Bravo! Well said!

I was interviewed to be a judge, I didnt get it, Oh well. We all agree that the choice of judges sucked except for the lady. I think the point everyone is missing is that the producers are all caught up in the cirque thing. All the trainers are cirque performer except for the Fonasaries and perhaps a few others. Cirque performers are manufactered in a warehouse in Montreal. They do a few years in cirque shows where their treatment is excelent. And then they think of them selves a experts. What a crock. Take any of the cirque performers and put them in our situations and they will fall flat on their faces. (Most would refuse to work) They do not create their acts they dont make their costumes, they dont tear down or set up and they dont know how hang their own rigging. They complain that they have to do 10 shows a week in an aircondition building. (Give me a F__king break) And they walk around with their nose in the air and look down on us. I am proud of the fact that we can drive all night set up and do three shows with little or no sleep, bad lighting, worse sound, and still rock the house. Because in us is the heart of the real circus performers. It is not always pretty but we always do our jobs, and risk our lives on a day to day basis, and we do it because we are the real deal. The only star that showed that was Wee Man. He has the parts.

I agree.

Antonio Sabato Jr. and Christine Van Loo

Hey Darlene, I was but they took out the flying trapeze when they realized how intense it was to train people and they wanted the good enough to go without lines.

Kristin Finley aren't you one of the trainers on the show?

lol... I think we agree afterall! My complaint was never with the trainers whom I know and respect, it was with the producers who were trading safety for sensationalism and hopefully ratings. I wanted so much to see legends in the circus world teach and create acts that could inspire others as well as the top names in the industry critique the acts to hear what the real story was. Instead we had performers with the best of intentions thrown into to situations that were out of their control and Judges selected on characters that pre-existed on other proven format shows. I know Aurelia can shed more light on this but in some similar shows, the "Judges" end up relegated to more of a role of "commentator" that are there to push the story line forward as the producers direct. In one case of another show I worked on, the producer was actually feeding the “judges” their lines via an earpiece to make sure they got to the exact point in order to sculpt the show for the drama they wanted. I’m not saying this happened in this case at all… but everyone on this show was “cast” to play a certain role or character. It's even been discussed that on the set...the producers admited that it wasn't a compitition but a "Reality Show" with the emphasis on creating drama and conflict as well as hopefull "love intrests". I think we were all hoping they could bring back "The Circus of the Stars" where the real pros of the circus community could shine. Of course it had it's conflicts as well with celebrities that didn't want to spend the time or energy needed so they jumped into existing acts while the real stars watched from off camera. I'm sure we could share a lot of the real detail problems on this show talking in person but I'm not going to air it here in a public forum... but I DO agree with everything in your post. I've produced and directed hundreds shows in 8 or 9 different countries over the last 30 years and worked on dozens of television shows and films so I understand the demands of the producers, I just didn't like some of their choices in this case and how it reflected on this industry which I respect and truly love. It sounds like you feel the same...;-) ...take care!

You are absolutley right when you say being a good performer and even a great one doesn't make you a great teacher. I think we are talking about different trainers. The ones that I am talking did a fantasitc job from what they had to work with and no one got hurt while they were training. As for the trapeze, that had been taken out only a few weeks into the show. They showed it to reel people in but had no intention on having anyone do it. The celebs practiced about 3 of their acts the first month. Then when the show aired, each week after that was divoted to learning something for the next show. Let me clarify " people do what they gotta do". These trainers that were hired really had little say in what went on. Some of them could have had more "experience", yes. But what would you do if your were in that situation? Having little experience in whatever you were supposed to be teaching. You'd do your best. So in turn they had to fall back on editing to cover up mistakes. I really wish they would have had Richie or Tito or someone in the business to show alittle more of the learning process. Or had Vinicio in the forefront and dove alittle into his past to show what real circus is like. But that would have cost too much money. They were being very cheap. As a performer getting paid what they did was good. But being a performer on tv...that's a whole different story. It wasn't good. Anyway, you take care as well and continue teaching safely. :-)

It really would have been great to have Elvin, Tito or Richie teach and show a little more of the process that goes into learning. Obviously, we need our own show but, this is a piercing of the cloud that industry opponents have created with their narrow agendas. Did you know they want to do away with all American Bulldogs or "Pitbulls"? Wow, they shouldn't come to my hood without some real chrome! So, to speak. This little face off in Richmond CA may take place in the very near future. May I suggest we really try to get the support going for our fellow human and animal performers and address them peacefully in a quiet opposition of presence? In peace, Adaline

"37 injuries" was the producer's own admission televised in graphics, in fact touting their own carelessness. Sadly being a good performer and even a great one doesn't make you a great teacher. It is a MUCH different skill set. In fact we get amazing performers constantly that fail to instruct well. I've worked with most of the people on the show and hired them for many many shows as I value their skills in performance, but that doesn't mean they all know how to instruct well. In fact some of the performers' skill sets come from more of a dance background than from aerial. Are they talented? Of course. Did they look good on camera? Of course. Were they really the best "instructors" that could be found? The "experience" argument isn't really helpfull to the quality case. The time people have spent at something makes them experienced, not good. Many times they do become good, sometimes they just become "polished". Again, performers are not always good teachers. I've used bathrooms for years, it doesn't make me a plumber. As to showing their talents... they did every week they jumped in to fill in the background and take the heat off of the celebrities every time they got into or out of a move. Every transition or set-up was covered by an akward cut to one of the pros doing a trick. They were well utilized in every show. Do they have the developed language and repertoire to have dozens of developed routines and trick sequences to select from or were they, as one person stated on here, "just making up things as they went along"? The money was good for all of them and they did the job willingly. From what I heard...No one turned it down. Just to be clear, I truly love what I do... every single day... come to think of it... so does my dog. I mean he REALLY loves it! Does "loving what you do" mean you're the best at it? Can't the lowest guy in the food chain at any company "love what he does"? Passion doesn't equal talent or everyone on American Idol would get a recording contract. Yes, it wasn't a "full 8 weeks"... but imagine, just for a moment... if you really went around the country and really tried and find the best teachers, the most experienced people that can both develop and direct acts as well as safely instruct with the proper progressions and injury prevention techniques. And forget just this country... (as it seems than an accent is a prime factor in some casting) Let's add Canada and Mexico as well. I wonder if the acts just might have been a little better? We've already heard many on this board elucidate how long it takes to train someone to climb a web. I would guess that there are dozens of amazing performers on this board alone with countless generations of experience to draw from. Why were they not selected and they "hot ones" were? So Antonio had 3 days to learn the Space Wheel why? What happened to him and the flying trapeze? I thought this was going to be his big feature. I saw everyone working on the flying in the promo spots but not one person made it through? The only thing he said on the show is that he finally realized that "it just wasn't going to work out" so he had to shift over at the last second. We did see Chris Knight flying out of control at the platform upside down over and over. In closing... I'm just not sure how to respond to "people do what they gotta do" nor why I should know that better than anyone, but being easy to toss out, it's a convienient statement I'll try my best to work into my conversations in the future! ...take care!