UniverSoul Circus ready for celebrating with Chicago audiences again at Washington Park

Ringmaster Cheyenne-Rose Dailey loves performing at Circus UniverSoul for the many opportunities the show presents to interact with the audience; and she loves performing in Chicago for her enthusiastic crowds, she said.

Audience members called out to participate “never shy away from it,” Dailey said.

“You can have people in other states who say, ‘No, I don’t want to do it,’ or ‘No, I’m too scared.’

Not so in Chicago. “Chicago is always so willing,” she said.

The Atlanta-based circus is returning Sept. 9 to Washington Park, where the troupe has erected its big, one-ring tent every year from 1996 to 2019.

The troupe has had to cancel Chicago shows in recent years. Three years and a pandemic later, Dailey is searching for the city’s energy again.

Known for its interactive performances, UniverSoul Circus performers usually have to search the audience for members who wish to participate in songs, dances or other routines. In Chicago, the audience asks thoseDailey said.

“Before we can even get into the audience, they come up to us and say, ‘when you guys are looking for someone, I’m in section C, row B,'” she said.

Some audience members join in without asking. Dailey recalls it happening one of her first years performing in Chicago with the circus.

The Trinidad and Tobago native was performing with the Caribbean dance act, a segment meant to give a “taste of our carnival culture as we have it in the Caribbean,” Dailey said. As they moved up the aisle, a teenager in the audience spontaneously joined them.

“I’ll never forget it,” said the six-year circus veteran.

For the show’s Chicago engagement, the host says audiences should be ready for a whole new vibe from the production.

“After taking such a long break due to the pandemic, we decided that when we came back we would have a new and fresh show,” she said.

For the Caribbean dance act, she promised more fire and a “queen of oblivion” who will balance a fire element “on her forehead as she bends under the limbo bar.”

On opposite ends of the dance spectrum, she said she’s expecting new routines from both aerial ballerina act and Detroit modern dancers Fresh the Clowns.

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“They have all the current Tik Tok trends and Tik Tok songs and hip-hop music,” Dailey said of the Detroit act.

Nearly 80 performers are featured in the two-hour show, said Ben Johnson, director of operations for the circus.

“Most of us [acts are people-based]” Johnson said, but there’s also a “mixed animal” act with camels, zebras and a pony, and horse acts where riders perform stunts while riding.

Each year, the troupe decides on a theme, and coming out of the pandemic, the group wanted to challenge any notion that life was too difficult for people to achieve their goals, Dailey said.

“We wanted people to see that this is not true. Once you continue to have that belief and continue to push yourself and push others like you, you can achieve anything,” Dailey said.

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Acts that defy logic are usually part of the circus, and this year the troupe will pay more attention to those performances.

Johnson said to watch for Brazilian aerialist Webert Cavalcante. Among the troupe he is known as “spiderman,” according to Dailey. In his act, Cavalcante climbs to the top of the tent and walks across the roof, upside down and with no visible safety net, “nothing, just him and God,” Dailey said.

Johnson hopes their performances will inspire the audience.

“It’s about performers having this tenacity and just going after their goals and dreams,” Johnson said.

Michael Loria is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times via Report on Americaa nonprofit journalism program that aims to strengthen the newspaper’s coverage of South and West Side communities.