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Ever been tempted to run away and join the circus? For Circus Bella co-founder and director Abigail Munn, it’s been a near-lifelong vocation.
“It’s the hardest job you’ll ever have, but it’s the most rewarding,” she said. “I’m so lucky to get up every day and have a circus.”
A San Francisco-based circus troupe, Circus Bella was founded in 2008. This summer, the company is again bringing free shows to parks around the Bay Area and beyond. Locals can catch this year’s show, “Hoopla!”, at two performances in Menlo Park’s Burgess Park on July 4.
“We have a live band at all our shows. It’s energetic and it’s joyful and it’s bright colors,” Munn said. Circus Bella prides itself on mixing classic circus arts and traditions with modern sensibilities. “We have a very diverse company,” she said. “If you think of a circus in 2025, that’s what we are.”
Munn is also on the board of the American Circus Alliance (an advocacy and service organization dedicated to circus production and performance). She has been enamored with circus life since she was a child growing up in San Francisco and her parents signed her up for a class with the iconic Pickle Family Circus.
“I walked in and was like, ‘This is what I want to do!'” she recalled. She worked for years as a trapeze artist and dancer and now serves as Circus Bella’s ringmaster, emceeing the proceedings.
The company of “Hoopla!” also includes aerialist Veronica Blair, aerial hoop artist Dwoira Galilea, strongman Toni Cannon, contortionist Elise Hing, diabolo juggling specialist Willem McGowan, rola bola (balance board) specialist Ori Quesada and Jack Weinstock, who studied foot juggling at the Hebei Wuqiao School of Acrobatic Arts in China. Audiences will also meet Tristan Cunningham, who’s back at the circus after working in television acting and whose clown character brings humorous hijinks to the show.
“She’s so funny,” Munn said. “The whole premise is, she’s trying to join the circus and she’s having a hard time of it.”
The Circus Bella All-Star Band plays original music composed by the late bandleader Rob Reich, who died in May. The season’s performances will be dedicated to Reich.
“We can’t think of a more fitting tribute than continuing to play his music and share his spirit with our audiences,” Circus Bella’s website states.
Live music has always been an essential part of the show, Munn said. “We’re all working together. The musicians are really following what’s going on and how we’re moving,” she said. The band’s lineup includes Katy Stephen on keyboard, Jonathan Seiberlich on tuba, Michael Pinkham on percussion, Kasey Knudsen on saxophone, Christina Walton on violin and Ian Carey on trumpet.
The company offers ticketed big-top shows in San Francisco during the winter, and the free summer park performances, which run for about an hour, have an energy all their own.
“It’s a little louder; it’s kind of a little wilder; it’s a little more of a happening,” Munn said. This summer will be Circus Bella’s first time performing in Menlo Park.
“We are so excited – this is something we’ve been trying to work on for the last couple of years,” she said. “Just grab the child inside you or the child next to you and come to the circus.”
“Hoopla!”, July 4, noon and 2 p.m., Burgess Park, 701 Laurel St., Menlo Park; free; circusbella.org/circusintheparks.
