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Decades after his father first strung a wire in the family’s backyard, second-generation tightrope walker Geoffrey Berhault says each of his performances are a thrilling tribute to family and tradition.
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“My parents started performing acrobatics from my earliest memories growing up. It’s a hard discipline, but every time I dance on the wire I feel the spirit of my family and all those who came before me,” said Berhault, who is also operations manager of the Europa Super Circus that makes a stop this week in Saskatoon.
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“There aren’t many who choose this discipline … It’s a small community and we know how brave you have to be.”
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Berhault is among the main attractions under the Europa Super Circus big top, running Thursday through Sunday at Prairieland Park. As part of its Canadian tour, the circus made a stop last month in Moose Jaw and this past weekend in Regina.
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Berhault started his journey in France. Eventually his professional career kickstarted on cruise ships in Asia, which led to him showcasing his skills on Season 13 of America’s Got Talent.
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The show provides the audience a chance to see a traditional European circus with multi-generational performers.
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“It’s a smaller and more intimate show than the big American corporations, and we put our own European modern twist to it. There’s a lot of new acts, with freestyle motocross this year flying over the crowd and also traditional clown and acrobat old style ones, giving people a chance to discover the real old-time circus,” producer and performer Desire Cardinali Chaves said.
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Chaves, a hand balancer and aerialist from Portugal, is a part of the seventh generation of the Cardinali circus family and fifth generation of the Chaves family.
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“There’s not a lot of European circuses coming to (Saskatchewan). I thought this would be something that people would be interested in watching and a little different than what they’re used to,” Chaves noted.
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The wheel of death makes for a breath-taking performance. Each show carries enormous risk, Chaves said.
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At just nine years of age, Jose Armando Ponce Ramos began performing on the wheel of death — a large spinning structure high above the ground — and later captured a Guinness world record for most blindfolded turns on the wheel.
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Ponce, who speaks Spanish, said he is inspired by his family and loves the opportunity to showcase running, jumping and balancing on the dual-rotating wheel in front of a live audience.