Nostalgia for what could have been

On Friday afternoon I watched the Trenton Circus Squad perform and had this wave of nostalgia for what could have been.

I watched the video on their website. Trenton Circus Squad was founded in 2015 by Tom von Oehsen, the head of Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart. When he was younger, he literally ran away to become a clown with the Ringling Bros. Circus. He then went to the University of Pennsylvania and followed a more traditional path in life. The circus, though, was always a part of him. Their mission is to match low-income students with higher income ones to let them interact with and get to know people they would otherwise not become friends with, or even meet.

Watching the performers inside Trenton's historic Roebling Wire Works Building, where Roebling wire was made to build the Brooklyn Bridge and where until this year Art All Night took place, I could picture a young Ashley and a young Maia demonstrating their skills. I saw performers twisting themselves in silks similar to the ones Ashley used in aerial yoga class, and similar to the ones we saw her friend Maia use when she attended a similar program in Montgomery, NJ. Sitting on the bleachers, I felt like a proud parent, even though I did not know any of the performers.

The silks gave way to giant hoops up high and trapeze swings -- all skills requiring you to build trust with others as you develop muscles needed to do them successfully, to learn to trust your body and equipment will not fail you as you hang upside down.

The skills shifted from dangling up high attached to a beam that in an earlier life was used to hold heavy wire making equipment to balancing atop exercise balls to feet planted on the ground as they performed as clowns and jugglers. The later skills still required concentration and trust, but the risk of injury was lower. Unfortunately as the group came together for a quick dance number and final bow, a boy tripped over the low circus wall and hurt himself soberly demonstrating they are all taking risks.

The squad is made up of students ages 6 to 18. They started in 2015 when Ashley and Maia were 13. Perhaps they could have been part of the earliest cohort, but either we didn't hear about it, the fear of going to Trenton that often loomed too large, or the timing was not right. I don't remember.

I am glad to see the program thrive. Looking at their annual report they receive a lot of funding from individuals, corporations, and foundations. Judging from the audience, which was mostly made up of summer camp students, they are making people smile and laugh as they run away to the circus, if only for 90 minutes.