Triton Troupers Circus celebrates 51 years
ere come the clowns!
And the jugglers, trapeze artists, acrobats, unicyclists, stilt walkers, and many other circus arts performers. Close to 100 of them will be demonstrating their skills at the 51st annual Triton Troupers Circus on through April 13 in Triton College’s R Building Gymnasium in River Grove.
About half of this year’s performers are returnees from previous shows; the rest are brand new to the circus.
Performances are 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, plus a 1 p.m. Saturday performance that will be interpreted for the hearing impaired.
Overseeing every aspect of this thrilling spectacle for the second year is director Hannah Jeselski of Bolingbrook. “I’m the liaison between our group and the school and I facilitate the entire learning environment,” she said.
That includes selecting the instructors who will be in charge of the different acts in the circus. Anyone who is interested in learning circus arts and being in the show can register on the group’s website, tritontrouperscircus.com, for training.
Jeselski has a long connection with the Triton
Troupers Circus.
“I always saw the show when I was a kid. My dad used to work at Triton,” Jeselski said. “When I was like four, I used to tell my mom that I wanted to be up on the trapeze. So when I was old enough to join, which was in 2011, I walked in and that was the first thing I did. It’s been a fun time since and I’ve come back every year. I actually met my husband at the circus.”
Jeselski said that she has done almost every circus art performed at the circus. Two of her favorites are partner acrobatics and stacking chairs. The latter skill involves stacking six wooden chairs on top of a wooden table and doing partner acrobatics on top of that.
This year, for the first time since she joined the circus, Jeselski will only be doing partner acrobatics with her husband, David Jeselski. That’s because she will be busy coordinating the 15 acts in the show, the theme of which is Area 51, in celebration of the 51st year of the circus.
“They’re going to see a lot of really creative and diverse acts,” Jeselski said, adding that it is an opportunity “to really get to showcase the creativity of all of our act