There’s a quartet of St. Louis circus stars who are making a name for themselves as they travel the world with Cirque du Soleil.
Circus Harmony alumni Melvin Diggs, Sidney ‘Iking’ Bateman and Terrance ‘T-Roc’ Robinson are all touring with the Cirque du Soleil production of “Luzia.” Currently in Vancouver, the show travels next to London and then Moscow. A fourth Circus Harmony alum, Chauncey Kroner, is in Montreal rehearsing for Cirque du Soleil’s new holiday show, “‘Twas the Night Before,” which opens in Chicago before heading to New York City.
“Circus didn’t change my life. It saved my life,” said Diggs, whose journey began with Circus Harmony, St. Louis’ only social circus school.
He and his fellow Circus Harmony classmates traveled different paths to arrive at the school, which is now considered one of the leading pre-professional circus schools in the country. Diggs started with an internship from a local Boys’ and Girls’ Club, where he worked in the snack bar next to the circus ring. He quickly decided that he would rather be flipping in the ring than making popcorn outside the ring. Bateman was assigned a mentor at his middle school who found out he liked to tumble and brought him to see a show—and when he saw the mats, he couldn’t resist trying them! Robinson, meanwhile, was actually found tumbling down the street by Circus Harmony director Jessica Hentoff, when she chose to drive a different way to work one day. And Kroner was a boy who liked to jump on and off the backyard trampoline, and when he needed a place to be during the summer, a neighbor suggested the circus.
“It’s just amazing. I’m so thrilled and excited for them!” said Circus Harmony artistic/executive director Jessica Hentoff. “Circus Harmony is a very small school, but we have had a rather significant impact on the social circus and now, the professional circus world!”
Social circus is an intervention tool used to work with at-risk youth. For Circus Harmony, it means using the teaching and performing of circus arts to motivate social change by building character in individuals and building bridges between communities. Its performance troupe, the St. Louis Arches, was founded in 1989.
“It was a place where I could be free and be myself without any judging,” Bateman said. “I loved the feeling it gave me to perform. I loved the security and safety it gave that I didn’t have at home or in my neighborhood.”
None of these former students of Circus Harmony had any idea that they would go on to international circus careers. All four attended circus colleges upon graduation from Circus Harmony. Bateman and Diggs attended the Ecole Nationale de Cirque in Montreal, Robinson went to Ecole de Cirque de Québec in Quebec City, and Kroner had been performing, training and teaching at Circus Harmony.
Diggs, Bateman and Robinson have already toured the world with other circus companies, and will be based in Vancouver through the end of the year for “Luzia,” billed by Cirque du Soleil as “a waking dream of Mexico, where light (‘luz’ in Spanish) quenches the spirit and rain (‘lluvia’) soothes the soul.” The show features grand visual scenes and breathtaking acrobatics to bring to life the places, faces and sounds of Mexico.
Kroner, who is just starting his professional circus career, has already performed twice at the Kennedy Center—once with Circus Harmony and once as a special guest with South Africa’s Zip Zap Circus. He has also performed for President Obama at the White House.
These former Circus Harmony students may be all over the world, but whenever they come home, they return to Circus Harmony to help the next generation. They help teach tricks, choreograph acts, and just serve as positive role models for the current generation of flying children.
“This great life, these great life lessons that I’ve learned to implement into my life now, they are a big reason why I’m considered so successful in my field,” Bateman explained. “I give my time to Circus Harmony. I come back and work with the kids. I do what I can so that the youth can follow in my footsteps if they want to. It would be wrong if I didn’t do anything at all.”
Diggs, his “Luzia” co-star and fellow Circus Harmony alum agrees.
“Without Circus Harmony I would have never known anything about circus or had the opportunity to pursue it. In return, Circus gave me my first footsteps toward the correct direction in life. To this day I am still on that path Circus Harmony opened for me,” Diggs said. “With a full heart, I can say I’m currently living out my passion every day because of that opportunity I was offered so many years ago!”
