The international circus opened its Dunedin show last night at the Oval where it will be running for the next three weeks.
Tour manager Marie Weber, said she was "just a South Auckland girl" when she met her future husband Harry Weber, a sixth- generation circus performer, when she visited the circus in Whangarei.
She never became a performer, but has been living and travelling with a circus since.
It was a very family-oriented lifestyle, Mrs Weber said.
She had eight children, who grew up surrounded by the circus lifestyle.
"When you grow up around the circus it’s all you want to do," she said.
The couple’s daughter Kiarnna (22) performs as an aerialist in the circus.
Kiarnna said she it was "amazing" to perform in the circus. Her favourite part was hearing the crowd scream and cheer as she entered the tent.
"It’s what gives you the life to go on the stage."
She was trained in a few different acts, but her main performance was the silks, where she would climb silks from the bottom of the tent to the top and perform tricks on them as she went.
Marie said the crew was happy to be back on the road after their 2020 tour was postponed due to Covid-19.
The troupe, which normally was based in Australia, had been on tour in New Zealand for a few months when the lockdown came into effect.
It was supposed to be the first New Zealand tour in 20 years.
Instead they spent the lockdown based in Cambridge, she said.
Despite being an international circus, with members from South Africa, Russia and the United States, the crew did not mind staying put in New Zealand.
"I don’t want to say we were stuck here, because what a place it is to be stuck in," Marie said.
Once the lockdown was over the crew started touring again. They had also begun exploring other ways to bring their show to people. A reality television show The Circus, filmed in Auckland, which went behind the scenes of their troupe, began airing last week.
Filming was complete on a second season, which was shot in Queenstown.
The crew was excited to bring the show south, she said.
"People who live in the South Island still get out in the winter ... so they’re going to come."
