00;00;00;00 - 00;00;03;17
Dr. Amy Hecht
Welcome to another episode of connect with VP Hecht,

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Today I have two special guests:

00;00;06;00 - 00;00;14;05
Dr. Amy Hecht
I'm here with Chad Matthews, the director of FSU's Flying High Circus, and Kaitlin Givens, our circus club president.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
So let's get started.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
So tell me, what is the FSU Flying High circus?

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Chad Matthews
Because this circus,

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Chad Matthews
is something somewhat unique to FSU, and it's a as a working circus, like we like to call it, that is comprised primarily of FSU students. And we do. We train develop these acts with, you see about a hundred students or so. And to get to this endpoint of, performance in spring generally is how we, how we construct it.

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Chad Matthews
But, yeah, we're working circus made up of the circus of college students.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Okay. So when did the circus opened and how long has it been on campus?

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Chad Matthews
Circus started in 1947, when four State College, one became,

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Chad Matthews
coeducational. And, they, by design,

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Chad Matthews
wanted to create these,

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Chad Matthews
these activities for men and women. And they brought in a gentleman named Jack Haskins to create this co-educational activity, which was a circus. So they planned it in 1947, it was started.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Wow. And I think I've seen photos they used to perform at halftime.

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Chad Matthews
They did?

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Long time.

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Chad Matthews
Ago.

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Chad Matthews
They did. They, That when? Before. Before they went under a big time. They don't ever break up in like the 60s.

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Chad Matthews
prior to that, they performed in the football stadium

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Chad Matthews
and

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Chad Matthews
they did, halftime

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Chad Matthews
shows and their thing, their big spring shows were there as well.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
So what makes the circus so unique and special?

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Kaitlyn
Well, there's only two collegiate circuses in the country, so already by default, it's kind of unique and it's,

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Kaitlyn
own thing. But, the community is kind of a big thing for the circus. And, I mean, we have a cast of 100 people. It's a lot of brand new friends that you get to meet every year. And, so it's really exciting and just the trust you have in the people because they're rigging all your equipment, they're setting up your stuff.

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Kaitlyn
And yes,

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Dr. Amy Hecht
attention to detail is important.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
So as you start planning your show, what should people expect? Because for our audience, we have been without our big top for a year and our first show starts in October. Our first show back. Yeah. So what should everyone expect?

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Chad Matthews
What should people expect?

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Chad Matthews
It's a good question.

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Chad Matthews
Well, so I would say that that obviously we're, you know, restarting everything. So we obviously have pretty high standards with our performances, and I wouldn't alter those expectations at all for these particular shows. But it'll be new. There's new cast members and things like that. But for the for the Halloween series, like, it'll be,

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Chad Matthews
pretty much pretty close to what we've done in the past.

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Chad Matthews
I think we, you know, we'll do we're kind of figuring that out now, actually. We're in the audition process currently, so we're kind of figuring out what our cast looks like. That will determine like what ax we have.

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Chad Matthews
but ultimately it's it's a fun it's gonna be a fun show, a fun, fast moving show with with students who,

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Chad Matthews
do these things that maybe you wouldn't expect students to do, like they're.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
And there is a

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Dr. Amy Hecht
rumor that you get class credit for being in the circus and practicing. Is that true?

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Chad Matthews
I've heard

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Chad Matthews
that rumor before.

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Chad Matthews
Yes.

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Chad Matthews
So there. That

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Chad Matthews
is that is not entirely untrue. We did offer a class at one point. We're not doing it currently, but there was a time we offered like a PE credit

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Chad Matthews
Okay,

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Chad Matthews
There's never been a major

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Chad Matthews
or anything like that.

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Chad Matthews
Most of my chagrin, because as a student it probably would have been a better

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Chad Matthews
major. However, no, there's no currently we don't offer any class credit for it.

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Chad Matthews
So it's all volunteer, all our students, just do it for.

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Kaitlyn
We do it just

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Kaitlyn
for fun.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Just for fun.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Okay, so, Kaitlyn what is a day in the life of one of our circus cast members? What does it look like? How much do you practice?

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Kaitlyn
it's pretty similar to the normal student. I mean, I still go to classes, have my normal school schedule.

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Kaitlyn
We practice usually around, three times a week for 30 minutes. That depends, depending on the act.

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Kaitlyn
So it's nothing too, too crazy. It gets heavier during the show seasons, obviously with rehearsals and shows, but,

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Kaitlyn
pretty normal schedule compared to normal students.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
So when you decided and you are a legacy circus, your mom and dad were in the circus, which is pretty amazing. I think they performed with our director, Chad.

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Chad Matthews
So I do know

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Chad Matthews
her parents

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Yes.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
So which is

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Dr. Amy Hecht
pretty amazing that we have generations coming back and our circus alumni are very connected.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
You might have had some insight into the skills and training you needed to make a try out. What are those?

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Kaitlyn
So actually I had no experience

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Kaityn
You had none going into

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Kaityn
it. I

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Kaitlyn
had no dance background gymnastics, none of it.

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Kaitlyn
I just kind of came in because I was like, my parents did this. I want to do it.

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Kaitlyn
so that's what we share, though, too, during auditions, is there's no experience necessary

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Kaitlyn
to try out.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
What did you do at tryouts? What what is a tryout comprised of.

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Kaitlyn
our audition process is a two part process.

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Kaitlyn
Our first part is like, physical

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Kaitlyn
and flexibility.

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Kaitlyn
So we do stuff like pull ups, leg lifts,

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Kaitlyn
push ups, stuff like that, and then flexibility stuff, splits and, your pikes and all that.

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Kaitlyn
And then the second part is more like trampoline and balancing based stuff, but yeah, no, no experience necessary.

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Kaitlyn
You don't have to be able to do a pull up to get in.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Okay. Well that's good.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Good for me at least.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Now how many tryout versus how many make the team.

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Chad Matthews
so this

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Chad Matthews
year we're just going through this process, so it's good. Usually we have,

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Chad Matthews
we have different opportunities in the circus. You know, we have the performing,

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Chad Matthews
the on stage component. We have the off stage opportunities as well. So we have a lot we have science for all that. In total, like all signups, we usually exceed 300 people

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Chad Matthews
people

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Chad Matthews
sign up to be,

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Chad Matthews
participating in some fashion for like circus act, real circus act general auditions.

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Chad Matthews
That comprises most of our audition time. This year we had 200 people sign up for those. We'll cast about,

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Chad Matthews
a little less than 100.

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Chad Matthews
And then we'll

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Chad Matthews
have dance and ring masters that are specialty auditions. So all in all, we probably had close to 250 people audition for, like, on stage pieces. And out of that, it'll be about a hundred people.

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Chad Matthews
Okay.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Very competitive. Then.

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Chad Matthews
So yeah, a little bit.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
So both

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Dr. Amy Hecht
of you have been performers. What is your favorite memory or behind the scenes story that you could share about the circus.

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Chad Matthews
That we can share?

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Chad Matthews
Yes.

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Chad Matthews
Do you wanna start?

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Kaitlyn
The first one that's popping into my head is,

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Kaitlyn
more recent.

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Kaitlyn
Yeah.

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Kaitlyn
I think it was during a Halloween show. So this was live performance. People are in the crowds.

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Kaitlyn
And I was skating, and I looked down and there was a cockroach right by my foot, and I was like, oh, my gosh, oh my gosh.

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Kaitlyn
And so I had to stay calm and smile and go do my trick.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
You

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Dr. Amy Hecht
didn't try to roll it over. No,

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Dr. Amy Hecht
no. You let it

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Kaitlyn
then it would be on my skates.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Oh good point. Yeah. See you're clearly a professional. I wouldn't have thought of it. Yeah.

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Kaitlyn
And I think you saw it from the

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Kaitlyn
movie.

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Chad Matthews
Definitely.

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Chad Matthews
And it's you going to get it.

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Kaitlyn
Yeah. So that was a it was a prominent

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Dr. Amy Hecht
If it was real

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Dr. Amy Hecht
right. Maybe it was a prop.

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Kaitlyn
Yeah.

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Kaitlyn
Live

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Kaitlyn
animals.

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Chad Matthews
That's the only animals in our shows.

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Chad Matthews
My favorite. Goodness.

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Chad Matthews
So many memories for the for the performances piece, though I wouldn't say it's my favorite piece. It's just kind of funny in retrospect.

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Chad Matthews
We used to do our performance. Looked a little different, back in the Before times.

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Chad Matthews
When

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Chad Matthews
her parents and I preformed and.

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Chad Matthews
I did low casting, which was like a comedy act, and we didn't have constraints when it came to time

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Chad Matthews
for our

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Chad Matthews
and things, so.

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Chad Matthews
I went perhaps a little long, just kind of improvising as I went. And so our director got really mad at me, and he walked down on stage to furiously signal to like, this means tie it off.

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Chad Matthews
My next trick in the act was to swing around the pole. So I thought,

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Dr. Amy Hecht
What he

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Dr. Amy Hecht
wanted you to do.

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Chad Matthews
I didn't

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Chad Matthews
even then put together. He was want to cut me off,

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Chad Matthews
I just went on, let's keep going, keep going, keep going. But swing down the pole. But I didn't stop.

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Chad Matthews
So I got to talking to you after that.

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Chad Matthews
But,

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Dr. Amy Hecht
he didn't have a big hook.

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Chad Matthews
You. If you could, if he. Where he would have

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Chad Matthews
used.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Yeah.

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Chad Matthews
Yeah, he

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Chad Matthews
would have. You would have extracted me from

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Chad Matthews
the stage had he had the opportunity.

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Chad Matthews
But, yeah, that's there's so many, though.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
And

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Dr. Amy Hecht
now you get to deal with students who may or may not do that to you.

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Chad Matthews
Correct. And I, I do appreciate it. That's probably why it's a favorite story of mine because I do appreciate what he was doing at the time, because now at the time I didn't get it. Like I had make me so mad.

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Kaitlyn
And now you can just turn our lights off.

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Chad Matthews
The

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Chad Matthews
lights would go off.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
You have other mechanisms,

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Dr. Amy Hecht
right? So for

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Dr. Amy Hecht
our students or even community members watching, how can they get tickets to the circus?

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Chad Matthews
So the tickets are, we can go to our website. We we sell tickets through the fine arts ticket office. Links are available on our website. circus.fsu.edu. They are available at the door too. We have box office that opens before the show. However particularly our Halloween shows we we sell tickets pretty quickly.

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Chad Matthews
We do hold tickets for students that they can get right before the show that's out for with their ID, but for the general public, buying them beforehand is, a good bet.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
But students, for the most part can get there early and show up,

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Yes.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
How

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Dr. Amy Hecht
early?

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Chad Matthews
How early

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Chad Matthews
we open the box office opens generally an hour and a half ish before the

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Chad Matthews
show.

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Chad Matthews
Sometimes a line

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Chad Matthews
forms before that.

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Chad Matthews
We have we generally block around 3 to 400 seats per show for students alone.

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Chad Matthews
but those do run out.

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Chad Matthews
Okay.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
So they should get there early if they want to come or buy their ticket in advance.

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Chad Matthews
can buy a ticket.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
They can, but they could also get it for free if they show up early.

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Chad Matthews
Yes.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
So I understand and I kind of referenced it when we talked about your parents being connected that are FSU alumni who've been in the circus are incredibly committed. How do they stay connected? What is that community like?

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Kaitlyn
So we have our alumni show during home shows. It's the last, last show.

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Kaitlyn
And all the alumni come in from all over. It is the craziest show you'll ever

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Kaityn
go.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
And you let the alumni perform?

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Oh, no. Okay, okay.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Okay,

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Kaitlyn
but they're so

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Kaitlyn
loud. The energy is just off the walls. It's the best

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Kaityn
Oh.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
That's

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Dr. Amy Hecht
incredible.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
And what is the network like? How many circus alumni roughly, would you say are out there?

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Chad Matthews
In our list we have around 1500

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Chad Matthews
Wow. I'm

00;10;42;02 - 00;10;42;29
Chad Matthews
alumni, and,

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Chad Matthews
they're all very passionate, even if they like, don't

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Chad Matthews
come to every show and whatnot. They're always we constantly have alumni drop by just to pop in and say hi and things like that.

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Chad Matthews
And it's really funny, the connection they have alumni even like, even though they may be separated by decades with current students, they can still like kind of talk about the same things.

00;11;01;20 - 00;11;06;21
Chad Matthews
Experiences are very similar. So it's always interesting to see like those that kind of kind of connections,

00;11;06;21 - 00;11;07;29
Chad Matthews
around those kind of spring,

00;11;07;29 - 00;11;18;04
Chad Matthews
shows when the, when they come back because they, they're all kind of sharing a very similar type of experience. And there's, you know, you get to know alumni that those relationships carry on as well.

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Dr Amy Hecht
It's really

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Dr. Amy Hecht
And

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Dr. Amy Hecht
I know they were essential when we lost the tent during the tornado. And you really saw the power of that community coming together

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Dr. Amy Hecht
to make sure that the circus returned bigger and better.

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Chad Matthews
Yes,

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Chad Matthews
they were, mobilized,

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Chad Matthews
Yes.

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Chad Matthews
You could say.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Yes

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Dr. Amy Hecht
So if a student auditions and there's only about 100 performers, what happens if they don't make a performing spot? Can they still be involved in the circus?

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Chad Matthews
There are other opportunities. We generally we have,

00;11;49;22 - 00;11;55;28
Chad Matthews
a sign up window for, for the on stage opportunities that we also at the same time have the,

00;11;55;28 - 00;12;00;21
Chad Matthews
backstage opportunities as well. That's actually what Caitlin did as well. Yeah.

00;12;00;21 - 00;12;09;12
Chad Matthews
So we have, backstage production opportunities, creative and technical. So we have people who help with like, maybe costumes, hair and makeup.

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Chad Matthews
And we also have those who work with, like, the lighting and audio and kind of backstage pieces to those are limited as well because we can't really accommodate everybody. But we have a lot of interest in those positions. So but that's another, way that people can become involved without being on stage. Not everybody wants to be on stage

00;12;26;18 - 00;12;27;01
Chad Matthews
necessarily.

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Chad Matthews
Everyone that

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Chad Matthews
wants to participate.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
But they want to be a part

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Dr. Amy Hecht
of the community and help. So there's still a way to get your foot in the door, maybe someday perform like Caitlin did, but really kind of operate a major entertainment venue, which is great experience as well.

00;12;42;18 - 00;12;43;15
Chad Matthews
Absolutely.

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Dr. Amy Hecht
Now, I understand you might have some questions for me.

00;12;46;13 - 00;12;47;04
Chad Matthews
We do.

00;12;47;04 - 00;12;47;22
Dr. Amy Hecht
Okay.

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Kaitlyn
Do you want that?

00;12;49;11 - 00;12;50;15
Chad Matthews
Shall you start?

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Dr. Amy Hecht
This is different. We've never done this. Just so you know.

00;12;54;21 - 00;12;59;28
Kaitlyn
Okay. So in the human jump rope, would you rather be the jump rope? The jumper or the swinger?

00;13;01;05 - 00;13;02;00
Dr. Amy Hecht
The jump rope.

00;13;02;00 - 00;13;02;23
Dr. Amy Hecht
Yeah. Yeah.

00;13;02;23 - 00;13;03;02
Dr Amy Hecht
Okay.

00;13;03;23 - 00;13;04;14
Chad Matthews
Tell us. I

00;13;04;14 - 00;13;05;14
Chad Matthews
totally said she,

00;13;05;14 - 00;13;06;23
Chad Matthews
would

00;13;06;23 - 00;13;06;29
Chad Matthews
you

00;13;06;29 - 00;13;07;19
Chad Matthews
rather

00;13;07;19 - 00;13;11;14
Chad Matthews
perform in the center ring or work backstage?

00;13;11;23 - 00;13;13;26
Dr. Amy Hecht
Depends on what I would be doing in the center.

00;13;13;26 - 00;13;14;14
Chad Matthews
Right.

00;13;14;28 - 00;13;15;14
Dr. Amy Hecht
So maybe

00;13;15;14 - 00;13;16;06
Dr. Amy Hecht
backstage?

00;13;16;06 - 00;13;16;14
Chad Matthews
Sure

00;13;16;19 - 00;13;16;25
Chad Matthews
Yeah.

00;13;16;25 - 00;13;17;01
Kaityn
Okay,

00;13;17;16 - 00;13;20;24
Kaitlyn
Off topic from this, but what would you want to do in center ring?

00;13;21;02 - 00;13;21;24
Dr. Amy Hecht
Oh. The trapeze.

00;13;21;27 - 00;13;23;03
Dr Amy Hecht
Yeah,

00;13;23;03 - 00;13;23;09
Dr. Amy Hecht
I

00;13;23;09 - 00;13;29;03
Dr. Amy Hecht
feel like I could do it, although I might get up there and check it out. But as Chad has told me, there's only one way down.

00;13;29;03 - 00;13;29;09
Dr Amy Hecht
Yep.

00;13;29;16 - 00;13;30;05
Chad Matthews
Once you're up there.

00;13;30;08 - 00;13;30;24
Kaitlyn
Yep.

00;13;31;05 - 00;13;31;22
Dr. Amy Hecht
So

00;13;31;22 - 00;13;36;15
Dr. Amy Hecht
if I can climb myself all the way up there, then I'll have to do it, you know?

00;13;36;18 - 00;13;36;29
Chad Matthews
Absolutely.

00;13;37;22 - 00;13;40;13
Kaitlyn
It's easier to go down anyway. Yeah, sure.

00;13;40;13 - 00;13;41;03
Dr. Amy Hecht
That's fine.

00;13;41;04 - 00;13;42;22
Chad Matthews
Then. Ladders kind of hard. Yeah.

00;13;43;06 - 00;13;45;29
Kaityn
Would you rather attend the Halloween show or the home show?

00;13;45;29 - 00;14;01;21
Dr. Amy Hecht
Oh, okay. I've gone to a lot of Halloween shows and I love it because you get the costumes. But the last senior show is always really special because you can see they've they've really practiced all year. So I'd have to say that the last time show.

00;14;01;21 - 00;14;02;06
Chad Matthews
Would you

00;14;02;06 - 00;14;09;24
Chad Matthews
rather juggle clubs during a half time at Doak Campbell or perform on the trapeze at a graduation?

00;14;10;03 - 00;14;13;09
Dr. Amy Hecht
I cannot juggle, so I'm going to have to perform on the trapeze.

00;14;13;09 - 00;14;14;24
Dr. Amy Hecht
I'm going to have to. I'm going to have

00;14;14;24 - 00;14;22;24
Dr. Amy Hecht
to because I. You were very nice and gave me some juggling tools and it did not go well.

00;14;23;02 - 00;14;24;03
Chad Matthews
Fair Enough.

00;14;24;03 - 00;14;24;09
Dr. Amy Hecht
People

00;14;24;09 - 00;14;26;24
Dr. Amy Hecht
were ducking so.

00;14;26;24 - 00;14;29;19
Kaitlyn
And the most important question: Popcorn or Snow cone.

00;14;29;27 - 00;14;30;19
Dr. Amy Hecht
Oh Oh popcorn.

00;14;30;19 - 00;14;31;02
Kaityn
Okay.

00;14;31;10 - 00;14;32;14
Dr. Amy Hecht
Popcorn for sure.

00;14;32;18 - 00;14;33;07
Chad Matthews
All right. You passed.

00;14;35;01 - 00;14;35;24
Dr. Amy Hecht
Well,

00;14;35;24 - 00;14;51;00
Dr. Amy Hecht
at the closing of every show we do have ask Amy where our viewers will write in some questions and so first one, why was the circus started? You did talk about that. But whose idea was it to start a circus?

00;14;51;00 - 00;14;56;02
Chad Matthews
It was actually, as I. As I understood this to be the case,

00;14;56;02 - 00;15;06;21
Chad Matthews
the athletic director, Howard Danforth. My history may not be great, but he had he had the idea because he knew Jack Haskins from before he was at Florida State, perhaps.

00;15;06;21 - 00;15;07;05
Chad Matthews
Okay.

00;15;07;05 - 00;15;12;02
Chad Matthews
because Jack came from, like, the Midwest. So he brought him in to do that specifically.

00;15;12;02 - 00;15;13;05
Chad Matthews
But it was his idea.

00;15;13;05 - 00;15;16;06
Dr. Amy Hecht
Something for men and women to do together. Not doubles tennis,

00;15;16;06 - 00;15;17;04
Dr. Amy Hecht
but a circus.

00;15;17;08 - 00;15;18;08
Chad Matthews
Very unique idea.

00;15;18;08 - 00;15;18;23
Chad Matthews
for sure.

00;15;19;14 - 00;15;23;23
Dr. Amy Hecht
Even back then, I can imagine folks very interesting. We all bought into it.

00;15;24;21 - 00;15;32;22
Dr. Amy Hecht
Does the circus perform shows and if so, how many per year? Which we kind of hinted at, but when and what months? Okay.

00;15;34;10 - 00;15;35;09
Kaitlyn
show series.

00;15;35;09 - 00;15;40;24
Kaitlyn
Our Halloween shows that are coming up in October and our home shows, which are our big, big ones in April.

00;15;40;24 - 00;15;46;09
Dr. Amy Hecht
in April. So the dates are online, but I know three weekends in October,

00;15;46;09 - 00;15;47;24
Kaitlyn
weekends in October, three

00;15;47;24 - 00;16;09;08
Dr. Amy Hecht
October and three in April. Okay. And we talked about how early students need to arrive to get a student ticket. So an hour and a half beforehand. And another rumor I heard is that once upon a time, the circus traveled abroad to perform, I think in Italy, maybe elsewhere.

00;16;09;11 - 00;16;15;15
Dr. Amy Hecht
Is that true? Tell me about that. And what was the result of that? That international trip?

00;16;15;15 - 00;16;15;25
Chad Matthews
Sure.

00;16;15;25 - 00;16;21;06
Chad Matthews
That was the mid 60s. It's kind of a it's a little kind of legendary and like the history of our program.

00;16;21;06 - 00;16;28;21
Chad Matthews
the circus at that time was nearly nearly 20 years old. And they were doing some really big skills. And it got a lot of notoriety, they were on TV a lot.

00;16;28;21 - 00;16;31;15
Chad Matthews
And they actually had sponsors. I think it was CBS.

00;16;31;15 - 00;16;40;03
Chad Matthews
Could be wrong on that one, that they were sponsored to go to Europe and do a European tour. I know they went to they went to Italy, they went to Greece, maybe France as well.

00;16;40;03 - 00;16;46;07
Chad Matthews
it was credited with like actually kind of getting the start of this, the FSU international program too, in Florence I believe.

00;16;46;07 - 00;16;50;09
Chad Matthews
obviously, along with just the circus people, a lot of like FSU admin went

00;16;50;09 - 00;16;51;00
Chad Matthews
with them.

00;16;51;00 - 00;16;55;01
Chad Matthews
So they got a lot of connections, and it was a kind of a ambassadorship almost

00;16;55;01 - 00;16;55;16
Dr. Amy Hecht
We heard

00;16;55;16 - 00;17;09;02
Dr. Amy Hecht
that as well. I heard there was an administrator there that said, this is beautiful. We should have a campus. And that launched international programs with their first study center in Florence. And now we know they're they're spread out so

00;17;09;02 - 00;17;10;17
Dr. Amy Hecht
amazing. Yeah. All right. Well,

00;17;10;17 - 00;17;12;06
Dr. Amy Hecht
thank you for joining us.

00;17;12;06 - 00;17;16;12
Dr. Amy Hecht
That is it for this edition of Connect with VP Hecht

00;17;16;15 - 00;17;22;03
Dr. Amy Hecht
I hope you'll continue to follow us along and let us know what you'd like to hear about next

00;17;26;15 - 00;17;33;26
Unknown
Sorry. For.