.
RINGLING BROS. AND BARNUM & BAILEY
The self-proclaimed “greatest show on earth” pitches its figurative tent in two parts of town, running five days at Gwinnett Arena before setting up at Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta for six days.
This time around, the sprawling three-ring spectacle dubs itself “Built to Amaze!” with a storyline explaining what it takes to bring a circus to life. Former rodeo pro Andre McClain oversees the activity as ringmaster, spending some of that time perched upon his horse, Comanche.
Russian performers Alex and Irina Emelin play McClain’s circus supervisors, pairing physical comedy and trained animals — from dogs to snakes — as a way to break up the action.
Along with the Emelins, other more recent additions to the Ringling Bros. roster include trampoline-jumping aerialists the Tower Tumblers and the latest edition of the King Charles Troupe. The latter showcases mad basketball skills while zipping about on unicycles.
A blast of girl power comes in the form of 20-year-old Elliana Grace. Currently the youngest female human cannonball in the world, Grace is shot out of a massive cannon and then soars above the arena floor.
Guests can venture on the arena floor as early as one hour before showtime for the “All-Access Preshow.” Free for all ticket holders, it gives the audience a chance to step foot on the circus playing field, hobnob with clowns, and see certain performers and animals do their stuff in extra close proximity.
Feb. 5-9. Gwinnett Arena, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth; Feb. 12-17. Philips Arena, 1 Philips Drive, Atlanta. $14-$130. 1-800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com.
