(upbeat playful music) - [Jennifer] I think most people have a little like secret, alternate ego where they would love to run off and join the circus and run away from responsibilities.

Finding the circus was like a lifesaver for me.

It was what I did as a kid.

Some people played soccer.

I did circus.

When I started the Salida Circus, it was like me and a bag of costumes and a pair of stilts and then I started workshops in the backyard.

One thing led to another, led to another.

So that's how it's grown.

- [Joe] Come one, come all as they say, you know?

And so I think that's probably the core of what Salida Circus really is, it's just wide open door.

- [Destiny] I hear that all the time.

"Oh, what did you do?

"Run away and join the circus?"

Actually, yes I did.

And it has been crazy and beautiful and awesome.

- [Jennifer] There's always room for everyone in the circus, always.

(upbeat music) (playful music) - [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages.

The Salida Circus.

(upbeat music) - A social circus is about bringing people into this space and giving them the opportunity to discover things that they didn't know they had in them.

One of the most powerful things about the circus, is that it's all about like self-agency.

You get to control your personal environment and it's really empowering.

What you're about to see today are some of the youth members of the Salida Circus performing for their very first time, their very second time, or their very 10th time.

But without further ado, ladies and gentlemen let's hear for the Pirates of Chaffee County.

(audience cheers) Cirque du Soleil actually coined the term back in the 80s and the founder of that, he was a street performer.

Their outreach program is called Cirque Du Monde, and so they help support other social circuses that are carrying out their mission.

We're one of them.

One, two, three.

(cheering) I got started in third grade by my awesome PE teacher named Mr. Moyer.

He was president of Circus Fans of America and somewhere along the line, a circus bequeathed him all this circus equipment.

Every day after school he opened his gym, to all the local kids and we just learned how to ride unicycles and juggle and walk on stilts and do rolling globe and trapeze and my dad emceed the shows.

My mom helped put all the kids together and get them there on time, and all my brothers and sisters and I were in the circus.

It was a really magical thing.

And at eight years old, I guess I thought like, "Doesn't everybody do this?"

And then as I got older, I thought, "No, they don't, but I want to."

When I was 21, I went to Belfast, North of Ireland, to do a year abroad at Queens University as an English literature student.

Turns out they had a circus program there that was just like Oak View.

The mission of the Belfast Circus was that it used the circus space as a neutral space to bring kids from, you know, both sides of the conflict into this playful, nurturing, safe environment where they work together and play together and trust each other and see each other in a totally different context.

The circus there was used as a sort of peace and reconciliation tool.

My one year turned into 12 and ended up dropping out of Queens and working full-time for the circus.

I wanted to save the world and I was gonna do it one acrobat at a time.

All circus performers come over here.

Stand by your partner for double (indistinct).

Okay, you two, okay, who needs a partner?

(upbeat music) When I moved to Salida, I came by myself.

It was February, 2007.

I knew that Salida could use a social circus and I knew how to do that and I started talking about like what I wanted to do and people were like, "Okay, whatever."

Well, I stopped talking about it and just kept doing it and pretty soon I had workshops set up in the backyard and people were coming out of the woodwork wanting to join it.

Now 15 years later, it's this huge thing because everybody has put their energy into it.

(upbeat playful music) You don't have to have any circus skills to join Salida Circus.

What you do need is the willingness to try.

Stepping into a new place can be overwhelming sometimes but I like to think that the circus creates a safe environment for that.

- Hands out with your.

- You'll find something and we will help you find something.

- [Performer] Nice job.

- One more time.

Take it on, grab your leg, move to your bottom and pull.

Tyler, could you spot up on?

- [Tyler] I'll hold on to her.

- I need also a spotter for the tight rope.

(upbeat music) (applause) Joe happened to walk by Alpine Park when we were in the middle of a show and made the mistake of telling me he could do a back flip and I'm like, "Well, you're in act five then."

- I've been known as Jester Joe.

That was just granted to me by Jennifer, the director of the circus.

(Joe chuckles) I didn't come up with it, it just fell upon me.

I grew up on the Front Range in Colorado Springs.

College wasn't really working out.

I wasn't really into school so I dropped out and then I joined the military and I went in the army.

Long, long story short, that ended prematurely as well after two years.

I found myself not knowing where to go and what to do.

So, I basically went on a long walk to kind of clear my head and I walked all over the State of Colorado, wandering, and just kind of minding my own business and I ended up in Salida.

I kind of fell in love with the town.

Something spoke to me and said, "You should stay here."

Jump up like this.

Here, hold, okay, feet together.

Hold for five, four, three, two.

What you do is bend the arms like this and then watch.

Here, see that, that's a reversal.

- You can fly away.

(indistinct) - Besides the military, I had a long background teaching martial arts and hardcore and acrobatics and things like this.

So when I stumbled upon the circus, it kind of was a natural fit.

(playful music) Up, pull.

Told you buddy, you got it, okay?

The circus was like a busting open experience of like cracking your shell and getting in front of people and also being new at something.

I think there's something very humbling and refreshing about engaging with activities that the circus can provide.

(upbeat music continues) - [Jennifer] Joe understands clowning, through and through and through, and he allows himself to do it.

He was meant to join Salida Circus, as far as I'm concerned.

- When I was a kid, I was super, super shy.

I was really quiet.

I was afraid of being in the spotlight.

I was afraid of being seen.

I hated the stage.

There's no way I would've said, this is what I could do.

Without a doubt, being involved in the circus, it definitely profoundly gave me a sense of place in the world.

(slow somber music) - Joe was the doorway in for us to start to experience circus life.

I've always had a performer spirit within me, but I never found a venue that worked for me to be able to have an expression as a performer.

(slow playful music) - In the military, I had thought maybe I'd go to the Middle East for other reasons but we got this email inviting us to Jordan in the Middle East to do circus work.

It's like, you wouldn't believe the connections that unfolded in that journey.

We got invited to Israel and Palestine, so we started doing work out there and then Turkey, Italy, France, Ireland.

There is this bizarre network connection point in circus that makes the world feel really small.

(clowns whining) - Developing this show and having this creativity between us to come up with routines and acts and then when we get out there and perform, we both have the freedom and the creative spirit to play off of each other, has brought us closer in ways I never would've expected.

(audience applaud) (dramatic music) (slow piano music) - The Jarvis brothers have been in the circus for six, seven years now and they are two of the most talented kids, I think I've ever met.

They've been performing with us since they were probably five and six.

(slow music) - When I moved to Salida, I was single parent with two boys, foreigner and we fit right in to the Circus Salida.

It was huge, huge influence on my boys.

Social circus is amazing in so many ways.

For me, I found family here.

It's just like, you are part of the team.

Everyone helps everyone, but also, you go and you perform.

For the boys, that was amazing.

They were really proud of their selves.

I think it helped them in so many ways.

(upbeat playful music) - The main act that I have today is, I go onto the rolling globe, which is a big ball.

I stand on it and juggle four balls.

I have to walk backwards for it to move forwards.

It was a little tricky at first 'cause I didn't understand how it would work but now I've got it done.

My coolest trick that I know and hardest, it's the back 360.

- Yes, (indistinct) right?

- Yeah.

- Nice job, that was so-- - Soon enough I'm going to add the back 360 into my circus act.

I feel like doing parkour and gymnastics helps me train more for circus and other shows.

I think that people sometimes don't understand how hard some things are to do in the circus.

For example, juggling.

It seems like you just need to throw things up and catch them again but it's actually a lot harder to do that.

- I am in awe of his focus and his drive and man, when that kid puts his mind to learning something, he's gonna learn it.

We take him out on professional gigs with us and he's just such an asset to the circus and he's like 11.

Many of the conditions on the outside world or the society, like don't apply when you're in the circus.

It doesn't matter if you're wealthy or not wealthy, if you're educated or not educated, if you're able-bodied or disabled bodied.

It's about your uniqueness and what you sort of bring to the party.

And we need everything, we need it all.

- One of the things that's kind of special about Salida circus is that, it kind of meets you where you are, it meets the kids where they are.

So it's not like playing on a team where you had to have certain skills, certain maturity level, certain aspiration.

If you're good at something, you can make an act out of it.

If you wanna learn something, you can learn that.

You got real high energy, we can channel that.

There's a lot of freedom to be yourself.

So it's a less structure but within a semi-structured environment and there's still the teamwork without the structure of a sports team.

Okay, now I'm gonna make my big lot noise, you ready?

(loud blowing sound) (kids shrieking) - Ready, one, sit.

I have found that the secret to being a good circus coach is not about indoctrinating kids into like what you want them to do but it's accessing and trying to find their spirit and figure out what is this kid going to cling to?

What's gonna ignite this kid's fire?

And I have seen that play out, time and time and time and time again and I've seen it play out across the world.

It's not a cultural thing.

I see the same energy, the same dynamic.

And that, I think is what, is the coolest thing about it.

Is there's like this universality, this connection point that makes you feel like your existence is tied in and webbed in with something more profound than just yourself.

- Front, left, right.

Front, left, right.

Left, right.

Left, right.

- I saw kids, they didn't speak or they were so shy, but they were proud to show all that one trick what they learned.

For many families, it could be life changing for their kids.

(slow music) - This circus creates this like canvas, this open stage where whatever message you wanna convey can be conveyed.

And then I think within that, it's a relationship between the performer and the audience.

What we choose to do with our performance.

The fact that the circus is open to it, welcoming, you know, that gives us a headstart to think the audience is also gonna be open to it and welcoming and then we're a little braver putting ourselves out there because the circus created a supportive environment for us to do that.

- I'm in the Salida Circus and I do clowning and acrobats.

It's my dream come true 'cause ever since I was little I've wanted to be in the circus.

- We were at the circus camp in Buena Vista and everyone had partners to do an act with and Lolli said, "I don't have a partner."

Kat walked up and said, "Would you like to be my partner?"

And 20 minutes later they came to me and they're like, "We have an act."

- [Announcer] The amazing Stump Sisters.

(upbeat playful music) - She's amazing because we're both left leg amputees but she has more up than me.

- [Kat] We tried to come up with an act that would, you know, first off, help her feel comfortable with her leg, performing in front of an audience even though nobody else in the circus is like her.

If you take something that's emotionally charged, and you look at it directly and kind of fearlessly, we've made a place where it's safe to feel whatever you're gonna feel about it.

- When I pull off my leg, I feel happy and kind of nervous that people will look at me in disgust but I don't care because I've gotten past that.

I feel proud of myself that I've gotten past being the girl who's been always scared and has bullies and I've grown up from that.

- Showing people who may not be familiar with disabilities, or our disabilities, like, if we can laugh about it, you know, it can be an approachable thing.

It doesn't have to be scary it doesn't have to be traumatic, can help raise a little awareness in a fun way.

I mean, I'm not sugarcoating or laughing about how challenging it is to have a disability.

I'd like to think our act offers a little bit of overcoming a sense of limitlessness.

- Circus has given her that place where she can do whatever she wants to do, however she wants to do it and nobody's gonna tell her she did it wrong.

- With Lolli, I think she's a great example of how circus can change your self-concept.

To me, that act sort of exemplifies how maybe, on the outside world things that are seen as a challenge become your unique selling point in the circus.

- Circus, all of circus, no matter what you're doing gives you that freedom and that expression to be able to just simply be, while also being honored.

- Makes me feel special and like I have achieved my goals ever since I was a little kid.

It makes me feel amazing.

(upbeat playful music) - When I first met Jennifer Dempsey in 2007, she was like this complete ball of energy.

She had just decided to move to Colorado and start this circus program and I met her in this stage of life where she was just figuring that out and figuring out how to make it happen.

Watching those steps progress and then actually becoming this full-fledged running thing was a little bit mind-blowing 'cause I feel a lot of people in their community were like, "Circus, what, in Salida?"

(audience applauds) When I met her in 2007, I never knew that this person would eventually become my mother, no clue.

That has changed the both of our lives for the better.

- [Jennifer] She started training in the circus and she learned all these skills.

She went out on the road, she started performing.

And there came a time when she had to reconnect with these people in her life that had caused her a lot of pain but she had these new skills and these new emotional skills and so circus gave her a whole new identity.

- Social circus can give someone who doesn't feel like they're a part of society, the confidence to navigate and move within that society to grow and hone their own talents and also to show others.

I think a lot of people grow the ability to present their talents to others.

Nice, very nice.

Can you go on your back?

- The back?

- A leg underneath the bar and you go on your backside.

- This way?

- Yep, tuck under, good.

- Nice.

- Before, when I was younger, I'd say I would kind of flee and just run away and be in my own space and try to be quiet.

Social circus has provided me a way to talk to people and communicate with those that I feel like I don't, more or less, like I'm not allowed to stand next to, in a way that I'm not good enough, I'm not smart enough.

The impact overall is allowing and teaching people to grow into their own space, hone their own talents and then therefore give that to other people.

In the back, yeah, bend this leg.

Good, there it is, awesome.

- Now hold my head.

- Circus, definitely has given me something that I can give away to people.

And this is not like something when you give away, you run out.

It's like at circus, the more you give away, the more you gain.

I've been in States for almost seven years now.

I moved here with my backpack and flight ticket to an student exchange program and I was supposed to be here for three months.

Right after I moved in, some political changes happened in Turkey that forced me to stay in the United States and seek asylum.

(musician singing in foreign language) I always had to hide my identity in Turkey because if you say that you are Kurdish to somebody who is not Kurdish, is like having a gun and you're gonna shoot somebody.

You are being criminalized right away.

So you really had to hide your identity to be safe and that forces you to be quiet, to have really low self-esteem, really low confidence because you were born a criminal.

When I saw somebody juggle for the first time, I was laughing hysterically.

I was in love with it.

I asked him whether people were born with these skills or whether somebody could learn this.

And then he started teaching me how to juggle.

I never stopped.

When I first moved to U.S., I didn't know many people and I didn't know how to go make friends.

Circus has changed my life just through this.

It's made it much easier for me to connect with people and to make people connect with other people.

And what else is life about?

(clapping) Being involved with the circus, it really never matters what your ethnicity is, what your background is.

It's all about what energy you bring in.

(audience laughs) Nobody cared whether I was Kurdish, anything.

It was just like welcoming.

Even if you don't have any skills, if you want to learn, we will teach you.

And that felt like a place that I belonged, for the first time in my life.

(background chatter) - In this small little town of Salida, we get them started and each individual can take it as far as they want.

What you learn at the Boys & Girls Club after school workshop will connect you to somebody in a totally different country.

So a lot of the kids that started when they were young now get hired out all over Colorado, New Mexico, California.

Being a social circus, we're part of a global network.

There's social circuses all over the world and probably the most famous one is, Cirque du Soleil.

So we partner with other social circuses throughout the globe, whether it's RED NOSES Palestine or Skala, Fuskabo in Slovenia.

Let's Circus in England, Belfast Circus, we all have the same mission statement, so when we get together, we just click.

- One of my favorite shows was actually performing in Bamberg, Germany.

We got invited to perform and it was like thousands and thousands of performers from all over the world, performing for this massive circus street festival.

I never envisioned myself performing in front of so many people.

We actually got put on the main stage, our act.

So that was like a big deal within itself.

It was so thrilling.

(applause) My experiences through performing and traveling with Salida Circus has given me a life of choice.

(kids shouting) The openness of social circus has benefited me in countless ways.

It's grown my confidence, it's grown my ability to grow a backbone and understand how I need to stick up for myself in society.

It provides an atmosphere where everyone can show up and just be themselves and express themselves in any form, which way they feel comfortable and it's not judged, it's completely welcomed.

(upbeat music continues) - From my own personal experience, as well as observing others, there's a real link I've noticed between trying something new in the circus or learning a new skill in the circus and then applying that drive, that healthy risk taking to the outside world.

Being a live circus performer, you cannot take yourself too seriously.

You cannot.

I always say the only thing I will guarantee is that I will show up.

(Jennifer laughs) (applause) Anything can happen, and you just gotta keep the show going and you gotta figure out how to respond to that thing that just came at you from the audience.

Incorporate it into the show.

So it's, circus life is a very spontaneous life that keeps you on your toes, keeps me feeling very alive.

Never know what's gonna happen next and that's where the fun is.

- Bye, bye.

(crowd applause) - The magic is beginning.

How did you do that?

(kids shouting) (slow music)