ST. LOUIS — On any given weekend at City Museum in downtown St. Louis, the circus comes to town. The non-profit Circus Harmony uses circus education to teach life lessons to young people.
“So while you're learning to flip, fly and fling you’re learning important life skills like focus, persistence and teamwork,” said Circus Harmony executive director Jessica Hentoff. “When you come to Circus Harmony, you can run away and join the circus and still be home in time for dinner unless we have rehearsal.”
Hentoff describes Circus Harmony as a social service organization, with the goal of having a positive impact on St. Louis by connecting young people who might not ordinarily meet. Hentoff estimates Circus Harmony is working with 1400 young people currently. That includes a diverse group of youth circus troupes consisting of Jewish, Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian children from inner city and suburban areas.
“I love working with young people,” said Hentoff. “And when you're doing social circus, you're doing your part to make the world a better place.”
Hentoff’s circus journey began in college in the 1970’s.
“I went to my college circus teacher and I said, ‘this is it. This is what I want to do with my life. How can I repay you?’,” recalled Hentoff. “And he said, ‘I'll tell you what my teacher told me: pay it back, pass it on.”
From years of circus performance, Hentoff transitioned to teaching. She was a founding member of the Big Apple Circus in New York before forming Circus Harmony. Circus Harmony was recently awarded the Missouri Arts Award for Arts Education.
“How we measure success is the individual and the individual young people you see from the 3-year-old all the way up adults,” said Hentoff. “Those people going out and being leaders in the community and just generally being good, kind, loving, thoughtful, compassionate people. That's how you measure success.”
