After a year and a half of forced closure due to the pandemic, Rubén Caballero, fifth generation of circus people, says that the reopening of his Circo Hermanos Caballero has brought him great joy.
“People are responding, not in a big way, but they are coming.”
In attention to the health protocols, they ask those attending the circus, the proof of covid vaccination – 16.
Caballero recalls that the pandemic caught them in March of 2020, at the beginning of the circus season in Las Vegas.
“It was something impressive for all humanity, not just for the circus. We never really imagined that this would happen in this world. ”
They had not even three months of having opened the season in Phoenix, Arizona, when the covid broke out – 19.
“At that time we had a staff of between 80 and 70 artists from Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Russia ”.
It was thanks to her savings that she was able to support the workers’ families during the first six months of the pandemic.
“We bring the artists with contracts for a year, a year and a half, and with work visas.”
He says that when they saw that the pandemic did not seem to have an end and they could not open the circus, they began to send the artists to their countries.
“There came a time when I thought we were going to close. ”
Something very hard to consider for Caballero who most of his 78 years have been spent in the circus.
“Does 45 years that my grandparents and parents came to this country and have not stopped working. ”
Remember that your grandfather and grandfather owned small circuses in Mexico.
“Since 20 years I am the owner of this circus. But to get there, I had to achieve truly impressive goals. I traveled the world as a trapeze artist, acrobat, clown, juggler, and walker. All the jobs that the circus world holds, I did them. ”
Currently he is dedicated to managing his circus, hiring artists and promote them. “I work behind the scenes,” he says.
Caballero is the father of 8 children of 53 to 35 years; and grandfather of 20 grandchildren, all dedicated to the circus.
“My eldest son has his own Hermanos Caballeros Circus with his wife and children.”
Precise that for five years, his circus has focused on presenting performances in the states of California, Nevada, Arizona and part of Washington.
But when the health crisis broke out due to the coronavirus and the business closure orders, he says he felt very bad emotionally, and even got sick.
“I believe that covid hit us all, and some of us managed to overcome it. It helped me a lot that I have always been a very active man. I have never smoked or drunk alcohol. I have dedicated 100% to circus business. ”
And the year and a half in which they could not work, he considers it very difficult, but he gives thanks to God to be alive.
From the economic point of view he survived and was able to pay the artists for their savings and a small reimbursement that the government gave for small businesses, almost at the end of the contingency.
So when they finally gave him the green light to open the doors of the circus to the public, he says he was filled with joy and energy. “It was a very pleasant moment to see that my investment was going to start working again.”
The reopening was started with 30 artists, half pure family and the rest from Chile and Brazil.
“It has been difficult to get people to help us set up and disarm the circus. With the fact that the government gave a lot of money, people do not want to work. And currently it is not easy to bring workers from Mexico. ”
He says that as always, the greatest reward is to see that at the end of the performance, people stand up and applaud all the artists . “It means that what we bring is worth it and people leave happy.”
Savings save him
Rafael Isaac Maluenda Flores, known in the circus scene as the clown Tutti Frutti, the covid – 19 surprised them in Las Vegas.
“We had arrived with the illusion of continuing with the season,” he remembers.
But he admits that What saved his family from the economic crisis that came with the pandemic was having followed grandma’s advice, saving for difficult times.
“I am fortunate to work with my father and my mother. My two sisters and my little brother. My dad, he’s my sweetie, who he made jokes to during my presentation. My mother is in charge of the changing rooms and she is my palera (the person who comes out of the audience to offer to accompany me in my acts. My sisters from 22 and 16 years do juggling bicycle acts and my little brother from 10 years old wants to be a circus clown like me. ”
But also the clown Tutti Frutti fell in love with one of the dancers Brazilians from the show, got married and had a baby in July.
“The pandemic brought us closer together as a family. We decided that all together, we had to show our faces in the face of adversity. The circus people He has the mentality of warriors, we are not superheroes, but we feel “.
Tutti Frutti was born or in Santiago de Chile and belongs to the sixth generation of families dedicated to the circus, by mother and father.
“I was born in a hospital but grew up in a circus environment where from a very young age, they put a little nose on you and paint your face like a clown and take you out on stage. It’s a tradition. ”
It was to the 15 years that after having learned acrobatics and juggling, he discovered that his thing was to do funny things and make his friends laugh.
“My father told me, if you want to dedicate yourself to being a clown, do it well. I grew up in the Circo de Los Tachuelas of my uncles and I always approached clowns older than 60 years and I liked to see how they dressed and how they prepared their things. Panqueque, Cototin, Zapatín were my great teachers. ”
After working in Colombia and Chile in other circuses, he joined the Hermanos Caballeros circus.
“We have come for a year and 5 have already passed, if we do not count the year of the pandemic.”
And he says that the pandemic was a difficult time for all artists, not only for those from the circus.
“The first three months I parked my trailer and dedicated myself to living off my savings, but By the third month I started to worry because we weren’t open ”.
And he was always on the lookout calling Rubén Caballero. “I am ready, I would tell him. He answered me, I think we will open next month, but a month passed, another month and we spoke again and we saw that things were worse. Time passed. That moment never came to go back to the circus. ”
Tutti Frutti says that he tried to take advantage of the time and was even sent to make new shoes.
He says that when savings started to run low, he had to get some work in a moving company.
However, the pandemic affected him mentally. “ It was as if everything had shut down. At first, it was being in our motorhome all the time. We couldn’t get out. We were afraid. He was ugly ”.
And it makes him happy that his relationship with his wife has not ended. deteriorated, when many couples decided to end their marriage during the pandemic. “Our baby was born on July 9.”
When the day to open the doors finally came, he says it was like when he debuted as clown.
“But I managed to relax, I rehearsed and everything went very well.”
Today he says that he is happy because being a circus clown is his thing.
“The most beautiful thing about the clown is that the public remembers you in a special way. Sometimes we don’t know the problem that people are going through and seeing that you make the public laugh is a great joy ”,
Three days ago, a man brought me to give me a mini Tutti clown Frutti after Sunday’s show.
“That is worth more than applause.”
Andrew Caballero, a young aerialist from 13 years old, grandson of Rubén Caballero, says that the pandemic made him feel frustrated and sad, but at the same time he tried to take advantage to do something positive and began to rehearse his actions.
” The 22 October 2020, during the quarantine, when I was doing rehearsals at my grandfather’s house in Las Vegas, I broke the world record for the youngest person who manages to do four pirouettes from the trapeze. ”
So Andrew had 12 years. And he started as a trapeze artist at the age of 6.
Every day he spends 4 hours on his rehearsals on the trapeze, the rest of the time he takes care of school and work, because when he is not on the ropes , he helps in whatever way he can in the circus.
“I love the circus. I would not change it for anything”.
The Hermanos Caballero Circus will be presented from 4 to 29 November at the Plaza México in Lynwood. From Monday to Saturday at 4: 29 and 7: 30 pm; and on Sundays at 2: 00, 4: 30 and 7: 30 pm.