The Circus is Coming to Town! JV Mall Next Stop for the Big Top
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You don’t have to be a child to enjoy a day at the circus, and for about a week-and-a-half, circus lovers of all ages in Westchester and Putnam counties will have an opportunity to have that experience.
FL!P Circus is coming to Yorktown for 12 days starting this Friday evening, in its red and white climate-controlled tent that is being erected in the Jefferson Valley Mall parking lot. There will be a 7 p.m. show every evening except Sundays through Aug. 20, along with 1 and 4 p.m. performances on Saturdays. Show times on Sunday are at 12, 3 and 6 p.m.
“The circus is not just for kids, it’s for everybody,” said Alexa Vazquez, whose grandparents established Circus Vazquez in 1969 and who opens the show with her hula hoop display. “There is something for just about everybody. So even if you’re one year old or 99, you’re going to enjoy the show.”
The family operation was established in 2022 as a separate entity from Circus Vazquez. It has discontinued the use of animals and introduced a wider array of entertainers. Vazquez said the show has an international flair because people of all backgrounds and cultures have long loved going to the circus.
Brazil’s favorite clown, Bubi Guiner, is new this year, bringing classic comedic routines to audiences. If you like daring acrobatic feats, FL!P Circus also features acrobat Hasan Ansari from India, performing body-bending maneuvers on a wooden pole while Anastasia and Misha from Ukraine present synchronized and poetic presentation of dance and acrobatics.
Other acts include Pavel Valla Bertini, a fifth-generation Czech performer on his unicycles; the award-winning dancers and acrobats of Bingo Troupe from Ukraine; and the Reyes Brothers from Chile, who display fast-paced juggling.
FL!P Circus also has its own orchestra that provides the show’s soundtrack for audiences. Finding new performers for the circus to replace the spots in the show where the animals were featured hasn’t hurt its entertainment value, Vazquez said.
“You have to reinvent yourself, and after the pandemic, it finally struck us all that we wanted to because the animals, we love the animals,” she said. “We performed with them for years, but we didn’t feel the need to have them in the show in order to entertain the people anymore. We felt like we could do it another way.”
What makes FL!P Circus unique is the relatively intimate atmosphere at its shows. The tent seats about 800 spectators, less than half the capacity.
“As soon as you walk inside you don’t feel the smallness of the tent, you feel so intimate with the audience, with the stage, with the live actors that try to bring everything together,” said Vazquez, who has been performing since she was a small child. “So we have performers that have had acrobatic skills for years, we have jugglers, we have clowns, we have trapeze acrobats. There’s something for everybody under the tent.
FL!P Circus visits about 40 locations throughout the United States each year, she said.
Tickets are $30 for children and $50 for adults with discounts for seniors, members of the military and the disabled. For more information and tickets, visit www.flipcircus.com.
The Jefferson Valley Mall is located at 600 Lee Blvd. in Yorktown Heights.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
