Difference between revisions of "Main Page"

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<div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Welcome! ✫ Bienvenue! ✫ Willkommen! ✫ Добро Пожаловать!</div><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Bienvenida! ✫ Benvenuto! ✫ 歡迎 ! ✫ Vítejte! ✫ Καλώς ήρθατ
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<br><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Welcome! ✫ Bienvenue! ✫ Willkommen! ✫ Добро Пожаловать!</div><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Bienvenida! ✫ Benvenuto! ✫ 歡迎 ! ✫ Vítejte! ✫ Καλώς ήρθατ
 
ε!</div><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Üdvözöljük! ✫ Добре Дошли! ✫ Welkom! ✫ Ласкаво Просимо!</div><div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Velkommen! ✫ Tervetuloa! ✫ Дабро Запрашаем! ✫ Välkommen!</div><br/>
 
ε!</div><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Üdvözöljük! ✫ Добре Дошли! ✫ Welkom! ✫ Ласкаво Просимо!</div><div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Velkommen! ✫ Tervetuloa! ✫ Дабро Запрашаем! ✫ Välkommen!</div><br/>
<div style="top:+0.2em; font-size:98%;"> ''Circopedia was originally inspired and funded by the [http://www.sdrubin.org/ Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation]''.</div><br/>
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<div style="top:+0.2em; font-size:98%;"> ''Circopedia is an independent educational website, originally created as a project of the non-profit [[Big Apple Circus]]''.</div><br/>
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==In The Spotlight==
 
==In The Spotlight==
[[File:Elena_Serafimovich_1997.jpg|right|300px]]
 
===ELENA SERAFIMOVICH===
 
  
Elena Serafimovich was born in Minsk, Belarus (then in the USSR) on February 18, 1972 in a family that was not connected with the circus: Both her parents worked for import-export companies. As a child, the mixture of dance and acrobatics that rhythmic gymnastics offers attracted her, and she started training at age six. She participated in many national competitions, and eventually obtained a Master degree in Rhythmic-Gymnastics.
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===WALTER NONES===
 +
[[File:Walter_Nones.jpeg|right|400px]]
 +
Even though he was not born in the circus, Walter Nones (1934-2016) was, in Italy, a reformer of the classic circus form, one of the few circus visionaries who have marked the second half of the 20th century (from Arturo Castilla to Jean Richard and Gerry Cottle) and built true circus empires in their own countries equating in strength the circus empires of yore.
 +
 
 +
Walter Nones was also a remarkable acrobat and a superb animal trainer; he had an engaging personality—as much when ha addressed his audience as when, away from the spotlight, he acted as the "general" of his enterprises, or in his dealing with the media and the Italian administration. Endowed with a solid intuition and a rare ability for taking calculated risks, he was able to change directions and diversify his company many times; his constant imperative was novelty, for which he was faithful to the style and methods of the great Italian variety entrepreneurs.
  
But Elena wanted to see the world, to go out of the confined atmosphere of the Soviet Union; so she did what many former gymnasts there did: she enrolled in Kiev’s State Institute of Variety and Circus Arts in Ukraine (still part of the Soviet Union at the time). The year was 1987. In 1989, she was hired as a top mounter in the famous perch-pole balancing act of Aleksei Sarach&mdash;although she was still technically a student of the school. She graduated as a "generalist" (a performer without a specific act) in 1991.  
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Walter Nones was able to build with his wife, Moira Orfei, a legend that went well beyond their circus—a circus that was certainly unique in the fact that it traveled constantly for fifty-five years without ever taking a true break! Nones was among the Italian pioneers of the internationalization of show business and, as such, he even became instrumental in the establishment of new relations between the former USSR and the Vatican.
  
Elena worked with Sarach in the Soviet Union and on foreign tours of the Moscow Circus for eight years. Meanwhile, she longed to create an act of her own, and in 1993, she began to train on the aerial hoop, or cerceau&mdash;an apparatus that was ideal to showcase her amazing grace and flexibility. While doing so, she caught the attention of Tatiana Assovskaya, then director of SoyuzGosTsirk (later, RosGosTsirk), the Soviet Union's state central circus organization.
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Walter Nones was born in Trent, capital of the Trentino province in northern Italy, on June 18, 1934, the oldest of the four children of Giuseppe Nones and his wife, Adele, née Medini, a circus artist. Giuseppe was a cabinet maker; he spent his life between his workshop and the gym, following in that an old Trent tradition: A great number of its citizen had developed over the years a passion for gymnastics. With three of his gymnast friends, he had gone to perform as an acrobat in Bernardo Medini’s circus, where he met Adele, the seventh of the fourteen children that Medini had with his wife, Adalgisa Caroli. They fell in love and got married…
  
With Assovskaya’s help, Elena further developed her act during a long engagement of the Moscow Circus with Circus Williams-Althoff in Germany, where she eventually premiered it in 1995. Her beautifully choreographed aerial presentation, combined with Elena’s natural grace and elegance, was an immediate sensation.... ([[Elena Serafimovich|more...]])
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At the outbreak of World War II, however, Giuseppe Nones stopped his circus escapades and returned to his workshop and a stable and more secure occupation. Walter, his brother Guglielmo, and his sister Loredana, were sent to study in a Salesian college. Sharing their father's passion for acrobatics, the siblings began to perform in school shows and took lessons from a well-known acrobat, Bruno Marcantoni, who had performed in the United States with the Barnum and Bailey Circus in 1910.... ([[Walter Nones|more...]])
  
 
==New Essays and Biographies==
 
==New Essays and Biographies==
  
* [[Rex Williams]], Elephant Trainer
+
* [[Cirkus_Verdensteater_(Oslo)|Cirkus Verdensteater]], Oslo Circus Building
* [[Little Billy Merchant]], Clown
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* [[Eddie Murillo]], Circus Agent and Producer
* [[Jacko Fossett]], Clown
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* [[The Biasini Family]], Circus Owners, Artists
* [[Circus Ring of Fame]], History
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* [[Paul Jerome]], Clown
* [[Natalya Jigalova]], Aerialist
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* [[Evelyn and André]], Aerialists, Acrobats
  
 
==New Videos==
 
==New Videos==
  
* [[Bikmaevi_Video_(2022)|Duo Bikmaevi]], strap act (2022)  
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* [[Rudi-Llata_Video_(1956)|The Rudi-Llatas]], clown entrée (1956)
* [[Knie_Elephant_and_Tigers_Video_(1976)|Louis Knie]], elephants and tigers act (1976)
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* [[Steve_Bor_Video_(1985)|Steve Bor]], juggler (1985)
* [[Bruno_Togni_Video_(2023)|Bruno Togni]], tiger act (2023)
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* [[Casartelli_Elephants_Video_(1997)|Eros Casartelli]], elephant act (1997)
* [[Rene_Casselly_Jr_Video_(2023)|RenéCasselly, Jr.]], acrobat on horseback (2023)
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* [[Hng_Thean_Leong_Video_(2024)|Hng Thean Leong]], diabolo act (2024)
* [[Ruban_Troupe_Video_(2022)|Anatoliy Ruban Troupe]], teeterboard (2022)
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* [[Trixie_Zavatta_Video_(2024)|Trixie Zavatta]], hand balancer/contortionist on hoverboard (2024)
  
 
==New Oral Histories==
 
==New Oral Histories==
  
 +
* [[Dominique_Jando_Video_(2025)|Dominique Jando interview]] by the Circus Historical Society (2025)
 +
* [[Evelyn_and_Andre_Video_(2015)|Evelyn & André Interview]] on Blikk TV (2015)
 
* [[BAC_Blumberg_Video_(1977)|''For A Moment You Fly'']], The First Season of The Big Apple Circus (1977)
 
* [[BAC_Blumberg_Video_(1977)|''For A Moment You Fly'']], The First Season of The Big Apple Circus (1977)
 
* [[Durov_Documentary_Video_(c.2000)|Vladimir Durov Documentary]] on Russian Television (c.2000)
 
* [[Durov_Documentary_Video_(c.2000)|Vladimir Durov Documentary]] on Russian Television (c.2000)
 
* [[Dolly_Jacobs_Interview_Video_(2018)|Dolly Jacobs Interview]] at The Ringling (2018)
 
* [[Dolly_Jacobs_Interview_Video_(2018)|Dolly Jacobs Interview]] at The Ringling (2018)
* [[Pinito_del_Oro_RTE_Video_(1970)|Pinito del Oro's Interview]] on Spanish Television (1970)
 
* [[Eradze_Video_(2015)|Gia Eradze]]'s Interview on SSU TV (2015)
 
  
 
==Circopedia Books==
 
==Circopedia Books==
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==A Message from the Founder==
 
==A Message from the Founder==
  
''CIRCOPEDIA is a constantly evolving and expanding archive of the international circus. New videos, biographies, essays, and documents are added to the site on a weekly&mdash;and sometimes daily&mdash;basis. Keep visiting us: even if today you don't find what you're looking for, it may well be here tomorrow! And if you are a serious circus scholar and spot a factual or historical inaccuracy, do not hesitate to [[Circopedia:Contact|contact us]]: we will definitely consider your remarks and suggestions.''  
+
''CIRCOPEDIA is a constantly evolving and expanding archive of the international circus, maintained by reliable circus historians and specialists. New videos, biographies, essays, and documents are added to the site on a weekly&mdash;and sometimes daily&mdash;basis. Keep visiting us: even if today you don't find what you're looking for, it may well be here tomorrow! And if you are a serious circus scholar and spot a factual or historical inaccuracy, do not hesitate to [[Circopedia:Contact|contact us]]: we will definitely consider your remarks and suggestions.''  
  
 
:'''Dominique Jando'''
 
:'''Dominique Jando'''
 
:Founder and Curator
 
:Founder and Curator

Latest revision as of 05:55, 1 July 2025


Welcome! ✫ Bienvenue! ✫ Willkommen! ✫ Добро Пожаловать!
Bienvenida! ✫ Benvenuto! ✫ 歡迎 ! ✫ Vítejte! ✫ Καλώς ήρθατ ε!
Üdvözöljük! ✫ Добре Дошли! ✫ Welkom! ✫ Ласкаво Просимо!
Velkommen! ✫ Tervetuloa! ✫ Дабро Запрашаем! ✫ Välkommen!

Circopedia is an independent educational website, originally created as a project of the non-profit Big Apple Circus.

In The Spotlight

WALTER NONES

Walter Nones.jpeg

Even though he was not born in the circus, Walter Nones (1934-2016) was, in Italy, a reformer of the classic circus form, one of the few circus visionaries who have marked the second half of the 20th century (from Arturo Castilla to Jean Richard and Gerry Cottle) and built true circus empires in their own countries equating in strength the circus empires of yore.

Walter Nones was also a remarkable acrobat and a superb animal trainer; he had an engaging personality—as much when ha addressed his audience as when, away from the spotlight, he acted as the "general" of his enterprises, or in his dealing with the media and the Italian administration. Endowed with a solid intuition and a rare ability for taking calculated risks, he was able to change directions and diversify his company many times; his constant imperative was novelty, for which he was faithful to the style and methods of the great Italian variety entrepreneurs.

Walter Nones was able to build with his wife, Moira Orfei, a legend that went well beyond their circus—a circus that was certainly unique in the fact that it traveled constantly for fifty-five years without ever taking a true break! Nones was among the Italian pioneers of the internationalization of show business and, as such, he even became instrumental in the establishment of new relations between the former USSR and the Vatican.

Walter Nones was born in Trent, capital of the Trentino province in northern Italy, on June 18, 1934, the oldest of the four children of Giuseppe Nones and his wife, Adele, née Medini, a circus artist. Giuseppe was a cabinet maker; he spent his life between his workshop and the gym, following in that an old Trent tradition: A great number of its citizen had developed over the years a passion for gymnastics. With three of his gymnast friends, he had gone to perform as an acrobat in Bernardo Medini’s circus, where he met Adele, the seventh of the fourteen children that Medini had with his wife, Adalgisa Caroli. They fell in love and got married…

At the outbreak of World War II, however, Giuseppe Nones stopped his circus escapades and returned to his workshop and a stable and more secure occupation. Walter, his brother Guglielmo, and his sister Loredana, were sent to study in a Salesian college. Sharing their father's passion for acrobatics, the siblings began to perform in school shows and took lessons from a well-known acrobat, Bruno Marcantoni, who had performed in the United States with the Barnum and Bailey Circus in 1910.... (more...)

New Essays and Biographies

New Videos

New Oral Histories

Circopedia Books

A Message from the Founder

CIRCOPEDIA is a constantly evolving and expanding archive of the international circus, maintained by reliable circus historians and specialists. New videos, biographies, essays, and documents are added to the site on a weekly—and sometimes daily—basis. Keep visiting us: even if today you don't find what you're looking for, it may well be here tomorrow! And if you are a serious circus scholar and spot a factual or historical inaccuracy, do not hesitate to contact us: we will definitely consider your remarks and suggestions.

Dominique Jando
Founder and Curator