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There are no lions or tigers or bears in this circus. No sword swallowers, either. But there is a crew of energetic young people who juggle, tumble, balance and fly through the air.
It's St. Paul's Circus of the Star, one of only three youth circuses in the country. It gives kids ages 6-17 a chance to learn the skills - and the self-confidence - to perform acts that, if not exactly death-defying, are pretty amazing.
"We think of it as a thinking-man's circus, in the European style," said Betty Butler, who formed the circus in 1994 with her husband, Dan.
The 85 kids in the program performed for the public over the weekend and will do it again Thursday through Sunday at the Hillcrest Recreation Center in Highland Park.
Last week, the budding artists prepared for the really big show inside their makeshift big top: the rec center gym. While the trapeze crew stretched and climbed the rope ladders, seven boys rehearsed their comic tumbling act.
They ran and sprang high off a minitrampoline, landing with various degrees of agility to the strains of a racing Gypsylike song.
"It's just not as flowing as it could be," said Zacc Fricke, 16, as he rested after the run-through. So they did it again, with more flair and better slapstick timing.
The kids spend an hour a week rehearsing their circus acts....