Ringling clown started at Ripley's
Heckling passers-by from the door of Ripley's Haunted Adventure on Alamo Plaza doesn't sound like much of a résumé-builder — unless your career is, so to speak, a joke.
For Oscar Liendo Jr., playing Stumpy the zombie at Ripley's led to his current job as a clown in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which plays the Alamodome through Monday.
Liendo, 28, hails from Laredo and moved to San Antonio after graduating from the Clown Conservatory of San Francisco.
“Downtown San Antonio is definitely a place for a clown to get some work,” says Liendo, via phone from Oklahoma City.
Living with family at first, then with two childhood friends, Liendo worked “wherever I could make people laugh.” He honed his skills along the River Walk, in front of the Alamo and, yes, as Stumpy — a job Liendo says was “perfect for a clown.”
“Every Stumpy brings their own thing,” Liendo says; his specialties included telling jokes and putting whoopee cushions in the street.
A co-worker at Ripley's had worked as a Ringling clown and guided Liendo toward the circus.
“He helped steer me in that direction,” says Liendo, “what to work on, who to call as far as getting an audition.” He joined the circus in November 2009.
“There's circus in everything, that's what I believe,” he says, “and this work chose me.”
Liendo is just one of a dozen clowns — and 130 performers — in the current “Barnum 200” touring production.
The show celebrates the 200th birthday of American showman and namesake P.T. Barnum . It features plenty of circus traditions: acrobats and gymnasts, high-wire acts, trapeze group The Flying Caceres, tiger trainer Daniel Raffo .
Additional performers include horse trainer Andre McClain and the Torres Family, who perform motocross stunts inside a metal globe.
Orchestrating the whole thing is ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson .
“Ever since Oprah retired, I officially have the greatest gig in show business,” says Iverson, via phone.
Iverson began performing as an 11-year-old in the Boys Choir of Harlem , training that helped prepare him for the singing-intensive ringmaster role. Today, he tours by train with his wife, Priscilla Iverson, a Brazilian dancer with the circus, and their children Matthew and Lila.
“We have a school and a nursery,” he says. He says life on the road with the international cast of performers gives his children “a global education.
Circus Horse Trainers - News
It features plenty of circus traditions: acrobats and gymnasts, high-wire acts, trapeze group The Flying Caceres, tiger trainer Daniel Raffo. Additional performers include horse trainer Andre McClain and the Torres Family, who perform motocross stunts
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FFWD - Calgary Arts - Theatre - Not just another circus
It’s a refreshing change from the circus, in which tools like whips and prods are regularly used on most of the entertaining animals. It’s no secret that although the three-ring circus has survived since 1700s, in recent years its relationship with animal activists has been strained. That’s largely because of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) that Walker Bros. Circus decided — or rather, was forced — to pull exotic animals from its lineup. , on the other hand, plans to retire many of the show’s horses to a farm the company owns in Quebec. And rescue horses are included in the show. Two such colts, Linus and Cricket, are set to open the show here in Calgary. They are both from Bear Valley Rescue, a charitable organization in Sundre, Alta., that rescues horses from the slaughterhouse and finds them good homes.
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The Horseman's year
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Trick training your horse. Excellent articles on how to achieve many of the complicated horse tricks, made easy.
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Staci Layne Wilson: Circus Horse Article ... Like all circus horse trainers in the years to come, Astley knew that teaching any animal by force or cruelty ...
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