Who hasn’t dreamed of running away to join the circus? Well, two siblings from Bega have done just that.
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Ella and Rhys Davies have been travelling New Zealand with Circus Aotearoa.
Rhys, who is known around the Bega Valley under his performer alias The Trickster, has been with the group for eight months as the pre-show entertainment – doing percussion juggling, balancing a row of chairs on his face, having lots of fun with the crowd and juggling knives on a tall unicycle.
But the shows were only 10 per cent of the work, as most of the job came from putting up and taking down the tent.
“I do remember one time when my family came to visit, they helped with 'tent down' which as you might guess is when we take the tent down,” Rhys said.
“Taking tent pegs out of the ground usually isn't too hard, so I put them to work taking them out.
“They couldn't make the first one budge, so I teased them a bit, enjoying watching them working in the rain – circus life makes you cruel.
“After a while everyone starting working to get this one peg out, as it ended up being the last one,” he said.
“It took us half an hour with our boss, some strong boys, physics and a sledge hammer but we got it out.
“That same wet night I copped a flying sledge hammer to the knee – circus isn’t always fun kids!”
A few weeks after his family visited, the circus started looking for someone to perform odd jobs so the 17-year-old asked his sister if she would like to join them on the road.
For two months Ella did “a bit of everything” - cooking, making popcorn, serving customers, driving caravans, and helping set up and pack up the big top.
The 19-year-old joined because it was something she had never experienced before.
“Who wouldn't want to run away to join the circus?” she said.
“I've been interested in all types of performance since I was really little and I guess it was a chance to learn more about the circus world.”
Their tour has recently come to an end, with Rhys saying while he and Ella are good friends he took distinct pleasure in being her boss.
“[There’s] something quite satisfying about being a little brother who gets to boss his older sister around at work,” he said.
“But all (most) sibling rivalry aside, I'm very glad she had the opportunity to experience circus life for a little while, and happy she learnt lots of skills, and I can see her working in circus one day.
“In which case she owes all of her success to me. Don't you just love little brothers?”
As a result of the experience, Ella has decided to go to a Wellington circus school.