Flying Gaonas - Revision history

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-03-15T19:38:51Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2018-02-20T04:39:22Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* From the Titos to the Flying Gaonas */

2018-02-20T04:34:31Z

‎From the Titos to the Flying Gaonas

Djando: /* Flying Trapeze */

2017-02-24T05:17:14Z

‎Flying Trapeze

Djando at 01:34, 20 November 2016

2016-11-20T01:34:50Z

Djando at 01:34, 20 November 2016

2016-11-20T01:34:27Z

Djando at 01:32, 20 November 2016

2016-11-20T01:32:48Z

Djando: /* The Elusive Quadruple */

2016-11-20T01:31:26Z

‎The Elusive Quadruple

Djando: /* The Elusive Quadruple */

2016-11-20T01:30:16Z

‎The Elusive Quadruple

Djando: /* From the Titos to the Flying Gaonas */

2016-11-20T01:28:55Z

‎From the Titos to the Flying Gaonas

@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 File:Gaona_Family.jpeg|Victor Gaona and his children (1978)
 Image:Tito_Gaona_1982.jpg|Mando and Tito Gaona (1982)
 File:Richie_and_Mando_Gaonas.jpeg|Richie and Mando Gaona (1986)
 File:Gaonas_-_Passing_Leap.jpeg|Mando, Richie and Chela Gaona (1986)

@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 Flying_gaonas_-_Ringling.jpeg|The Flying Gaonas: Mando, Tito, Chela (1974)
 File:Gaonas_-_Ringling.jpg|Chela, Tito, and Mando Gaona (c.1975)
 File:Flying_Gaonas_-_Monte_Carlo.jpeg|The Flying Gaonas at the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (1978)
 File:Gaona_Family.jpeg|Victor Gaona and his children (1978)

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 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 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 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.
-[[File:Flying_Gaona_-_Victor.jpeg|thumb|right|400px|The Flying Gaonas (c.1965)]]With trapeze legend [[Fay Alexander]] as catcher, Tito caught his first double-double (a double somersault with a double twist) that same year. Afterward, Victor acted as the catcher in the act. During that period, the [[Flying Palacios]], with triple-somersaulter [[Lalo Palacio]], were starring in 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, in the manner of the legendary [[The Codonas|Alfredo Codona]]. Tito would later make it a triple pirouette.
+[[File:Flying_Gaona_-_Victor.jpeg|thumb|right|400px|The Flying Gaonas: Victor, Mando, Tito, Chela (c.1965)]]With trapeze legend [[Fay Alexander]] as catcher, Tito caught his first double-double (a double somersault with a double twist) that same year. Afterward, Victor acted as the catcher in the act. During that period, the [[Flying Palacios]], with triple-somersaulter [[Lalo Palacio]], were starring in 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, in the manner of the legendary [[The Codonas|Alfredo Codona]]. Tito would later make it a triple pirouette.
 In the winter of 1962, the Gaonas brought their trampoline and flying acts to Europe, first to Berlin at the Sport Halle, then to [[Circus Scott]] in Sweden, where they would return several times. It is at Circus Scott that Tito began to turn the triple consistently. The Gaonas also worked at [[Circus Krone]] in Munich, and in the winter of 1965-66, they appeared with [[Bertram Mills Circus]] for its final season under the management of [[Cyril Mills|Cyril]] and Bernard Mills at London's Olympia. There, the Gaonas performed their acts for Queen Elizabeth II and her family.

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 [[File:Tito_Gaona_1982.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Mando and Tito Gaona]]The Gaonas are a large Mexican circus family. Since the flying trapeze has long been a specialty of the Mexican circus, it was inevitable that flying acts featuring members of the Gaona family would call themselves, with some legitimacy, the Flying Gaonas. And indeed, this has happened. To the circus world, however, there has been one and only one Flying Gaonas: the act in which, for 35 years, Tito Gaona caught flawless triple somersaults with extraordinary grace and astonishing consistency.
-Victor Gaona Murillo (1925-23016) was born to an old, 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, was a celebrated clown in Mexico under the name of Yoyito.
+Victor Gaona Murillo (1925-2016) was born to an old, 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, was a celebrated clown in Mexico under the name of Yoyito.
 Victor married María Teresa Palencia, who didn't belong to a circus family. 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 ("Richie," born May 25, 1957), José, and Marco Antonio.

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:34, 20 November 2016
Line 4:		Line 4:


−	[[File:Tito_Gaona_1982.jpg\|thumb\|~~right~~\|400px\|Mando and Tito Gaona]]The Gaonas are a large Mexican circus family. Since the flying trapeze has long been a specialty of the Mexican circus, it was inevitable that flying acts featuring members of the Gaona family would call themselves, with some legitimacy, the Flying Gaonas. And indeed, this has happened. To the circus world, however, there has been one and only one Flying Gaonas: the act in which, for 35 years, Tito Gaona caught flawless triple somersaults with extraordinary grace and astonishing consistency.	+	[[File:Tito_Gaona_1982.jpg\|thumb\|left\|400px\|Mando and Tito Gaona]]The Gaonas are a large Mexican circus family. Since the flying trapeze has long been a specialty of the Mexican circus, it was inevitable that flying acts featuring members of the Gaona family would call themselves, with some legitimacy, the Flying Gaonas. And indeed, this has happened. To the circus world, however, there has been one and only one Flying Gaonas: the act in which, for 35 years, Tito Gaona caught flawless triple somersaults with extraordinary grace and astonishing consistency.

	Victor Gaona Murillo (1925-23016) was born to an old, 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, was a celebrated clown in Mexico under the name of Yoyito.		Victor Gaona Murillo (1925-23016) was born to an old, 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, was a celebrated clown in Mexico under the name of Yoyito.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ==Flying Trapeze==
-[[File:Tito_Gaona_1982.jpg|right|300px]]
 ''By Dominique Jando''
-The Gaonas are a large Mexican circus family. Since the flying trapeze has long been a specialty of the Mexican circus, it was inevitable that flying acts featuring members of the Gaona family would call themselves, with some legitimacy, the Flying Gaonas. And indeed, this has happened. To the circus world, however, there has been one and only one Flying Gaonas: the act in which, for 35 years, Tito Gaona caught flawless triple somersaults with extraordinary grace and astonishing consistency.
+[[File:Tito_Gaona_1982.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Mando and Tito Gaona]]The Gaonas are a large Mexican circus family. Since the flying trapeze has long been a specialty of the Mexican circus, it was inevitable that flying acts featuring members of the Gaona family would call themselves, with some legitimacy, the Flying Gaonas. And indeed, this has happened. To the circus world, however, there has been one and only one Flying Gaonas: the act in which, for 35 years, Tito Gaona caught flawless triple somersaults with extraordinary grace and astonishing consistency.
 Victor Gaona Murillo (1925-23016) was born to an old, 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, was a celebrated clown in Mexico under the name of Yoyito.

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 ===The Elusive Quadruple===
-[[File:Flying_Gaonas_-_Monte_Carlo.jpeg|thumb|left|400px|The Gaonas in Monte Carlo (1978)]]When Victor "Papa" Gaona retired from the act in 1975, he was replaced by Manuel Zuniga for one year, then by the Gaonas's cousin, Lalo Murillo. It was with Lalo Murillo, and under the guidance of legendary triple-somersaulter [[Antoinette Concello]], that Tito began working, in 1977, on the still-unattained quadruple somersault. After endless practice sessions before or after the show, he was able to turn it, but not catch it. He attempted it at every performance during the 1977-78 season, but to no avail. Despite Tito's inability to perform the feat, the audience got an added thrill out of the attempt.
+When Victor "Papa" Gaona retired from the act in 1975, he was replaced by Manuel Zuniga for one year, then by the Gaonas's cousin, Lalo Murillo. It was with Lalo Murillo, and under the guidance of legendary triple-somersaulter [[Antoinette Concello]], that Tito began working, in 1977, on the still-unattained quadruple somersault. After endless practice sessions before or after the show, he was able to turn it, but not catch it. He attempted it at every performance during the 1977-78 season, but to no avail. Despite Tito's inability to perform the feat, the audience got an added thrill out of the attempt.
-In December 1978, the Flying Gaonas participated in the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]], winning 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''. Then they went to work internationally, notably with [[Circus Knie]] in Switzerland and back with Circus Scott in Sweden.
+[[File:Flying_Gaonas_-_Monte_Carlo.jpeg|thumb|left|400px|The Gaonas in Monte Carlo (1978)]]In December 1978, the Flying Gaonas participated in the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]], winning 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''. Then they went to work internationally, notably with [[Circus Knie]] in Switzerland and back with Circus Scott in Sweden.
 The composition of the troupe changed in 1980, when Richie Gaona&mdash;who had been flying for the past three years at Circus World, the Feld-owned circus-themed amusement park in Orlando, Florida&mdash;joined the troupe to replace Mando as a flyer. Mando, who had been a gifted, remarkably elegant flyer, became the act's catcher.