City of New London Announces Nimble Arts Summer Circus, 7/24

On Saturday, July 24, the City of New London presents the renowned Nimble Arts Summer Circus, free of charge, on New London's Parade Plaza, with performances at 6 and 7:30 PM. This small circus troupe from Vermont will present audiences with their internationally award-winning circus arts: trapeze, juggling, comedy, acrobatics.

Nimble Arts Summer Circus was founded by award-winning aerialists Elsie & Serenity Smith, formerly of Cirque du Soleil. Identical twins specializing in aerial acrobatics, their teaching & performing backgrounds include a 4-year tour on Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco, as well as Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey Circus, Circus of the Kids, the New Pickle Circus, Pilobolus, the Actor's Gym, Circus Juventus, Umo Ensemble & Canopy Aerial Dance Studio. As performers they present a duo trapeze and duo fabric act, as well as various solos on aerial apparatus. Serenity also performs a partner handbalancing act with her husband, Bill Forchion. Bill, besides performing with Cirque du Soleil, Ringling Bros., & The Pickle Family Circus, has an extensive career as a stunt man and actor in film & television.

In 2003 the sisters founded NIMBLE ARTS their Vermont based trapeze & circus school that transitioned into the New EnglandCenter for Circus Arts in 2007. Among honors as performers and businesswomen, the sisters won a business plan competition in 2006 for their work with Nimble Arts within the Brattleboro community and have been invited to arts & business consultations with Governor Jim Douglas.

In October, 2008 and the twins received a Special Award at the Wuqiao International Circus Festival in China, an invitation-only competition. And in March, 2009 they won a Bronze Medal award for their duo trapeze act at the International Festival of Circus in Albacete, Spain! The two continue to teach at NECCA and work as Artistic Director and Executive Director of the growing school as well as perform regularly with their company, Nimble Arts.

Nimble Arts Circus performances are just one part of a full day of family-themed events in downtown New London. Circus performances follow Fish,Tales,Tugs & Sails: A Children's Festival for Fun & Learning, which takes place earlier that day, from11 AM to 5 PM, on New London's WaterfrontPark. This nautically-themed family festival celebrates children's literature and the environment and is also presented free of charge.
Also on July 24, be sure to visit a special Fish Tales exhibition: Captain Nathaniel Brown Palmer: A Maritime Pioneer, based on the book about the Stonington captain who designed the first clipper ships and discovered Antartica, by Stonington author Candace Sanford, (Flat Hammock Press). Presented in conjunction with the Stonington Historical Society, the exhibition is at the Custom House Maritime Museum, 150 Bank Street, which will be open without charge that day.

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