Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Melvin Diggs remains grounded in St. Louis, even while leaping and bounding around the world. See the 23-year-old North City native perform his Chinese hoops act in a select number of shows during this summer’s Circus Flora season (and get a taste of his skills here).
• When I first heard about being in a circus, I immediately thought clowns and elephants. I had no idea what it was. It was never something I thought I’d do in my life.
• I think I like the term “circus freak” the most—people can relate to that. But I’m an acrobat, a circus performer.
• My family doesn’t really know what to think of it but are very proud of me. When my mom tells people I’m in the circus, people are, like, “What?!”
• In middle school, I was getting into a lot of trouble. I was assigned a Big Brother who knew of a summer camp coming up at the City Museum where they needed help. At the end of the summer, a woman approached me, said she liked my work ethic, and asked if I wanted to work the snack bar at the museum. A week later I walked past the Circus Harmony practice and knew that was what I wanted to do.
• I kept working at the snack bar to pay for my circus classes; then a friend told me about an audition for a school in Montreal—École Nationale de Cirque. I didn’t know a word of French. Now I’m fluent.
• Some people say I went to “clown college,” but please don’t call it that.
• I spent four years there; then I got asked to tour with Les 7 Doigts de la Main (“The Seven Fingers of the Hand”) doing a show we created from a blank page—Cuisine et Confessions.
• We have the luxury of always being sold out, and we always learn a little of the language, depending on where we are—the audience always appreciates that.
• I have some time off this summer, so I’m coming home to do the first half of Circus Flora’s season. It’s not even work! It’s just being with the people I love and grew up with.
• I do get a little homesick, and it’s difficult being on the road all the time, but it’s something I have to do while I’m young. Right now I’m trying to live day by day. I never put a timeline on things. I’m just trying to see the world while I can.
