Ren Carter-Tucker

Author Archives: Circus Smirkus

Ren Carter-Tucker

Ren Carter-Tucker, Aerial Coach Sessions: Smirkling Camp, All Around Circus Camp Loving to perform for her family since the very beginning, Ren has sought to bring smiles to those watching her through a variety of mediums. After dabbling in various forms of dance and acrobatic movement, Ren settled on aerial fabric as her main form of expression. She also delights in juggling, clowning, balloon animals and embroidery. Ren currently pursues her love of circus with the New England Center for Circus Arts in the PROTrack program. This year Ren joins us as an aerial coach – in the past, she…

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Doug Stewart

Doug Stewart, Head Coach Doug began his circus journey in 2009 when he came to Smirkus Camp for the first time. He continued coming to Smirkus Camp until 2014, when he ran away with the Big Top Tour and never looked back! Doug graduated from Columbia College Chicago in May 2018 with a degree in Business of Live and Performing Arts. He has performed with Circus Smirkus, Diamond Family Circus, Aloft Circus Arts, The Midnight Circus and Aida Cruises. During college, Doug founded a brand new circus company Cirque Us and is the company’s founder and operating director. Read more about Doug.

Hayley Larson

Hayley Larson, Multi-tent Coach Sessions: Advanced Camp Hayley Larson is a multidisciplinary circus performer with training in many duo and solo aerial apparatuses, Cyr wheel, and hand balancing. With a degree in Dance from Oberlin College, Hayley uses her background as a dancer to bring a crisp, complex style to her choreography that underscores the commanding stage presence so often found in her performances. Currently, Hayley is based in Chicago where she performs with Aloft Circus Arts’ touring ensemble show Brave Space and coaches circus throughout the city. She is very excited to return to Smirkus Camp for her second…

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Julio Ramazini

Julio Ramazini, Clown, Juggling and Balance Coach Sessions: Advanced Camp Julio attended Ecole National De Circo in Rio De Janeiro from 2003-2006. He studied Static Trapeze, Juggling, Unicycle, Hand Balancing, Perch, Banquine, Tumbling, and Foot Juggling. In 2006 he was recruited by a Ringling Bros scout at his circus school. He was offered a contract on the spot with Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey as a clown, and moved to America where he toured around the entire US and Mexico from 2006-2013. After leaving Ringling, he found himself back in the states with his now wife Kelli Brown-Ramazini. He has  also directed…

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Kelli Brown-Ramazini

Kelli Brown-Ramazini, Clown, Aerial, Balance and Juggling Coach Sessions: Advanced Camp Kelli has been performing aerial and circus arts for ten years. She has been in numerous shows such as Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey, “Cirque Joyeux”, “Forever”, and The Petite Palace just to name a few. She has been teaching aerial and circus arts for 6 years, has directed shows, wrote hundreds of acts for hundreds of students. Though never attending a national circus school, she has had coaching from many world renowned coaches such as Anastasia Crane (Contortion & Hand Balancing), Xian Zhang (Straps), Itzel Vireuga (Coach at ENC- Dance Trapeze), Susan Voyticky…

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Jessica Perry

Jessica Perry, Aerial Coach Sessions: All Around Camp (2-week), Intermediate Camp I spent a large part of my childhood living on a small sailing vessel with my parents, climbing the mast and swinging from the rigging. When I was ten, we went back to Colorado and I started circus because my parents didn’t know what else to do with me. I started with flying trapeze and aerial acrobatics in Colorado and then performed with Le Petit Cirque in California while I finished school. At 17, I spent a year completing the full-time protrack program at the New England Center of…

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Joel Jeske

Joel Jeske Joel Jeske is a physical comedian, director, and teacher. He created and starred in the 38th and 40th productions of New York’s Big Apple Circus entitled The Grand Tour and the Big Apple Circus’s 40th Anniversary.   Joel is the associate artistic director of the physical theatre company Parallel Exit. He created and starred in Parallel Exit’s Off-Broadway hits This Way That Way, Cut To The Chase, Room 17B, Exit! Stage Left!, and Everybody Gets Cake; and was nominated for a Drama Desk award in 2008, 2010, 2015 for those productions.   As a clown, Joel toured and created clown acts for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Cirque Du…

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Introducing the 2021 Big Top Tour Troupers!

CIrcus Smirkus

Watch this video to meet our 2021 Big Top Tour troupers! Congratulations to the 30 young circus artists, ages ranging from age 12-18, who will go on the road next summer performing nearly 70 shows all over New England in our beautiful new circus tent! There are 20 returning troupers and 10 new troupers, consisting of 15 girls and 15 boys. The troupers reside from the following United States (CA, CO, MA, ME, NH, NY, PA, RI, VT, and WA) and Internationally (Canada and Zambia). Stay tuned for our tour schedule and ticket information. Tickets go on sale May 1, 2021. Special thanks to Andy Bell for creating this beautiful video!

5 Lessons I Learned at Smirkus Camp

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in Circus Talk online on January 6, 2020 and was written by Ivy Blake 5 Lessons I Learned Growing Up – and Then Working at– A Circus Camp It’s rare that we get the chance to interact with the same institution from many positions. Circus Smirkus camp, the sleep-away summer camp run by the youth circus of Vermont Circus Smirkus, is one of those rare establishments that actively hires former campers to be on staff as coaches and counselors. I have now had the privilege of inhabiting all three of these roles: a camper from 2006-2012, a counselor in 2014…

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