San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Thrilling crowds is a family tradition
‘It’s magical’ when a high-flying circus comes to town
When the lights darkened inside of the big top, kids cheered and waved flashing light wands around the arena.
The Light Orchestra kicked into high gear. The clown clowned. Motorcyclists defied gravity, riding around and around inside of the metallic Globe of Death.
And Alexa Vazquez, 26, thrilled the crowd with her high-flying act, just as members of her family have for five decades. A performer since age 15, she started with hula hoops. Now, she spins and whirls more than 20 feet in the air, lit by an array of spotlights and flashing strobe lights.
“It’s magical,” Vazquez said, of twirling high above the crowd. “It’s a feeling you really can’t describe, it’s surreal when you step on the stage.”
The Saturday night performance was part of Circo Hermanos Vazquez’s 50th anniversary tour. The show will continue through the week and end on Sunday.
Hundreds of spectators, young and old, cheered the acts in the tent set up near Wonderland of the Americas Mall at 410 and Fredericksburg Road. Everyone was required towear a mask. Circus workers took temperatures at the entrance and offered hand sanitizer to guests seated apart by groups in the arena.
A cloud of smoke announced the beginning of the show. Siblings Carolina and Jan Vazquez juggled and balanced themselves on a narrow platform atop a roller. David Larible invited crowd members to take part
in his clownish antics. Dancers flashed smooth moves across the rapid changing neon-colored ring.
At intermission, Vazquez said the circus has been part of a long tradition in her family. Her grandparents Jose Guillermo and Aurora Vázquez started the circus. The first performance took place in Mexico City in 1969, followed by tours in Mexico and Central America. The family circus opened its first show in the United States in 1993.
Vazquez said it takes about a year for performers to hone an act. Then after hours of training each day, the coordination and choreography come together for a spectacle to thrill the audience.
Vendors patrolled the aisles, carrying posts pegged with cotton candy and candy apples.
Rachel Hernandez, 34, opted for snow cones for her daughters Ailyn and Kylie. It was the girls’ first
circus experience.
“It was perfect,” said.
Ailyn said she liked the
Kylie
motorcycles, especially when they zipped around and above one another.
“That was my most nerve-racking part,” Hernandez said.
Vazquez said many people think the show is only for kids, but it’s for kids of all ages.
Her favorite part of the showis seeing the audience’s reaction, especially the smiles on the children’s faces. It’s the smiles, she said, that keep them all going.