ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Those looking for a fun time will soon have that chance this time next week.
The Rastelli Circus will be performing in Liberal, with shows taking place at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, and 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. All performances will be at the Seward County Activity Center at 810 Stadium Ave. Performer Denisse Santos said she and her crew are excited to be bringing the show to Southwest Kansas.
“This will be this company's first time in Kansas, so we're really, really excited. This company only got started about a year ago, and we started by touring mostly the West Coast,” Santos said. “But this year, we wanted to try some new things and some new places, so we ultimately decided to make Kansas part of our tour, and we're really excited. Our Kansas stops will be Pratt, Dodge City, and then Liberal, and we've been hearing a lot of excitement from people about us coming because not very many circuses/shows make their way to that area, so we're looking forward to bringing our act to the Southwest Kansas area. We're what I call a human circus because we don't have any animal acts as part of the show. We focus on the human performances with acrobatics and contortionists and aerial acts and other similar fun exploits, and it's all family-friendly.”
With everything that will be featured in the show, Santos said she hopes to see big audiences for the Liberal shows.
“There have already been several times after a performance when people have come up to us and told us we were their first circus and how they absolutely loved what we did,” Santos said. “So don't miss out, because you'll get some amazing acts and have a lot of fun watching everything unfold. And our company is just so much fun, we all absolutely love what we do, and we have a clown who's all about the audience participation and goes around and makes sure everyone is having a good time. We want everyone to feel like they're part of the show.”
While the circus company is rather new, Santos said her time as a circus performer started long before, and she has thoroughly enjoyed it.
“I'm actually a fifth-generation circus performer, so I like to say I was born into the circus life. With aerial acts, my dad is a catcher and my mom and I both fly. I learned about what my parents did when I was about 2, and then it was when I was about 3 years old when I started training, and I officially started working when I was 5 years old,” Santos said. “It's ALL about the people. When I'm doing a show and hear all the applause and see the stunned/amazed looks on the faces of everyone in the audience, that's the best part for me. I'm a contortionist and shoot a bow and arrow with my feet as part of my act, and I have had so many little girls come up to me after shows and say they want to be like me when they grow up. We work for the applause, and it's wonderful seeing everyone enjoy the show and seeing everyone have such happy faces. At the end of the day, it's all about the people and helping them have a good time and escape the real world for a little while. Circuses are just so traditional and so much fun, and we want to help keep that going.”
In a somewhat odd twist, Santos said the Liberal show will be a beginning and an end, with it being not only part of the company’s Kansas debut, but also the season’s final performance.
“We're excited to go to a different part of the country we haven't seen before, and it's exciting to go somewhere new and meet a whole new crowd of people. I will admit it was kind of risky putting Kansas on our schedule because we're still rather new and charting new territories, but like I said before, we just decided to go for it,” Santos said. “And funnily enough, Liberal is going to be our last stop for this season, so we're going to be happy to perform fro everyone there and help put everyone in a good mood and all of that, but it'll also be somewhat bittersweet because we've been having such a good time on the road and doing the shows and we don't want it to end. We definitely hope to come back to Kansas next year among all the other stops we're already thinking about.”
And even though next week marks the end of the company’s season, Santos said there are already discussions taking place about next year.
“We've been doing some research and observations as we've been on the road, and there are a few ideas that have been brought up, but they'll definitely need more discussion,” Santos said. “When we started, we decided on no animals because of all the permits and paperwork involved as well as the safety and care of the animals themselves, and we knew we wouldn't be able to care for them like they deserve. But next year, we're thinking about bringing in a couple motorcycle acts and/or BMX acts, and maybe some domestic animal acts, like dogs, because the care of a dog is a lot simpler compared to an elephant or something more exotic. But again, that's all still in discussion for now and I'm sure we'll come up with something before next season begins. We also don't have a huge amount of advertising, we work closely together to spread the word about our stops, and we always want to help people in the towns we stop in, like foster children or families who might not have the resources to go to a circus performance. We're more low-key because we don't want people to think we're just doing this for the money, we want the focus to be on the fun everyone will have.”
Overall, Santos said, she and her company are ready to thrill and astound the Liberal community.
“We're excited to bring our show and our performers who hail from different parts of the world to Liberal, and we hope to see everyone there at the circus!” Santos said.
