When Kenyan acrobat Abraham Adoka stepped off the plane in St. Louis on Christmas Day, he knew anything was possible.
He was living his life’s goal of connecting people and helping the youth understand that they can accomplish anything, he said.
Adoka, 25, is the leader of the Mambo Kenya Acrobats, a group formed in 1994 that performs tumbling, fire eating, limbo act, juggling, chair balancing, rope walking and gymnastic pyramids.
He and the other 30 members have performed in Europe, India, Indonesia, Israel, Russia and all around Africa. They have flipped and juggled for three East African presidents.
And until May, Adoka will teach African Acrobatics at St. Louis’ Circus Harmony, a circus school based out of the City Museum on 701 N. 15th St. Classes are open to the public.
Besides learning a new style of acrobatics, Circus Harmony’s founder Jessica Hentoff saw Adoka’s coming as a great opportunity for a cultural exchange.
“Although many of my students are African Americans, this was the first actual African person that they met and interacted with,” she said. “That was a large part of why we brought him here.”
The pairing of Adoka and Circus Harmony is one that Hentoff calls a “God-cidence.” Both are leaders of social circus groups – organizations that use circus arts to motivate social change.
Adoka’s group has worked with a project where they went to slums in Kenya and taught the youth about life skills, STDs and staying away from drugs.
“They train, so they don’t have time to think about drugs and crime and all the negative things in life,” he said.
“The work his group does goes much deeper than just teaching the youth how to flip, fly or juggle,” Hentoff said. “You really are teaching them skills that will help them in whatever they do: trust, perseverance, responsibility and teamwork.”
Both Adoka and Hentoff have found it interesting how many similarities their organizations share. They both feel that teaching circus skills is about teaching life skills as well.
“There is always a chance that we can overcome everything in life,” Adoka said. “If you believe you will achieve, everything will turn around. Life is full of juggling. You have to juggle your responsibilities and balance your priorities.”
Circus family
Hentoff met Adoka in Israel while her tumblers, the St. Louis Arches, were participating in a Peace Through Pyramids program. Once Adoka met the Arches youth, Hentoff knew he had to come to St. Louis.
If you are a circus performer, “wherever you go, the circus is your family,” Hentoff said.
When the Arches traveled to Israel, the circus youth performers soon became siblings. And the same happened instantly when the St. Louis performers started working with Adoka this week.
“When you’re in a situation where you totally have to trust someone or you’re responsible for someone, it builds a strong bond between you,” Hentoff said. “The St. Louis Arches are very much a family. They take care of each other outside the ring.”
Adoka started performing with the Mambo Kenya Acrobats in 1994, one year before his father passed away. His mother had died in 1990. The circus troupe soon became his family.
“They’re the only family I know,” he said. “Giving me jobs performing all over Africa, that meant a lot to me. I’ve seen great things, and I’ve seen great people.”
He is now one of the six executive members of the troupe, and each one has its own group of five to six performers. Currently there are three groups in Israel, one in Turkey and one group about to depart for Russia. They all live in Kenya but travel on contract.
“In Africa, we are a little back because we are a developing nation,” he said. “So we go outside our country to look for money, so we can develop our country.”
The Arches welcomed Adoka with open arms when he got to St. Louis, Hentoff said. Although the Arches themselves come from different cultural and economic backgrounds, once they are flying together, their questions of each other are pretty basic, Hentoff said.
“All they want to know is what you can bring to the ring,” she said. “Can you juggle, can you flip? What can you do?”
The African-Acrobatics style fits well with the teenagers’ energy, Hentoff said. The biggest difference between American- and African-style acrobatics is the leaping. American-style acrobats climb into formations, where Africans leap into pyramids or other stances.
“Circus is an ancient artform, and it evolved in different ways around the world the way languages did,” Hentoff said. “Their acrobatic accent is faster, and for teenagers, that’s good because they all want stuff that’s quick.”
When one of the Arches teens talked about the ghettos in St. Louis, Adoka was shocked.
“They say in America they have ghettos, but that’s a rich man’s house,” he said. “They should visit Africa to see how we cope and survive. I want to take the Arches to Africa to see the ghettos so when they come back they might have positive views on the way they see things.”
Circus Harmony’s winter/spring class sessions run February 1 to May 16 at the City Museum, 701 N. 15th on the 3rd Floor. For more information, visit www.circusharmony.org or call 436-7676.
