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Under the big top, four teenage girls dropped about 30 feet, each from her trapeze, their toes nearly grazing the concrete floor. Before they hit, their bungee cords bounced them skyward again. Up and down they yo-yo'd, somersaulting in the air, holding hands like skydivers.
Cirque du Soleil? No, Circus Juventas, a St. Paul circus made up of athletes as young as 6 and no older than 21. The troupe's annual summer show opened Thursday night and runs for two weekends. In it, the youngsters recreate a French circus from 1859. The show is called Cirque Napoleon and pays homage to trapeze innovator Jules Leotard.
These may be kids, but what they do combines death-defying acrobatics with artistic flair.
"People think it's a little tumbling thing. But they walk out amazed," said Sue Kessler, whose curly-haired daughter, Joelle, is one of the bungee trapeze artists.
Many of the Cirque Napoleon performers have been doing circus arts for years, said Dan Butler, who founded Circus Juventas with his wife, Betty, in 1994. Their stunts are the product of hard work and self-confidence that they developed through years of training, he said.
Just watch them practice:
Eighteen feet above the concrete floor, Lena Ranieri, 21, held a parasol and tiptoed across the high-wire, her ballet slipper-clad feet gripping the line.
She inched forward gingerly, staring ahead at her goal - the platform 28 feet away. A frail-looking safety net was the only thing between her and the ground.
Halfway across the line, Ranieri...