What does the late writer Nat Hentoff and the circus arts have in common? Blood, mostly, in that his daughter Jessica Hentoff, founding director of Circus Harmony, has made a career practicing and teaching the circus arts—and mothering a circus family. All three of her children didn’t run away and join the circus, but rather grew up in the circus and never ran away from it.
Jessica sees a metaphorical connection between her father, who died January 7, 2017 at the age of 91, and the circus, which she expressed in the title of the tribute to him she will produce 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 17 at .Zack Theater, 3224 Locust: “Defying Gravity and Social Injustice.”
Stay up-to-date with the local arts scene
Subscribe to the weekly St. Louis Arts+Culture newsletter to discover must-attend art exhibits, performances, festivals, and more.
Two of Nat Hentoff’s grandchildren and the other Circus Harmony students and alumni who will perform at the tribute certainly defy gravity—Jessica calls her youngest performers, aptly enough, “flying children”—and the writer certainly defied social justice. Though best-known to many as a pioneering jazz critic who befriended many of the musical legends whom he wrote about, he wrote for The Village Voice for 50 years (among many other publications) and railed against many injustices: racism, war, censorship. (Not that he was a doctrinaire liberal; he opposed the abortion option and defended the freedom of all speech, including hate speech.)
His friend the great jazz composer Duke Ellington once described Nat Hentoff as “beyond category,” and that phrase equally describes the tribute that his daughter has planned for him. It will mix jazz (inevitably) with a variety of circus performances by current and past Circus Harmony students, including Sidney “Iking” Bateman and Melvin Diggs (on loan from their tour with Les 7 Doigts de la Main‘s Cuisine and Confessions) and two of Nat’s grandchildren, aerialist and former human cannonball Elliana Grace and international juggling champion Kellin Quinn (who will juggle to Dizzy Gillespie’s record of a song that Ernie Wilkins composed for Kellin’s grandfather, “Groovin’ with Nat”). When two of your grandchildren come with the thumbnail identifiers “former human cannonball” (Elliana was shot out of the cannon on the Ringling Bros. big show) and “international juggling champion,” and they perform together to honor you as a writer and a grandfather, then we are well beyond any known category.
In fact, Nat Hentoff was slow to come around to the charms of the circus. Jessica started out as a clown, which didn’t much excite him, but when his daughter started to eat fire, she said, he “got upset.” When she developed an aerial act, she said, he “got really upset.” When she fell and cracked her pelvis doing her aerial act in Kansas City in 1980, she said, they didn’t speak for a year. When he saw Circus Flora perform in Saratoga Springs, New York on assignment for the Wall Street Journal in 1986, he finally began to “accept and appreciate” her work, she said. But it was only when she shifted to what she calls “social circus”—teaching the circus arts to empower youth—that he “totally understood” what she was trying to do, she said.
As a circus master, Jessica knows the most important thing, beyond family, is keeping the show going, so the tribute is also a fundraiser for Circus Harmony, chaired by philanthropic heavy hitters Ken and Nancy Kranzberg. A $75 ticket buys you hors d’oeuvres and cocktails at 7 p.m. followed by the performance at 8 p.m., with proceeds going to fund, as Jessica said, “Circus Harmony’s work to help children defy gravity, soar with confidence and leap over social barriers, all at the same time.” That’s more than just metaphorical play. Jessica prides herself on taking local youth with few opportunities and introducing them to a very unusual but exciting and rewarding career in the circus.
Bateman, now a circus professional, started with Circus Harmony when he was 12, and Bateman said that Jessica stuck with him even when he took detours into gang membership and dealing drugs. “Jessica stood by me like a mom,” he said. “My mom died when I was three years old.” She took him into her home when his home was unsafe. And he found that the skills needed to excel in the circus are useful in other areas of life. “I learned how to trust, respect, teamwork, focus,” Bateman said. And his circus skills have taken him far from St. Louis and the violence of the streets. “Traveling around the world and seeing how big the world is,” Bateman said, “puts everything into perspective.”
Fore more information on “Defying Gravity and Social Injustice: a Tribute to Nat Hentoff” or to buy tickets, visit circusharmony.org. Online tickets are available only through Metrotix and include a $9 service fee. Tickets are also available at the Fox Box Office on Grand and Washington with a $1.50 service fee.
