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CIRCUS WITH A MESSAGE.


The Universal Big Top Circus has popcorn and cotton candy, clowns and a contortionist known as Nayakata from Valencia, Spain For the Valencia wine region, see .

Valencia (Spanish: Valencia [ba'lenθja];[1] Valencian: València [va'ɫɛnsia]) is the capital of the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia and its province.
.

Nothing extraordinary here, until Nayakata somehow managed to put on sunglasses and a hat with her toes - while doing a handstand and sipping from a straw.

The crowd rewarded her with a standing ovation, one of several at a recent performance of the Universal Big Top Circus - the nation's only African-American-owned circus - that's in town for a two-week run at Exposition Park Exposition Park is the name of more than one place:
  • Exposition Park (Dallas) - a neighborhood in south Dallas, Texas
  • Exposition Park (Kansas City) - A former baseball park in Kansas City
 in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. .

What Ringling Bros BROS Brothers
BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington)
BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) 
. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has in size, the Universal Big Top makes up for in spunk.

The clowns tootsie-rolled. The crowd of about 2,000 sang an a cappella a cap·pel·la  
adv. Music
Without instrumental accompaniment.



[Italian : a, in the manner of + cappella, chapel, choir.]

Adj. 1.
 rendition of ``Moving on Up,'' the theme from TV's ``The Jeffersons.'' And to keep the children occupied during a change of props in the ring, ringmaster Cal Dupree, dressed in a yellow zoot suit, invited them to get up from their seats and boogie in the aisles.

The predominantly black cast features 14 acts, including an aerialist from Trinidad, stilt stilt, common name for some members of the family Recurvirostridae, shore birds including the avocet. Stilts, as their name implies, have the longest legs of any bird except the flamingo.  walkers from the Virgin Islands and unicycle riders from the Bronx.

Some of the acts made history themselves. The King Charles King Charles can refer to:
  • A number of kings named Charles I
  • A number of kings named Charles II
  • A number of kings named Charles III
  • A number of kings named Charles IV
  • A number of kings named Charles V
  • A number of kings named Charles VI
 Troupe in 1969 became the first African-American performers hired by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The trapeze duo known as the Ayak Brothers (Rodney Van Reenan and Ivan Solomons) catch each other with their feet as they do flips 50 feet above the crowd without a net. They learned this feat while living under racial oppression in Cape Town, South Africa, during apartheid.

So, amid the fun, the techno lights and the funky music, there's a message.

``Don't let anybody ever, ever tell you and your friends that you can't do something,'' Dupree said.

The Universal Big Top Circus will perform at Exposition Park, 39th Street and Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles until Nov. 24. Tickets are $10 to $30. Call Ticketmaster at (213) 480-3232.

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Photo: Ted McRae tangles with the big cats at the Universal Big Top Circus, the nation's only African-American-owned circus, through Nov. 24 at Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
COPYRIGHT 1996 Daily News
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 1996, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Article Details
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Title Annotation:L.A. LIFE
Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:Nov 14, 1996
Words:354
Previous Article:UP & COMING.
Next Article:TURN US ON.



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