At 21 years old, Elliana Grace is the youngest female human cannonball ever. Having grown up under the tutelage of her mother in Circus Harmony at City Museum, she’s been flying through the air nearly all her life. She returns to her hometown when the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus brings its current show, Built To Amaze, to Scottrade Center, October 17 through 20.
• My mother was contacted by a friend of a friend who said Ringling was looking for a female human cannonball. I called them up and said I might be interested, and they invited me to audition. I flew to Massachusetts, and I met Brian Miser, my teacher, who’s been a human cannonball forever. They had me do high falls, where I go up on this high platform and jump into an airbag. A couple of days later I got a call saying I’d gotten the job, and they wanted me to move into the circus train that week.
• With the cannon, you just do it. There’s not a lot of baby steps that can be taken. You go in and you go out. My first shot was really short and very low, and then I gradually went higher and farther. My shot now is around 100 feet. The barrel of the cannon is 25 feet long. I go about 65 miles per hour. I withstand a G-force of 7, which is the same as when an astronaut comes back into the earth from space.
• As soon as I get inside the cannon, I really start to focus my mind on what I’m doing. It’s not like I’m going over my grocery list or what I’m going to make for dinner! I think about where my body is and how I’m positioned. I tighten all my muscles. I get mentally prepared for what’s going to happen. Some days it feels like I’m in there for an hour and other days it feels like a second. Right before I get shot, we do a countdown. Then it goes so quickly and I’m so focused, I couldn’t tell you what’s going through my mind. In the air, my focus immediately goes to the airbag and the center of it to see where I’m going to be landing. Once I land, there’s a breath of relief before I get out of the airbag.
• Every shot is different, as crazy as that sounds. Sometimes, the shots seem like they take a really long time and you have that feeling of flying through the air. Other times, you blink and you’re in the airbag. Each shot is memorable in its own way.
• I’ve done around 300 shots. Each week, I do five to 10, depending on how many shows we have. Sometimes if my shot seems a little crooked or if I need to fix things, we schedule practices between shows when we have time.
• I enjoy my costumes very much; they’re all made specifically for me and for the cannon. I don’t wear a helmet because that would block my view of the airbag, and it’s so important to see the airbag.
• I close the first act. I’m excited to be at that spot in the show.
• I am the youngest female human cannonball in history. I feel like being a girl and as young as I am gives me a sense of wonderment that I can pass on to the younger generation. I’m 21, and I have this incredible career in front of me being shot out of a cannon. I want girls to know they can do whatever they want. Life isn’t always easy, but with a little hard work you can do anything.
• Living in a circus train car is one of the best perks of the job. When we’re done performing, I go home into my own little train car, and it moves across the country. You can see the countryside going by, which is incredible. The train is over a mile long. I do a lot of reading and watching movies, but there’s less time in there than you might think. At every stop we make, I want to explore the city we’re in. There’s never a dull moment. You learn a lot about other people on the show; those are friends you make and you’ll keep forever and ever.
• The tigers don’t travel by train, they go over land in a big truck, but the elephants are on the train. They’re on a separate part of the train, near their trainers.
• I get to ride an elephant during the elephant act. It’s the coolest thing. It’s like the cherry on top of my job. My elephant is the base for most of the big pyramids they do. I get to dance around with her.
• I don’t know all the cannon’s secrets.
• On the last tour of the circus before I joined, the human cannonball was the man who’s now my teacher. He’d been with the company for 10 years, and they wanted something a little different—specifically, a girl. He keeps in contact with me. It’s his cannon. If I feel weird or I’m nervous, I can call him up, and he’ll talk to me.
• Normally we get in and set up these massive riggings and get everything unloaded. All the animal areas have to be set up. We go in and we have a rehearsal, and then we open, and then we’re there. There are a lot of performances in a short period, and we’re never bored.
• My mom is Jessica Hentoff, and she runs Circus Harmony, which is a social circus based here in St. Louis, where she teaches circus to everyone and anyone. The oldest student is 87 now—you’re never too old to join the circus.
• That’s the environment I grew up in, an eclectic and very inviting environment. My mom is amazing. The amount of work that she does in a day I couldn’t do in a week.
• My brother Keaton just got into a three-year program at École Nationale de Cirque in Montreal, an amazing program where he’ll develop and become a great performer. We are so excited for him. He studies acrobatic wire, a low tightrope. My youngest brother, Kellen, just won a bronze medal at the International Juggling Association competition, which is pretty cool considering he’s only 16. He was competing against some of the best jugglers in the country. He’s known for his crazy hair and big dark glasses, and we expect great things from him, too.
• I could have a very long career getting shot out of a cannon.
