The youths of the St. Louis Arches already were prepared for an unusual and unprecedented experience on Saturday night.
Circus Flora and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra were set to premiere The Floating Palace, the first onstage collaboration at Powell Hall between one of the world’s greatest orchestras and one of the world’s finest circus troupes, both based here in St. Louis.
The St. Louis Arches – part of Circus Harmony, Jessica Hentoff’s circus school and tumbling brigade – was scheduled to perform their typical group acrobatics and juggling acts to the live accompaniment of the symphony.
And then, a little extra was asked of them.
“They told us we needed to fill in a gap with our skills, that they had some extra music at the end of a piece and needed an act,” said Sidney “Iking” Bateman.
An 18-year-old graduate of Beaumont High School, Bateman has been tumbling with the Arches for seven years and is a seasoned pro of the circus arts. He was called to fill in some time in “The Grapes,” a movement from Falla’s El Sombrero de Tres Picos (The Three Cornered Hat).
The filler act: his duet with Terrance “T-Roc” Robinson, a 17-year-old student at Rittenour High School. In this act, the two small, strong youths balance and leverage their bodies against one another in an uncanny way that makes them both appear to be levitating at the same time.
It is a piece of circus magic the two youths have learned to take in stride.
“When I first heard they wanted us to do our act, it was no big deal,” Bateman said.
And then they did their act on the stage of Powell Hall with the immense power of the symphony behind them.
“I got there and I heard the orchestra play, and it was the biggest deal,” Bateman said.
His partner felt just the same way.
“The music was different – totally different,” Robinson said. “It was wonderful with the orchestra.”
“Performing live with the orchestra behind me – that blew my mind,” Bateman said.
For Bateman, as for many of the Arches, the first time he heard the symphony at Powell Hall was when he tumbled and juggled before them onstage.
A sense of wonder at the experience was deeply shared.
“Oh my God, it was amazing,” said Anthony Stiles, a senior at Hazelwood Central High School and five-year veteran of the Arches.
Thanks to a symphony that works hard at community outreach, this was not Stiles’ first experience of the orchestra. Somewhat amazingly, it was not even his first collaboration with it. As a child music student studying the recorder at Jefferson Elementary School, he briefly performed on the recorder with the symphony as part of a school outreach program.
But still, The Floating Palace was a transformative experience for him.
“That was a once-in-a-lifetime chance,” Stiles said.
“That really had me going to the fullest extent. I was never able to do anything like that before. It was a different audience. It was interesting, so interesting. To put the symphony and the circus together, I thought it would be weird. But when it came down to it, I thought it sounded really nice.”
Symphony on a high wire
This potentially “weird” but ultimately “really nice” idea was the brainchild of Fred Bronstein, the symphony’s relatively new president. He has aggressively matched the orchestra – known internationally for its world premieres of daring but difficult new works – with more populist fare in an attempt to put more butts in the seats.
Bronstein took more risks for this show, it is safe to say, than has ever been taken by this symphony before.
The show ended with more pieces from Falla’s El Sombrero de Tres Picos, but this time the music was not illustrated by two young men levitating from one another’s hips. This time, the Flying Wallendas – descendents of an 18th century Hungarian circus dynasty – were way up on the high wire.
At their most daring, two bicyclists were riding the high wire. A pole ran shoulder high, suspended between them on shoulder harnesses resting on the bicyclists’ shoulders. On that narrow pole was balanced a chair, and on that chair sat yet another Wallenda, swinging her legs.
There was nothing beneath her, the chair, the pole, the bicyclists, the bicycles and the high wire other than the best seats in Powell Hall.
Bronstein rushed out of his box seat at the end of the show as the hall thundered with a standing ovation.
“I was thinking about my liability insurance,” Bronstein said with a sly, scared smile.
Three other African-American youth – Miles Elkins, Li’l Donald Hughes and Chauncey Kroner – also performed with the Arches, Circus Flora and the symphony this weekend.
Hentoff’s diverse tumbling troupe also includes three of her own children, in the finest circus tradition of training your own – Elliana Hentoff-Killian, Keaton Hentoff-Killian and Kellin Hentoff-Killian – as well as Meghan Clark and Alexandra Gabliani.
Saturday night’s premiere also featured, among many other marvels, a large group dog act (Johnny Peers & the Muttville Comix) performed to live symphony orchestration, and a chase scene that incorporated the seats and audience of Powell Hall as part of the stage and the action.
It was a night to remember. But there have been many nights to remember with the circus – and there will be many more.
For the Circus Harmony show Grazioso at the City Museum later this month, Stiles has choreographed a four-person knife juggling act. And these three youths are traveling to Montreal next month to audition for a prestigious circus arts college, the Ecole Nationale De Cirque, where two Arches alums are already training.
“Sometimes, I think about it. Every summer is the time I think about it. I get in my thinking mode in the summer,” Bateman said.
“I think about performing with Circus Flora and with the Flying Wallendas. I’m a normal little kid, I came from nothing, and I’m allowed on the same show with the Flying Wallendas. I get to watch the Flying Wallendas every night.”
And, on some nights, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, too.
Circus Harmony, the circus school where the St. Louis Arches are trained, is located in the City Museum; new classes start Jan. 31.
Circus Harmony will present its annual full-length show featuring the St. Louis Arches and 15 other flying children, Grazioso, at the City Museum on Jan. 22, 23, 29 and 30 with shows at 2 and 7 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Tickets are $15 for children and $20 for adults and include admission to City Museum. Visit www.circusharmony.org or call 314-436-7676.
