The circus comes to town

Posted: Monday, May 7th, 2007

BY: AMANDA SCHOENBERG

For the Caballero family, a sixth generation circus family from Guadalajara, Mexico, home is where the big top is.

As the extended family of siblings, parents, cousins and friends travel the world performing death-defying acrobatic tricks and clowning for their public, the owners of Circo Hermanos Caballero say circus life is the only life for them. The 100-year-old circus is bringing its version of the traditional one-ring show to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds tonight until Tuesday, with two shows on weekdays and three shows on Saturday and Sunday. 

Matriarch Judith Caballero, like the rest of her family, literally grew up in the circus. She performed as a trapeze artist and hand balancer until her last show in Las Vegas in 1995. Now retired, Caballero unloaded and cleaned her trailer Thursday afternoon to gear up for tonight. As she prepped for the big day, her excitement was palpable.

“You know, I’ve lived for 20 years in Las Vegas,” she said. “I have my nice little house, my nice phone, my nice bedroom and bath, but when I’m there, all I can think is, ‘I have to be here.’”

“This is my life,” she added, gesturing to the mayhem unfolding around her.

Caballero has passed on that spirit to the next generation, including her two sons and six daughters, only one of whom does not travel with the show. Eight children and a teacher also travel with the circus, which includes more than 25 performers from Mexico, Peru, Russia, Bulgaria, America and Colombia.

The goal is to keep the traditional feel of a one-ring show, which now includes trapeze artists, acrobats, clowns, performing French poodles and miniature Liberty ponies handled by the children, said Ruben Caballero Jr., the ringmaster and performance director. His goal is to give people a good, old-fashioned circus show, Caballero said.

The first time the circus came to Watsonville, it performed in the vacant lot where the Civic Plaza now stands. Last year, they came to the fairgrounds for the first time and sold out every show.

“It was incredible,” he said. “We got a really good response from the people.”

Caballero Jr., who broke records for his quadruple somersault on the trapeze at 17, is also passing on his high-flying hijinks to his children. His sons, Ruben III, 8, and Marco Antonio, 7, race their dirt bikes upside down and around the so-called “Globe of Death.” Ruben III also made the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest performer to manage a triple somersault on the flying trapeze, Caballero Jr. said proudly. His wife Albina, a trapeze artist from Russia, also performs with the show. 

For Caballero Jr., there is nothing better than spending 11-and-a-half months every year moving from town to town. He jokes that like his brothers and sisters, who were each born in a different town in Mexico, his own children were born in New York and California — wherever the circus happened to be that year.

“Some people live by the circus,” he said. “I live for the circus. This is my home.”

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Circo Hermanos Caballeros performs at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Friday through Tuesday at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. with a third show at 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Adult tickets cost $20, $25 or $30 and children 10 and under are free. For more information, visit www.circocaballero.com or call (702) 682-2219.