Flaherty flies high at the circus

“Imagine you have a 25 foot ladder made of pure iron that is suspended from the ceiling,” sophomore Devan Flaherty said. “It’s me and one other person and we’re on opposite ends [and] it takes this delicate balance to keep us leveled.”

On Thurs., May 1, at Circus Juventas 13th annual Spring Show, Flaherty did more than imagine the scene. He performed the “Shoot Through Ladder” routine at the Blue Show.

Neon lights rotated around Flaherty and his partner as they were hanging from a steel ladder spinning on an axis nearly 20 feet above the floor. After swinging, twisting and hanging upside down from the ladder, they drew applause from the audience as they performed every move to perfection.

During the intermission, Vice President of Circus Juventas Betty Butler shared her thoughts on how the acts were going.

“There’s a lot of great boy acts tonight, and for the boys to come out and shine over the girls it takes a lot of stage presence and they’re doing it,” she said. “I love the energy that the students create when they finally get to perform. You practice all-year long and when they finally get under the lights and their costume, they have this unquenchable energy, it’s so much fun to watch, it’s so magical.”

Circus Juventas is a youth performing arts after school program founded in 1994 by President Dan Butler and Betty Butler. Circus Juventas is currently celebrating its 20 year anniversary.

“It’s the most rewarding thing we’ve ever done,” Dan said. “The spring celebration performance is always what is so invigorating because it’s at the core of our mission: youth development.”

During the spring show cycle there are nine shows total and three different types: the Blue Show, Yellow Show, and Purple Show. Flaherty performed the Shoot Through Ladder routine in the Blue Show, a routine he has been practicing since Sept.  2013.

“It has to be ingrained in you so that it’s done perfectly every time,” Flaherty said. “It takes a lot of trust; we’re suspended up there 20 feet in the air.”

Flaherty has been in the circus for the past six years. He said it all started when he saw Circus Juventas 2008 Ravens Manor show. Flaherty was impressed when he saw performers ranging from age 4-22 working together and performing a variety of stunts.

“There was a lot of things that jumped out to me. The guys running off the wall or jumping off the trampoline, flipping three to four times in a row. I wanted to be that, I wanted to do that,” he said.

At the time, Flaherty was involved in gymnastics through Woodbury’s Perpetual Motion program. After seeing the circus performance, Flaherty auditioned and got into the Circus Juventas program.

“Starting as a new kid and now where I am now it’s totally different,” Flaherty said. “When I started I felt like a really small fish in a big pond, but now I realize it’s really just one big family.”

Flaherty said there were 900 students in the program. However, he said the circus really strives to build a feeling of community and that they make an effort to know you by first name.

One of the first coaches Flaherty met at Circus Juventas was Xu Zhang. Flaherty said their relationship was unique because they both came into Circus Juventas together in 2008. Zhang was from China and had won eight gold medals for acrobatics and circus arts there.

“He is a great student and an acrobatics lover,” Zhang said of Flaherty.

Although Zhang no longer coaches Flaherty, Flaherty says they greet each other whenever they see each other.

“There’s 900 kids in that school but the advanced performers you really get to know because you work with them year round, every day,” Flaherty said.

Circus performer Freddy McConnell, 17, said that him and Flaherty are “circus buddies.”

“Devan’s cool, outgoing, very energetic,” McConnell said. “Laid back for sure, but he knows to be energetic when he needs to be. He’s a cool friend to have.”

Flaherty ultimately decided to continue circus because of the relationships he had formed.

Flaherty explained that most performers in Circus Juventas quit after they graduate high school as they move on and go off to college. However, Flaherty was determined to stick with the program.

“Originally why I came to Hamline was to stick in the circus,” Flaherty said.

Flaherty had spent nearly 30 hours a week practicing circus during his senior year of high school and he wanted to continue to build on that.

“So I came here [Hamline] to get an education while doing that,” Flaherty said. “Why I stayed in Circus Juventas, I think it was the people … I’ve built some friendships there that were really important to me [and] I wanted to continue to grow as a person even though I knew I couldn’t be a circus professional.”

Flaherty said it is difficult trying to balance circus with school and jobs. He said he has to manage his schedule around his time practicing at circus and during the school year he has to balance his physical energy with academics.

McConnell explained the he met Flaherty three years ago during a class when Flaherty corrected him on a mistake he made with his technique.

“Hey Freddy, when you do your round off, make sure your arms are straight,” McConnell cited Flaherty’s advice.

Coaching is a skill Flaherty has picked up from circus and he’s applied that the past two years at Hamline when he started coaching Spirit Gymnastics.

Spirit Gymnastics is a program at Hamline University that teaches the fundamentals of gymnastics to youth. In Flaherty’s second year as a coach of the program, he had been given his own classroom to teach young boys ages 5-9 gymnastics.

Flaherty said he enjoys coaching because of the “passing down and the desire to see something better than you were.” Flaherty coaches a group of students who are completely new to gymnastics. He said over the course of the year they have shown significant signs of improvement.

“At first it was a trial because trying to getting these boys to pay attention or just do basic things was challenging, and then I started to realize how hard some of these boys had been working,” he said. “They haven’t even had another birthday yet and they’re improving rapidly. I can actively see the difference from when they started until now.”

Flaherty also said teaching has helped him as a performer.

“The difference between being good at something and being great at something a lot of times changes when you’re able to teach someone else,” Flaherty said. “When you can explain it to them to the point where they can copy it or even do better than you.”

Flaherty said this cycle’s Spring Shows for Circus Juventas may be his final performances for the program as he’s going abroad to Europe. Flaherty is a Global Studies major and therefore required to study aboard. However, Flaherty won’t be leaving his passion for circus behind as his senior thesis research paper will be based on circus communities around the world.

“I just want to show people that circus performers are usually just normal people with just a big love of circus arts. They dedicate their lives to that. Most of my coaches were in the circus since they were three or four and haven’t quit since,” he said.

Flaherty said he’s approaching the remaining Spring Show performances as if it may be his final performances.

“I just want to go out clean,” he said. “I’m confident with what I’ve learned, what I’ve taken away.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this story said that Freddy McConnell’s name was Freddy Thomas. There was also an attribution error in the seventh paragraph. The quote was attributed to ‘Butler’ but should have been attributed to ‘Dan’ because there were two sources with the last name ‘Butler’ in the story. The Oracle regrets these errors.