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SOME people are fourth generation farmers, doctors, carpenters, or musicians.
But being fourth generation circus certainly has an impressive ring to it, particularly when most of it has been spent unharnessed, high above the ground.
Described as a ‘daredevil’ international highwire artist, Ash Brophy’s mother, grandfather, and great grandfather all performed in a circus. Growing up in what some might think of as a childhood fantasy, Ash spent his youth in the circus, balancing as a toddler on a barbed wire fence before performing in his own right for the first time when he was nine.
“If you asked me where I’m from, I would identify as being ‘circus’ first, then Australian,” said a quietly spoken Ash, proving the strength of the bonds between circus performers across the world.
Almost 40 years after he first hit the ring, he and his wife Mina are now following what is an established family tradition, raising their three children as ‘circus’. Zen is now nine-months-old, loves a lasso, and demonstrates incredible balance. Jasper is three, and appears very comfortable on a circular swing. Four-year-old Serafina loves to perform, and appears in the show’s grand finale. Ash’s oldest child from his first marriage, 11-year-old Jakira, is practising to be an aerial artist.
The Brophy children are just some of the 12 children under five and one child under 16, who travel permanently with the troupe. On the road for much of the year, the circus achieves a stable environment for its children, despite its physical shifting ground.
“Our home is constant, it’s only our background that changes” Mina explains.
Three of the circus children will start school for the first time this year through Brisbane’s School of Distance Education. A qualified high school teacher is amongst the circus, and will mentor the school age children through their studies. A trailer has been set aside as a school room.
“It’s important that our kids have every opportunity that other children have... and more” said Mina, who, with three years of circus travelling under her belt, is a newcomer compared to her husband Ash.
“We work together, and stay together. Parents are around all the time. I have never seen a circus kid with low self esteem” she added.
Circus life presents a colourful contrast to the corporate life Mina left behind when she ‘ran away to join the circus’ after meeting Ash. Mina was working with Credit Suisse when the London train bombings occurred in 2005. Having narrowly escaped harm by disembarking one stop earlier, Mina reassessed her priorities and relocated to Glastonbury to become the event manager for a World Peace Garden. She later joined the circus after meeting Ash during a visit home to NSW’s Central Coast.
“If you’d told me years ago I would be working in the circus, I would have said that you were crazy,” she laughed.
Today, joining the circus does not necessarily mean growing up in one. Newcomers are more common than they used to be, thanks to the development of circus schools around the world. Mina already feels like one of the family, and has carved a role for herself by choreographing some of her husband’s aerial routines, and using her corporate skills to organise a lobby group between the country’s circus’ to support the involvement of animals in shows.
“When I first came, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the animals in the circus, but when I saw how well they were treated, I was all for it” said Mina.
“Sometimes I think their living conditions are better than mine!”
Mina said that the qualified zoo keepers have a line of credentials including Taronga Zoo and Sea World, and love the animals as their children. Whilst animals in circus’ today are not always supported by sections of the community, Hudsons Circus recognises their concerns, and supplies an information sheet detailing their care.
“Circus life has evolved like everything else in society, including in respect to animals. Things aren’t done the same way they used to be” commented Ash.