By
DENISE D. TUCKER
Argus Leader
published: 4/26/02
2,830 people attend first production
Joseph Bauer knows how to captivate an audience.
As ringmaster of the 61st Annual El Riad Shrine Circus, Bauer uses his booming
voice - reminiscent of a television announcer - to introduce more than a dozen
acts.
As a performer, he kept the 2,830 people who attended the first show of the
circus at the Sioux Falls Arena on Thursday in suspense as he walked inside the
Space Wheel.
Bauer, 36, started out his routine on the 50-foot wheel slowly. He walked around
the inside of the wheel of the 50-year-old pendulumesque contraption. As the
machine gathered speed, Bauer began to fly around in the wheel.
Soon he climbed to the outside of the wheel and walked around. Then he added a
degree of difficulty by juggling three clubs, then juggling the three clubs
after they were on fire and later walking around the wheel blindfolded. He
flirted with death as he tried to jump rope on the wheel.
A collective gasp could be heard from the audience after he slipped.
"Now get down before you give me a heart attack," said Michelle
Cochran, 35, of Sioux Falls, as she watched Bauer from her seat.
Bauer - an eighth-generation circus performer - ended his performance safely on
his feet.
He has been a ringmaster for 16 years, but this is his first year as ringmaster
for the George Carden International Circus.
"It's wonderful," Bauer said, of being with the circus. "I like
the response from the crowd. And the traveling is nice."
The 2-hour show got off to a late start as crews continued to set up some
equipment. President George W. Bush spoke in the Arena on Wednesday evening,
forcing a delay for crews to set up the circus.
"Some workers didn't even go to sleep," Bauer said.
There are 75 performers, from eight nations, with the circus.
Trapeze performer Rachel Cretney is from England. She has been circus performer
for 10 years, but this is her first with George Carden. She has been a trapeze
performer for only two years.
"I was a dancer a long time ago," she said. "I went on a contract
with a circus in Mexico. I stopped dancing and started performing."
Ironically Cretney is scared of heights.
"When it's showtime you don't think of the height. When you're up there in
the show you have to forget about your fears," she said.
Her husband, Arturo Olguin Padilla, is also a trapeze artist.
Sioux Falls resident Ruth Muller, 89, has been a lifelong fan of the circus.
The first circus she went to was in Mitchell in a pasture out behind her
grandmother's barn.
"We thought it was fascinating," Muller said.
Decades later, she found herself married to a member of the El Riad Shrine.
"This kind of brings back a lot of good memories," Muller said on
Thursday. "I helped with the circus for about 10 years. I use to be a
weenie wrapper."
Michelle Cochran brought her 1-year-old daughter, Niaja, to the show.
"We like this," Cochran said. "She's watching it, and that
surprises me."
Sioux Falls resident Stephanie Piercy, 32, also brought her 2-year-old daughter,
Rania, along.
"She likes the elephant the best so far," Piercy said of her daughter.
"She just likes being here, period."
Both toddlers spent the majority of the show dancing in the upper bleachers of
the Arena to the music that accompanied the performances while wearing
glow-in-the-dark headsets.
The performance also marked the first
time that the El Riad Shrine clowns took part in the program.
"It's a momentous occasion," said Twinkles the Very Pretty Clown.