Difference between revisions of "Flying Gaonas"

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==See Also==
 
==See Also==
  
* Video: [[Flying Gaonas BAC Video 1984|The Flying Gaonas, Big Apple Circus, 1984]]
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* Video: [[Flying Gaonas BAC Video 1984|The Flying Gaonas]], Big Apple Circus, 1984
* Video: [[Flying Gaonas BAC Video 1986|The Flying Gaonas, Big Apple Circus, 1986]]
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* Video: [[Flying Gaonas BAC Video 1986|The Flying Gaonas]], Big Apple Circus, 1986
  
 
==Suggested Reading==
 
==Suggested Reading==

Revision as of 17:16, 23 October 2008

Flying Trapeze

By Dominique Jando


The Gaonas are a large Mexican circus family, and flying trapezeAerial act in which an acrobat is propelled from a trapeze to a catcher, or to another trapeze. (See also: Short-distance Flying Trapeze) has been for a long time a Mexican circus specialty. So, it is inevitable that flying acts featuring members of the Gaona family would call themselves, somehow legitimately, the Flying Gaonas. And indeed, this has happened. But to the circus world, there has only been one Flying Gaonas act: the act in which, for 35 years, Tito Gaona caught flawless triple somersaults with extraordinary grace and amazing consistency.

Victor Gaona Murillo was born in 1925 to an old and prolific Mexican circus family that traces its roots to the Circo Gaona y León, created in 1891 by Bernabé Gaona Ramos, a former military officer (whose brother, Rodolfo, was a well-known torero), and Carlos León, a trapeze artist. Victor's father, also named Bernabé, had been a celebrated clown in Mexico under the name of Yoyito.

Victor married María Teresa Palencia, who didn't belong to a circus family, and together they had six children: Maria Guadalupe ("Lupe"), Jorge Armando ("Mando," born November 19, 1943), Silvia Graciela ("Chela," born May 23, 1945), Victor Daniel ("Tito," born August 29, 1947), Ricardo José ("Richie," born May 25, 1957), and Marco Antonio.

The children didn't start their lives in the circus; instead, they went to school like any other kids in their hometown of Guadalajara. During their summer vacations, they visited their father who toured with various circuses in the United States. But they had circus blood in their veins, and Tito often claimed that, at age three, he already wanted to join the circus. And when he saw Trapeze (1956)—Carol Reed's tale of an aging flyerAn acrobat that is propelled in the air, either in a flying act, or in an acrobatic act (i.e. teeterboard). and his gifted young pupil, starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, and Gina Lollobrigida—Tito decided he wanted to be a flyerAn acrobat that is propelled in the air, either in a flying act, or in an acrobatic act (i.e. teeterboard).. Or so he claims. But he already had had a taste of it in the summer of 1954, at age seven, when he was announced as "the world's youngest flyerAn acrobat that is propelled in the air, either in a flying act, or in an acrobatic act (i.e. teeterboard)." with the Flying Valentines, at Tom Packs Circus in New Orleans.

Eventually, Victor put Chela, Mando, and Tito to work on a trampoline act, and the Titos, as the act became known, joined their father in the U.S. Tito had also trained on the flying trapezeAerial act in which an acrobat is propelled from a trapeze to a catcher, or to another trapeze. (See also: Short-distance Flying Trapeze) with Fidel Farías, of the Flying Palustres, and Victor had created an aerial casting act for him, with his cousin, Mario Gaona. Meanwhile, Tito's siblings also began to train on the flying trapezeAerial act in which an acrobat is propelled from a trapeze to a catcher, or to another trapeze. (See also: Short-distance Flying Trapeze) during their spare time. Eventually, the Flying Gaonas made their debut at Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus in Palisades Park, New Jersey, in 1962.

With trapeze legend Fay Alexander as a catcherIn an acrobatic or a flying act, the person whose role is to catch acrobats that have been propelled in the air., Tito caught his first double-doubleA double somersault combined with a full double twist. (a double somersault with a double twist) that same year. Afterwards, Victor would catch his children. At the same time, the Flying Palacios, with triple-somersaulter Lalo Palacio, were starring on the Ringling show, and the triple, still a rarity at the time, became Tito's goal. He caught it for the first time in 1964. The following year, he added a return to the trapeze bar with a double pirouette(French) A full rotation of the body in the vertical axle. Double pirouette: two rotations, etc., in the manner of the legendary Alfredo Codona. Tito would later make it a triple pirouette(French) A full rotation of the body in the vertical axle. Double pirouette: two rotations, etc..

The Gaonas went to work in Europe in the wintertime with their trampoline and flying acts, first in Berlin at the Sport Halle, in 1962, then with Circus Scott in Sweden, where they would return several times. It is at Circus Scott that Tito began to turn the triple consistently. They also worked at Circus Krone in Munich, and in the winter of 1965-1966, they appeared with Bertram Mill's Circus for its final season under the actual management of Cyril and Bernard Mills at London's Olympia. There, the Gaonas performed their acts for Queen Elizabeth II and her family.

In 1966, the Gaonas signed a contract with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, which John Ringling North had just sold to Irvin and Israel Feld. They would stay with the Ringling show until 1978, and become the leading star act of the circus' Blue Unit. In 1974, the Ringling show featured two Flying Gaonas acts, the original one, and another troupe led by their cousin, Francisco Gaona. This would be the first, but not the last, appearance of an "other" Flying Gaonas troupe.

When Victor "Papa" Gaona retired from the act in 1975, he was replaced by Manuel Zuniga for one year, then by their cousin, Lalo Murillo. It is with Lalo Murillo, and under guidance from legendary triple-somersaulter Antoinette Concello, that Tito began working on the still unattained quadruple somersault in 1977. After endless practice sessions before or after the show, he was able to turn it, but not to catch it. He eventually attempted it at every performance during the 1977-1978 season, but to no avail. To the audience, though, it was indeed an added thrill.

In December 1978, the Flying Gaonas participated in the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo, and won the circus world's highest award, the coveted Gold Clown. After they left the Ringling show, they starred in a Feld-produced show, the short-lived Cirque International de Monte-Carlo, and then went to work internationally, notably with Circus Knie in Switzerland, and back to Circus Scott in Sweden.

The composition of the troupe changed in 1980, when Richie Gaona, who had been flying for the past three years at Circus World, the Feld-owned circus-themed amusement park in Orlando, Florida, joined the troupe to replace Mando as a flyerAn acrobat that is propelled in the air, either in a flying act, or in an acrobatic act (i.e. teeterboard).. Mando, who had been a gifted, remarkably elegant flyerAn acrobat that is propelled in the air, either in a flying act, or in an acrobatic act (i.e. teeterboard)., became the catcherIn an acrobatic or a flying act, the person whose role is to catch acrobats that have been propelled in the air. of the act.

Starting in 1981, the Flying Gaonas began a long association with the Big Apple Circus, appearing in its Lincoln Center holiday productions or on tour until 1987. They did their last season in Brazil in 1997. Afterwards, Nando went on to manage a custom motor-home company in Florida, Chela returned to Mexico, and Richie became a stuntman in Hollywood, before opening a trapeze school in Woodland Hills, California. Tito wrote his memoirs, and opened his own trapeze school in Venice, Florida, and Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1982, Mexican flyerAn acrobat that is propelled in the air, either in a flying act, or in an acrobatic act (i.e. teeterboard). Miguel Vazquez, of the Flying Vazquez, caught the impossible quadruple somersault. Flying trapeze entered a new era. But until then, and even after, the Flying Gaonas were in a league of their own. There was of course Tito's extraordinary charisma, his ease and elegance, and his impeccable triples; but style and elegance were a characteristic of all Gaonas: "Break your neck," repeated Victor, "but point your toes!" Mando and Richie were also supremely elegant flyers, and Richie's triple, which he rarely did after he joined his brothers, was flawless. Theirs was an act that became a beacon for a generation of flyers, and one of the greatest flying acts of circus history.

See Also

Suggested Reading

Tito Gaona, with Harry L. Graham, Born to Fly, Los Angeles, Wild Rose, 1984 (ISBN 0-91550702-1)

External Links

www.titogaona.com

www.flytrapeze.com

www.richiegaona.com