Flight school

Inside FSU's Flying High Circus
By: Glenn Judah
Published on August 31, 2007 in The News-Press

Since her teen years, Milla Voellinger had wanted to join the circus. So when she started thinking about college, narrowing her choices was easy.

Only two universities in the country have a collegiate circus -- Florida State and Illinois State. Voellinger, who graduated from Cypress Lake High School Center for the Arts in 2004, didn't want to leave her home state.

"Florida State is the only place I applied to, and it was pretty much to join the circus," said Voellinger, who learned about its circus as a teen, when brothers George, 27, and Daniel, 25, attended.

The cliche of running away to join the circus does not usually involve a college education, but last year more than 100 students participated in the 60-year-old Florida State University Flying High Circus, which holds six shows a year.

"All you have to do is be a student at FSU, take one credit hour and can show up," said Voellinger, who will soon begin her fourth year performing. "It's like a club."

Most clubs do not require a safety net, nor does the debate team ask its members to do back flips through the air as they are flung from one person's arms to another. Voellinger, who is majoring in Recreation and Leisure Services Administration, has a dance background, but a performance background isn't required, and not all involved with the circus perform.

Voellinger's parents, Milla and Richard, supported her decision to join the circus, but her mother was uneasy seeing her daughter perform for the first time.

"Her reaction seeing this was 'Oh my God! What is my daughter doing?" Voellinger said.

Her mother admits to physically shaking by the end of her daughter's act.

"Until you see it, you don't comprehend what they are doing," Mrs. Voellinger said. "It's all so dangerous yet exhilarating at the same time."

Her daughter has performed four different acts for the circus including swinging Roman rings, rolla rolla, double trapeze and high casting.

High casting is one of the most dangerous and physically demanding acts. Because of this, the Flying High Circus had not performed it in 10 years. This changed last year when Voellinger and three other students opened the 60th anniversary show with this act.

"There wasn't going to be any introduction," Voellinger said. "The ringmaster was going to come out, play 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' say welcome to our show, lights go down, music comes up, and we start performing."

This aerial act takes two teams each made up of one man and one woman who line up 35 to 40 feet in the air. Each man hangs from his knees facing each other as both use their momentum to fling each woman back and forth. The women flip and twist through the air with perfect timing and concentration.

"The guys basically juggle us," Voellinger said.

"The thought of being thrown through the air and caught by someone else is quite appealing to me."

Mrs. Voellinger screamed with the rest of the audience on opening night as they watched her daughter dive off a small metal bar dangling from the ceiling into the hands of a man hanging upside down to kick off the show.

Her daughter was just as nervous for this performance.

"That first night was incredibly nerve-racking," Voellinger said. "Getting up there you're so high above everyone that you don't see anybody but your partner, and you look at the ring, and you just concentrate on what you've got to do to make the performance good."

Besides making the performance look good, the performance must be safe. All aerial acts are practiced wearing safety harnesses attached to a safety line manned by an instructor.

"If you go to miss the trick and they see that you're not going to land properly, they go to take on the line," Voellinger said. "The way the system is set up, it will flip you around and slow you down so you won't hit the net too fast."

The first step to every aerial act is learning how to fall.

"While learning a trick, they will not take us out of lines unless we know how to properly miss a trick and fall in the net where we land on our back," Voellinger said.

Senior performers handle most of the instruction for each act. Voellinger teaches rings and double trapeze.

Not all students performing in the circus pursue this type of career after college.

Voellinger has friends in the circus who are studying to be doctors and lawyers.

"Some people end up taking it real seriously and end up pursuing it in the future," Voellinger said. "Others are like this is a great hobby and will be really great in the circus, but don't end up wanting to do that with the rest of their lives."

For Voellinger, just having the opportunity has been an amazing experience.

"It was a great starter point, I would love to pursue it after college," Voellinger said. "I would like working at Club Med teaching circus, and performing would be neat."

Classes began Monday, and Voellinger's final year will be like all the rest, going to class, getting good grades and flying through the air.

"It's such a great feeling to be up 35 feet," she said. "The air is a great adrenaline rush."