Joining the Circus

The circus came to town this week. For elementary schoolchildren in Inglewood, it did much more: The circus came to their playground Friday. Then it let them in on the action.

The Woodworth Elementary School playground was outfitted with a temporary circus ring and inhabited by, among other sights, an obedient elephant, an alligator, a contortionist who bent herself into what looked like a pretzel--and syncopated hip-hop beats.

The cast of the Atlanta-based Universoul Circus, which bills itself as the first African American circus in a century, was on hand to provide a morning of free entertainment for about 900 students. The event took place just hours before Universoul’s initial show, the first in a 10-day run at Hollywood Park racetrack.

Batches of children entered the circus ring and got lessons in things like unicycle riding, building human pyramids and making balloons into odd-shaped animals. One boy, leaping up and down after hopping off a unicycle, reveled in the fact that he was now “just like a circus guy.”

“We take the black tradition of audience participation and make it central here,” said “Casual Cal” Dupree, who co-founded the circus in 1994 and now serves as its funk-infused ringmaster.

Gabrielle Scott, 7, like many of the children, loved the clowns and the men on stilts outfitted in green, black and gold kente cloth. But what she really got a kick out of was the animals.

“Look, look, an elephant with a lady on top of it!” she exclaimed.

“Ahhh! An alligator! Watch out!” shouted Guadalupe Lopez, 7.

“I don’t care if it bites me, I’ll bite it back!” said Gabrielle.

When the event was over, a number of the children were asked what made the circus special.

Some noted that the animals were fun, in a scary kind of way. Some said the circus was “way better” than going to the beach.

None of the children said a word about race.

“I’m just glad they came to our school to do this,” said Joshua Cele, 10. “They could be black, white or purple, it doesn’t matter. To me it’s just fun!”