A grey asphalt parking lot at Harbor Boulevard and La Habra Boulevard has been transformed into a red-and-gold tower of joy with the arrival of Circus Caballero from Guadalajara, Mexico.  The famed circus artists have set up their big top, with flags flying high, for the first time in the city of La Habra, on the border of Fullerton.  As a living relative of the Greatest Showman, P.T. Barnum, I was eager to join Emerson Little, videographer extraordinaire, for a chat with Rubén Caballero, one of the Caballero brothers, a half hour before he would perform center ring with his siblings.  

It is no surprise that Mexico is the original home base for trapeze artists like the Caballeros. The traditional Aztec voladores honored the four directions by being tethered to a tower, from which they fell simultaneously, swirling upside down in synchronicity to the ground. Rubén began training in circus arts when he was just five. His father, Rubén Sr., brought the family to the United States in 1981 to perform with Ringling Bros, and the family business has grown over the years. Headquarters is currently based in Las Vegas with two touring units, Red and Blue.

The circus is a haven of international cooperation compared to conflicts in the outside world; artists from Russia, China, France, Italy and South America currently tour with the group. Rubén recounted that the Caballero family was proud to receive the Golden Crown Award from the Prince of Monaco at the International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo in recent years.

About 50 families are currently part of the company, and the tight-knit clan will head to Oxnard next. One of Rubén’s favorite parts of touring is moving from city to city, meeting new people and seeing new places. However, the COVID years were particularly hard on Circus Caballero. They found themselves stranded in El Monte and unable to perform for months. A Facebook livestream fundraiser was held to support them as the situation grew more desperate, and I personally remember the eerie sight of one spectacular act after another on screen, finishing in silence with no audience present to applaud. They were heartened by generous local folk who shared food donations and support until they could return to the road. 

Now, the circus spirit is alive and well. Outside the tent, eager visitors were lining up. Two teenagers said they were excited to see their first circus after watching the tent magically appear overnight, within walking distance from their home. They were reassured that there were no longer any animal performers in the production. Emerson and I settled into ringside seats with a box of delicious popcorn while families poured in the door. The circus has always been a form of family entertainment, and nowadays is one of the few forms of live entertainment that generations can enjoy together.

As the show began, it was astonishing to realize that the same Rubén who had so casually chatted with us half an hour ago was now perched on a motorcycle on a high wire with a woman on a swing dangling below him. The two began to rock perilously and swung in circles completely around the wire. The crowd shouted with delight. 

The importance of live performances for mental health has been highlighted recently, as screen dependency increasingly leaves us isolated and lonely. The circus reminds us of the psychological benefits of togetherness, communal joy, and inspiring human potential. From the opening parade of beautiful dancers to the exhilarating sight of trapeze artists flying through the air with the greatest of ease, there was no AI involved. And the intimacy of a one-ring show, instead of the spectacle of a three-ring production, allowed us to witness the skill and concentration of the performers at close range.

In recent years, Americans have come to associate clowns with evil horror movie villains. But the roguish scamp Tutti Frutti restored the original spirit of the clown, a beloved children’s friend full of mischief and irreverent crowd work, as he summoned more and more applause and enthusiasm from parents and kids. His silliness had the audience dissolved in laughter. We may not realize that clowns are highly trained artists as well and that their madcap skits are allowing the invisible stagehands, whose work is critical to the safety of the performers, to make crucial preparations for the next act.

The final Caballero family trapeze act commanded total attention on the part of the performers and the audience. I heard the aerialists’ circus call “Hup!”, the code word that means to begin a trick, and watched as Rubén calmly executed a rare quadruple somersault, ending his flight with the traditional circus grip, wrist-to-wrist instead of hand-to-hand, as his partner deftly caught the spinning flyer. The crowd roared with awe and excitement.

You can see Emerson’s video of our interview with Rubén Caballero Jr. at https://www.youtube.com/@emersonlittle1901/videos.  Circus Caballero is in town until July 5.

• Tickets and information are available at www.circuscaballero.com.
• Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, which closed in 2017 after its 146-year run, has been revamped and is touring again.
• The show is coming to Anaheim at the Honda Center, opening July 10.
• For more information, tickets are available at www.ringling.com  
• May all your days be circus days!