Sure, it’s a show. But Circus Vargas is also a family.
More than two dozen performers and crew members have brought their eclectic traveling show to Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara, and this isn’t your grandfather’s circus.
The animals are long gone, and in their place are acrobats, trapeze artists, twirlers, jugglers, dancers and clowns, executing maneuvers with perfect athleticism. The ringmaster, a former opera singer, emcees the show with his big voice and booming charisma.
At the head of it all is Katya Arata Quiroga, owner, CEO and executive artistic director. Circus Vargas got its start in 1969, and Quiroga and her husband purchased the company 20 years ago.
“We have transformed Circus Vargas into more of a European-style circus with no animals, still really traditional, family entertainment for all ages,” said Quiroga, who is from the Czech Republic. “If you are two years old, or 20, or 99 years old you are going to love Circus Vargas.”
Her father Vittoria, a former tightrope walker, is credited as the only tightrope walker to balance another man’s head on his own. Her daughters are also in the show, as dancers and ballet performers.
The show opened June 12 and runs through Monday under the tent. The show moves to San Luis Obispo from June 26 to July 20.
The first person you’ll see at the event is Johnathan Lee Iverson, the ringmaster, who got his start at 22, and is a classically trained opera singer. He was in the boys choir in Harlem, and performed for four U.S. presidents, and shared the stage with Ray Charles and Luciano Pavarotti.
“I had a really charmed childhood, and I really believed that is what I wanted to do,” Iverson said.
He saw Placido Domingo in Japan and was inspired to be like him. He attended the Hart School of Music and the University of Hartford. His plan was to go to Europe and pursue opera, but an opportunity to become the ringmaster for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was the first Black ringmaster in circus history.
Circus Vargas, he said, offers “whatever you want in entertainment.”
“We take people away,” Iverson said. “As P.T. Barnum said ‘the highest art of all is making other people happy.”
Aeriana Faltynkova is a 16-year-old who grew up in the circus.
“Since I have been a little girl I have been performing and I love it,” she said. “It’s something I want to do for the rest of my life.”
She practices contortionism with her mom, also a circus performer, for about 90 minutes a day, and juggling with her father, another performer, for another hour per day. She juggles rings, balls, and clubs.
She is home-schooled.
“Every morning I have to go on my laptop to do work,” she said. “I have a lot of girls my age who also do online school.
Her mother Vlasti Faltynkova is also in the show, and is an aerial artist, and part of a juggling act with her daughter. She travels throughout the year in the U.S., Germany, France. She speaks five languages. She is a sixth-generation performer, and her children are seventh generation.
“It’s a really interesting life,” she said. “You visit so many different cities, so many different countries. You travel and you work. It’s our profession and our hobby. It’s so nice.”
