A colorful illustration of a circus scene with elephants, acrobats, and a tent, set against a backdrop of a desert highway at sunset with a red sky and fireworks.

9       RAZZLE-DAZZLE        

KEY CONCEPTS:  roles, performance, creativity, an artist or group of artists, breaking with tradition, values, taboo, a chaotic situation, exploitation.

MESSAGE:  Step right up…enjoy the extravaganza!  If you pulled Razzle-Dazzle, it’s time to get creative with roles you’re playing. Don’t be afraid to run off with the circus…express your unique vibe in flamboyant ways.   Early circuses traveled exclusively via railroad, but by mid-century trucks supplanted trains as the preferred mode of hauling livestock and equipment from town to town.  Like many American highways, Route 66 often follows the railways.

The circus brings wild, exotic fanfare to mundane situations.  Exhilarating performances entice audiences with unexpected thrills.  It’s time to let loose: break with tradition.  Razzle-Dazzle gives you permission to embrace taboo.  Consider, are you advancing your artistry, or courting chaos through your choices?  Walk the tightrope between open-hearted spontaneity and a death plunge into the sawdust. What happened to your safety net, friend?

Bloomington-Normal, Illinois has a history of producing high-caliber, high-flying acts out of barns, gymnasiums, icehouses, and theaters along Route 66.  Runaways from the Fourth Ward School became the region’s first flyers dating back to the 1870’s.  By the time the Mother Road was built in 1926, these acts had already proved indispensable to tented shows from coast to coast.  Each aerialist embodied a death-defying role.  Image contrasts widely with everyday persona; circus performers appear larger than life. 

Beneath its electrifying showmanship, the big top carries a shady reputation for exploitation.  Unscrupulous practices of some sideshow and animal acts have attracted scrutiny.  Are you feeling exploited?  Or maybe you’re riding someone else’s coattails?  Razzle-Dazzle deals with both grandeur and the darker aspects of show biz.  So-called freak shows played an early part in circus life, featuring uniquely-abled people as exotic attractions for gawkers.  Show owners could reap major profits from exhibiting a “Fiji Cannibal,” but performers themselves rarely became rich.  Allegations of mistreatment abound to date concerning animal acts…who never signed on for their often-grueling jobs. 

If you begin to stray beyond your ethics or values, be quick to rein it in.  Resist the beginning of any evil…after all, if an elephant gets the wrinkled tip of his trunk in your tent, his entire massive body will soon follow.

RELATED SITES:  SIDESHOW MUSEUM, URANUS MO; CIRCUS ROOM, AMARILLO, TX; SWEET CORN CIRCUS, NORMAL IL.