Circus performers can refer to a wide range of performers, including musicians, animal trainers, athletes, and clowns, who provide entertainment to circus audiences. Depending on their skills, the size of the circus, and the specific acts performed, many circus performers work in multiple roles. Most of these jobs require luck in hiring, on-the-job training, and experience in related skills, such as a future acrobat who studied gymnastics as a teenager. While most circuses take a long winter break in a warm climate, performers must work every day to keep their skills up to date or continue to train the animals they work with. As a result, circus performers not only travel frequently during the circus season, but they also perform the core job responsibilities of their type of performance art for every single show, sometimes multiple times a day.
Orchestra musicians are frequently underappreciated circus performers. The orchestra provides music to accompany many of the other performers throughout the show, including drum rolls to indicate suspense when a potentially dangerous performance is taking place. Their intermission music not only entertains the audience, but it also serves as a cue to upcoming circus performers as to when they will appear. Most importantly, the orchestra’s performance of a specific song is circus code for an emergency and the need to assist in the evacuation of animals, performers, and audience members from the venue. In contrast to limited appearances other performers, this group of performers may work for the duration of each show.
Trainers and their animal partners are among the circus performers who are frequently the most visible and exciting to the audience. Some animal trainers incorporate trained animals into their acts in addition to performing athletic or acrobatic feats. Lion tamers, elephant riders, and trick horseback riders are among the members of this group. Animal trainers must not only perform in front of an audience, but they must also plan their acts and spend hours training and practicing their new routines with their animal partners until they are ready to perform live.
Acrobats, contortionists, and trapeze artists are among the athletic circus performers. These performers plan their acts and then practice all year to achieve and maintain the physical fitness required to pull off their daring feats. Many acrobats come from families who groom their children from a young age to develop their physical abilities.
Clowns are among the most well-known circus performers, with many having attended “clown colleges” sponsored well-known circuses. To avoid physical injuries, these actors must be skilled in the application of make-up and the execution of stunts. Clowns frequently perform their skits while other performers set up or take down their stage sets.