Author Archives: Circus Smirkus
Doug Stewart
Doug Stewart, Head Coach Doug began his circus journey in 2009 when he came to Smirkus Camp for the first time. He continued coming to Smirkus Camp until 2014, when he ran away with the Big Top Tour and never looked back! Doug graduated from Columbia College Chicago in May 2018 with a degree in Business of Live and Performing Arts. He has performed with Circus Smirkus, Diamond Family Circus, Aloft Circus Arts, The Midnight Circus and Aida Cruises. During college, Doug founded a brand new circus company Cirque Us and is the company’s founder and operating director. Read more about Doug.
Hayley Larson
Hayley Larson, Multi-tent Coach Sessions: Advanced Camp Hayley Larson is a multidisciplinary circus performer with training in many duo and solo aerial apparatuses, Cyr wheel, and hand balancing. With a degree in Dance from Oberlin College, Hayley uses her background as a dancer to bring a crisp, complex style to her choreography that underscores the commanding stage presence so often found in her performances. Currently, Hayley is based in Chicago where she performs with Aloft Circus Arts’ touring ensemble show Brave Space and coaches circus throughout the city. She is very excited to return to Smirkus Camp for her second…
Julio Ramazini
Julio Ramazini, Clown, Juggling and Balance Coach Sessions: Advanced Camp Julio attended Ecole National De Circo in Rio De Janeiro from 2003-2006. He studied Static Trapeze, Juggling, Unicycle, Hand Balancing, Perch, Banquine, Tumbling, and Foot Juggling. In 2006 he was recruited by a Ringling Bros scout at his circus school. He was offered a contract on the spot with Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey as a clown, and moved to America where he toured around the entire US and Mexico from 2006-2013. After leaving Ringling, he found himself back in the states with his now wife Kelli Brown-Ramazini. He has also directed…
Kelli Brown-Ramazini
Kelli Brown-Ramazini, Clown, Aerial, Balance and Juggling Coach Sessions: Advanced Camp Kelli has been performing aerial and circus arts for ten years. She has been in numerous shows such as Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey, “Cirque Joyeux”, “Forever”, and The Petite Palace just to name a few. She has been teaching aerial and circus arts for 6 years, has directed shows, wrote hundreds of acts for hundreds of students. Though never attending a national circus school, she has had coaching from many world renowned coaches such as Anastasia Crane (Contortion & Hand Balancing), Xian Zhang (Straps), Itzel Vireuga (Coach at ENC- Dance Trapeze), Susan Voyticky…
Jessica Perry
Jessica Perry, Aerial Coach Sessions: All Around Camp (2-week), Intermediate Camp I spent a large part of my childhood living on a small sailing vessel with my parents, climbing the mast and swinging from the rigging. When I was ten, we went back to Colorado and I started circus because my parents didn’t know what else to do with me. I started with flying trapeze and aerial acrobatics in Colorado and then performed with Le Petit Cirque in California while I finished school. At 17, I spent a year completing the full-time protrack program at the New England Center of…
Joel Jeske
Joel Jeske Joel Jeske is a physical comedian, director, and teacher. He created and starred in the 38th and 40th productions of New York’s Big Apple Circus entitled The Grand Tour and the Big Apple Circus’s 40th Anniversary. Joel is the associate artistic director of the physical theatre company Parallel Exit. He created and starred in Parallel Exit’s Off-Broadway hits This Way That Way, Cut To The Chase, Room 17B, Exit! Stage Left!, and Everybody Gets Cake; and was nominated for a Drama Desk award in 2008, 2010, 2015 for those productions. As a clown, Joel toured and created clown acts for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Cirque Du…
VIDEO: We can’t wait to see you at Smirkus Camp!
Head Coach Doug Stewart and Assistant Camp Director Amira Silverman had Smirkus reunion in Valencia, Spain last week and they had this message for you!
Introducing the 2021 Big Top Tour Troupers!
Watch this video to meet our 2021 Big Top Tour troupers! Congratulations to the 30 young circus artists, ages ranging from age 12-18, who will go on the road next summer performing nearly 70 shows all over New England in our beautiful new circus tent! There are 20 returning troupers and 10 new troupers, consisting of 15 girls and 15 boys. The troupers reside from the following United States (CA, CO, MA, ME, NH, NY, PA, RI, VT, and WA) and Internationally (Canada and Zambia). Stay tuned for our tour schedule and ticket information. Tickets go on sale May 1, 2021. Special thanks to Andy Bell for creating this beautiful video!
5 Lessons I Learned at Smirkus Camp
Editor’s note: This story first appeared in Circus Talk online on January 6, 2020 and was written by Ivy Blake 5 Lessons I Learned Growing Up – and Then Working at– A Circus Camp It’s rare that we get the chance to interact with the same institution from many positions. Circus Smirkus camp, the sleep-away summer camp run by the youth circus of Vermont Circus Smirkus, is one of those rare establishments that actively hires former campers to be on staff as coaches and counselors. I have now had the privilege of inhabiting all three of these roles: a camper from 2006-2012, a counselor in 2014…
The 2019 Tour Video is Now Available!
Just in time for the holidays! You can relive the 2019 Big Top Tour: Carnival with Andy Bell’s video of the show. The 2019 Big Top Tour video is now available as either a physical DVD from our webstore or to stream for rent or purchase on Vimeo On Demand. For those you with a smart TV, a Roku or an Apple TV, you can also stream the videos using the Vimeo app. Past videos are also available! Order now to get them in time for your holiday gift giving – the DVDs make great stocking stuffers, and the streaming versions are keepsakes you’ll enjoy long into the future! 2019…