Big Apple Circus Vaudeville Visits Expands to New Jersey

Big Apple CircusVaudeville Visits, a unique program created in 2004 to cater to the elderly in residential settings in the greater Chicago area, is expanding to serve those in the hospital setting at the Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey. Twice each month, performers visit hospitalized elders in the Stroke, Respiratory Care, Long-Term Care, Cardiac Care, Abdominal Surgery, Orthopedic, and Neurology Units, bringing their own special brand of mischief and laughter and brightening the day for all.

Vaudeville Visits performers - relating to their audiences - create iconic, instantly recognizable characters from previous generations. Examples include Freeda Phalo (a version of Frida Kahlo), Polly Darton (a country singer), Monsieur Fromage (a French Maitre d'), and Bloody Mary (a pirate). They trigger jokes, smiles, sing-alongs, and happy memories. Residents, even those with advanced dementia, instantly grasp that these characters are there to elicit joy and fun. Circus performers are often able to access forgotten parts of a resident's past and coax participation out of residents who normally do not engage or have not responded to other activities and interventions. Working in teams of two, performers cover the facility on a set schedule, going from room to room and also visiting common areas like the nurses' station, day room, and physical therapy gym. Performers use song, dance, juggling, puppetry, and skillful improvisation to entertain, engage, and delight the residents. This structure allows for interactive, tailored, elder-initiated entertainment that fosters empowerment.

"People often ask how we do this work," stated Deborah Kaufmann, Associate Creative Director at the Big Apple Circus. "It is impossible to overstate the amount of joy that is generated in these interactions. When a patient tells you they had not smiled in weeks until Freeda painted their portrait, there is nothing better."

This month, the Big Apple Circus is also presenting the New Jersey Premiere of its all-new show, The GrandTour, through March 13, 2016under the Big Top at TD Bank Ballpark, 1 Patriots Park (GPS: 860 East Main Street), Bridgewater, NJ. Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased at www.bigapplecircus.org.

In The Grand Tour, see high-flying acrobats, lovable clowns, the Wheel of Wonder, ponies, puppies and more! All seats are less than 50 feet from the ring in our heated tent. In this all-new show, The Grand Tour transports audiences to the advent of the modern travel era, when the most adventuresome began touring the world in ships, planes, trains, and automobiles. Audiences will be awed by the world-class entertainers as they perform breathtaking acts from the four corners of the globe. Clowns, jugglers, acrobats, and aerialists from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America set off on a whirlwind adventure, accompanied by the live, seven-piece Big Apple Circus Band at each performance.

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