Home About Us Media Kit Subscriptions Links Forum
APPEARED IN


View All Articles

Download PDF

DIRECTORIES:

Job Opportunities

Tutors

Workshops

Events

Sections:

Books

Camps & Sports

Careers

Children’s Corner

Collected Features

Colleges

Cover Stories

Distance Learning

Editorials

Medical Update

Metro Beat

Movies & Theater

Museums

Music, Art & Dance

Special Education

Spotlight On Schools

Teachers of the Month

Technology

Archives:

1995-2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

APRIL 2003

Paul Binder, Founder, Big Apple Circus
by Tom Kertes

Paul Binder’s first “circus thoughts” came to him during his stint with the San Francisco Mime Troup in 1970. “It had an outstanding circus training program,” says Binder, now the Director of the world-renowned Big Apple Circus. “We studied all kinds of circus things, such as juggling, trapeze work, and aerials.” But how does a Dartmouth, and later Columbia Business School, graduate find himself with a mime troup in the first place? “I was working in television, first as a stage manager with Julia Childs and then with Mike Douglas as a talent coordinator. I was booking the more serious guests, such as authors, so I felt fairly satisfied with my accomplishments in TV. It was the 1960s,” smiles Binder. “A restless time for most of us. And I was beginning to feel that I was ready for a lifestyle change.”

Binder’s desire to be in showbiz led him to the Mime Troupe on the West Coast. With his friend he developed a juggling act that became so successful; it took them all over Europe. They were a hit on the streets of Paris, “performing in front of the Casino de Paris, passing a hat.” Being in the right place at the right time paid off: the street jugglers were discovered by the Neaveau Circus de Paris, which took Binder and his nouveauupartner on a tour throughout France.

By now Binder, despite his outstanding business background, got completely bitten by the circus bug. He began to feel that bringing a different type of circus to the United States—one that Americans never had a chance to experience before—would be an ace business idea.

Thus an American version of the “Circus Intimes” was born. Instead of the huge three-ring Barnum & Bailey type presentation, this would be a circus of theatrical intimacy, a special kind of a performance where the audience would completely surround the artist. “We wanted to create a powerful connection between the audience and the performer,” Binder says. “We wanted an almost visceral response, to make a profound impact on the audience.”

Upon his return to the U.S., the Brooklyn-born Binder began to research circuses—and he found that his idea would be novel, indeed. “Growing up, art was always an enormous part of my life,” he says. “I was in every school play both in high school and at Dartmouth. And, as a kid, my happiest memories were of sitting around on Saturday nights with my family and listening to my Dad playing the violin.” Creating the Big Apple Circus would be a way of staying in the arts and, at the same time, making people feel good.

“The circus is a unique life-style; it’s like living in a close-knit, international community,” says Binder. “My wife, Katja Schumann, is from a fifth-generation circus family.” Kids Max and Katherine work with horses and perform a variety of other functions around the Big Apple Circus. “I’ve never pushed them—it is a life that is very different,” says Binder. “But Max chose to work with the circus. And Katherine, who will be at Barnard College in the fall, is talking of coming back.”

Viva la difference! The Big Apple Circus, an enormous success, has been around for 25 years now. “Each show is built around a specific theme,” says Binder. “This year, it’s a tribute to New York around the turn of the century.” Other recent themes have been the Wild West, Big Top Doo-Wop, and Jazz-Matazz.

The tent, which could seat 850 people at the beginning, now seats 1620 in New York and 1750 on the road. The 50-foot ring is “the perfect size to still make intimate contact with the audience,” Binder says. “Circus is the original theater—and I feel that we were a major force in reviving the art form in the U.S. Now we are on our second generation of guests.” Each year, a half million “children of all ages” attend. “We live a very intense life,” says Binder. “There’s a tremendous amount of training involved. And yes, you can apprentice with us. But we have no training-school per se.”

The Big Apple Circus also performs the famous “Circus of the Senses” (for children who are visually and hearing impaired), and sponsors a Clown Care Unit in pediatric hospitals around the nation.#

For information, or to make a contribution, call Tom Exton at 212-268-2500.

 

COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE

Name:

Email:
Show email
City:
State:

 


 

 

 

Education Update, Inc.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of the publisher. © 2004.