Feld Entertainment Inc.

After Irvin's death in 1984, Kenneth assumed the role of CEO, and Feld Entertainment has grown exponentially under his watch. Today, the company is a global enterprise made up of close to 2,500 people who bring joy, amazement, thrills and laughter to millions of families all over the world. Based just outside Washington, DC, Feld Entertainment produces a wide variety of live family spectaculars, including two touring units of The Greatest Show On Earth and a number of Disney On Ice shows including Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 2, Disney/Pixar's Monsters, Inc. and Mickey & Minnie's Magical Journey. In 2004, Feld Entertainment will launch two new family entertainment productions Disney Live! Winnie the Pooh and the Perfect Day, and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Hometown Edition that will bring the unique magic of Ringling Bros. to more communities than ever before all across America. Kenneth has also produced Broadway shows including Barnum, Big and Fool Moon. Fool Moon was chosen to receive a special Tony Award in 1999, and Kenneth was delighted to have been part of the production team. Feld Entertainment productions have appeared in 48 countries on six continents, and approximately 25 million people see the company's shows each year. Divisions of the company produce sets, costumes and concessions for the shows. The vision goes beyond entertainment. Recognizing the seriousness of the challenge facing the endangered Asian elephant, Kenneth established the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation in 1995. The center is a $5-million, 200-acre, state-of-the-art facility for the breeding, study and retirement of the Asian elephant, a long-term partner in Ringling Bros. performances. To date, 16 calves have been born under the care of the elephant experts at the CEC, and the staff shares the knowledge gained over 134 years of working with these magnificent animals with the world's veterinary and research communities to help ensure the species' ultimate survival.

As General Manager of the Gold Edition of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & BaileyO, Jonathan "Jon" Griggs admits that being involved with every aspect of the show is "the most enjoyable part of my job, and also the most challenging." But if ever an individual was equipped to handle the demands of the position, it is Jon, who has worked in almost every capacity with Ringling Bros.O as a performer in front of the audience, a manager behind the scenes and even a vendor in the stands. The artist in Jon was the first persona to emerge. Although he was not from a performing family and has only vague memories of going to the circus when he was young, he taught himself how to juggle as a child. "I just wanted to do something different," Jon explains. "I liked to work with my hands; to see what they could do and make." By the time he was 15 years old, he was performing locally both as a juggler and a mime. But it never entered his mind that his pastime would become a profession, or that he was destined for the big top. When he was a senior in high school, and admittedly skipping class one day, Jon saw an advertisement for Ringling Bros. andBarnum & Bailey Clown College. An inner light flicked on and Jon became determined to enroll. He believes that his "drive to want to go there" was what resulted in his application being accepted, and he entered what he now refers to as "circus boot camp." As it turns out, he had found his calling. Jon joined the Red Unit of The Greatest Show On EarthO in 1986. About a year and a half later, while training to support a new flying trapeze act, yet another of Jon's talents emerged, and he was recruited from Clown Alley to join the aerial troupe as a catcher. When they departed Ringling Bros.O two years later, Jon remained with the aerial troupe. For the next ten years, he worked for circuses in Canada, Taiwan, and throughout Europe. He also met his future wife, Karlene, a flyer with the troupe. The two performed together for nine years before getting married in 1999. That same year, Jon suffered a serious knee injury and was forced to take time off to have surgery and recuperate. He, Karlene and Jon's stepdaughter, Kailene, returned to the United States and eventually moved to California to work at a circus school, teaching juggling, clowning and trapeze. After attending a performance of The Greatest Show On Earth in Sacramento, John was inspired to reconnect with Ringling Bros. and returned to teach a comedy "mini trapeze" act that he had developed for his fellow Clown Alley members. At the end of the show's tour, Jon left the Alley and worked briefly for the consumer products division of Feld Entertainment, Inc., getting insight into a new aspect of the Ringling Bros. and branding business. His talent for building and repairing things, an offshoot of his lifelong passion for working with his hands, caught the attention of management and Jon was approached to become the Blue Unit's Backstage Property Manager. Two years later, John was promoted to the position of General Manager for the Unit and in late 2005, he took on that assignment for the Gold Edition. As General Manager, Jon is responsible for overseeing every aspect of the show, from day-to-day operational matters, to the logistics of moving the Unit from town to town, to coordinating schedules with the Production Manager, Veterinary Technician and Animal Trainers, among others. He finds a special challenge in advancing venues for this unique Ringling Bros. production, which plays primarily in communities never visited before by The Greatest Show On Earth. "Some of these buildings have never presented a circus," Jon explains. "It can be a real learning process for everyone the rigging requirements, the animal facilities.

After re-connecting with the Feld organization in late 2004, Mike joined the 134th Edition of The Greatest Show On Earth as General Manager, a position he held with the groundbreaking 136th Edition and continues to command today. He describes his duties as "more demanding" than the ice shows, noting that the Blue Unit comprises more than three times the personnel plus animals! Mike is largely responsible for overseeing (from his six-foot-five-inch frame, hence, the nickname "Tree") the complex production's move from venue to venue on a weekly basis, along with every minute from "load in" to "load out" once everyone and everything arrives in each new city. He also deals with performer and union matters and morale, animal welfare, transportation, promoter and arena issues, as well as countless other variables. While Mike misses the international travel of his former assignments, he asserts that life on the Ringling Bros. train is better suited to his growing family's dynamics (son Tylar was born in 2005), in addition to his ongoing chronicling of the over 4,300 "mostly" rock 'n' roll albums he has stored on his computer! He likens his position to that of "mayor of a small city," but a city where 11 languages are spoken, and feels that his biggest asset is the understanding he brings to the 138th Edition's multi-cultural environment, gleaned from those years traveling the globe with Disney On Ice.

After 20 years on tour with Ice Follies, Holiday On Ice and Disney On IceSM, Judy Thomas hung up her figure skates in 1993 to assume the position of Artistic Talent Coordinator with Disney On Ice. In 2001, she also assumed the responsibility of Talent Director and Production Coordinator. Of her current position, she says, "I love it. It's very rewarding and it's constantly changing." In her position, Judy Thomas is responsible for recruiting and hiring skaters for all Feld Entertainment productions throughout the world, and she accepts videos and resumes from skaters hailing from countries such as the Philippines, Russia, Hungary, Canada and the United States. She also travels to competitions worldwide and informs coaches of opportunities with her organization. Once the shows' casts have been hired, Judy also coordinates the new Feld Entertainment productions and works to maintain the existing productions. As a professional figure skater, Judy carried on a family tradition. She hails from a family of ice skaters. "My father was an NHL hockey player, but since there were three girls in the family, we were all enrolled in figure skating lessons," she says. Judy grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and moved to Vancouver in 1970 for her final year of high school. After graduating from Carson Graham High School in North Vancouver in 1973, she saw an advertisement for a performance of Ice Follies in the Seattle area. She inquired about auditions, and after a successful audition she was offered a position as a chorus skater. Six weeks later, she joined the show in rehearsals in San Francisco. During her first season with Ice Follies, Judy met her future husband, Dave Thomas. The couple were married during Christmas break in 1979 and traveled throughout North America with productions of Ice Follies and Holiday On Ice. In 1981, they were members of the first production of Disney On Ice. Subsequent tours of Disney On Ice took the couple around the world to far-flung destinations, from the United States to Japan and Australia. In 1987, Judy Thomas was promoted to Line Captain, and in 1988 she was promoted again, to Performance Director.

Discussing her role, Vincent comments, "I enjoy working one-on-one with the skaters. I'm thrilled when a skater discovers his or her performing potential. They come to a Disney On Ice show as skaters and leave as performers." And Vincent knows whereof she speaks, having performed for many years out on the ice herself. "I've followed a natural progression, from amateur skater to performer to management and learned a lot at every stage." Vincent has been skating since she was four years old. As an amateur, Vincent won the Western Division for Junior Pair Dance and gold medals in freeskate, freedance and dance from the Canadian Figure Skating Association.

After making appearances in a few smaller shows, Tony got his first big break when at age 18 he was hired into the company of Wonderful Town, starring Elaine Stritch. He credits his parents, who were "great at the Jitterbug and the Lindy," for teaching him the period dances that won him a principal role in one of the show's pivotal scenes. From there, his career took off. "I got a crash course in how to be a Broadway gypsy," Tony explains, as he rattles off his subsequent appearances in 10 more productions, from Hello Dolly with Dorothy Lamour, to Seesaw, with Michele Lee, in 1972 his last show as a dancer in the chorus. That same year, Tony broke into choreography when he was asked by one of his idols, Peter Gennaro, to assist on the production of Irene, starring Debbie Reynolds. Based on that association, several years later Gennaro recommended Tony to the producers of the motion picture The Great Gatsby, where once again Tony's familiarity with period dances such as the Hesitation Waltz, Black Bottom and Charleston won him rave reviews from both cast and crew. Subsequent film choreography efforts include The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, She's Having a Baby and Johnny Dangerously, among others. Meanwhile, Tony continued to choreograph for his many friends and fans on Broadway and was an integral part of the theatrical workshop that eventually became the TonyO Award-winning A Chorus Line. By the time that production premiered, Tony was hard at work assisting acclaimed dance master Bob Fosse on the original revival of Chicago. When Fosse passed away suddenly, Tony and his great friend, Chita Rivera, decided to honor Fosse in their collaboration of ChitaPlus Two, which featured a segment dedicated to this breakthrough choreographer. The show became a sensation, and Tony found himself performing for and receiving standing ovations from such icons as Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and Ginger Rogers. "Where does one go from there?" he asks, and credits this production with opening many doors.

Melinda Hartline is the Regional Public Relations Manager for the South Region of Feld Entertainment, Inc. where she implements public relations strategies for Disney on Ice and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey productions and manages 24 publicists located in 65 markets in the United States and Mexico. Melinda is responsible for the creation of strategic public relations plans for all local engagements of each Feld Entertainment touring property. She also leads efforts to expand the CircusFit program in her region through outreach and partnerships. CircusFit is a national youth fitness program from Ringling Bros. that encourages America's youth to lead healthy active lifestyles by combining the fun of circus skills with stretching, strength building and physical activity. Additionally, Melinda coordinates national stories that are developed on the local level and serves as a spokesperson for media inquiries in each local market. Prior to joining Feld Entertainment, Melinda served as Marketing Manager for Cemex, USA from 1990-96, where she developed presentations for sales training and the marketing of concrete products, competitor analyses, monthly sales projections, market data analyses, statistical analyses, job costing, budgeting, and tracking. Melinda received her BA degree from the University of South Florida.

Anita began her professional career doing independent videography work after graduating from the University of Southern Illinois with a degree in television production. All the while, however, she continued to maintain her lifelong connection with animals, volunteering at shelters and working part-time in veterinary hospitals. Eventually, her passion eclipsed her then profession, and she decided to pursue entry into a veterinary technician-training program. However, there was the not-so-minor matter of tuition. So Anita turned to Uncle Sam for assistance. In 1995, Anita enlisted in the United States Army's Veterinary Corps, a group with fewer than 300 members deployed worldwide. She had to test successfully to be accepted into what she describes as "an awesome training program," and into which she delved with great commitment. Eventually, in both active and reserve duty, Anita was assigned to posts in the U.S., Oman, Kuwait and Qatar, caring primarily for the Army's mine-detecting dogs, but also providing humanitarian veterinary services to local farmers and their livestock, such as sheep and camels. Once her unit was deactivated, Anita returned to Chicago and was hired by the Lincoln Park Zoo as a traveling coordinator, taking animals to venues outside the zoo to interact with audiences. Her responsibilities later expanded to include training other zoo personnel to go into the community and deliver educational messages targeted to animal care and handling. In 2004, Anita responded to a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & BaileyO job posting for a vet tech and was hired, initially to join the Blue Unit. In early 2005, she moved to the Gold Edition of The Greatest Show On EarthO and describes each day as "totally different" as she makes her rounds to talk to trainers of the show's elephant, equine and canine performers. Her responsibilities are primarily oriented towards preventative care, and it is critical that she keep the lines of communication open between herself and each trainer and handler. In addition, Anita works closely with the Gold Edition's management team. Anita also maintains contact with Feld Entertainment's corporate office to coordinate services required of approved veterinarians located all along the Gold Edition's tour route. It is another of her duties to liaise between trainers and local veterinarians when necessary. And, as if that weren't enough, she is on call 24/7 to attend to the pets of cast and crew, including her own Chihuahua-Dachshund mix, Doc.

Cindy Stuart, choreographer for Disney On Ice presents Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo, laced up her first pair of skates at a birthday party when she was six years old. Together with her fellow partygoers, she soon enrolled in lessons. "But I'm the only one who stuck with it," she adds. She went on to earn a bronze medal at the junior national championships and was a two-time member of the United States international team. She attributes her passion for skating to Janet Champion, a child star with Ice Follies who later became her coach. "Janet had an incredible love for skating and taught me from age six through my amateur career," she says. At age 17, Stuart joined Ice Follies and Holiday On Ice as a principal skater. The year was a pivotal one for both Stuart and Producer Kenneth Feld. It was in the same year Stuart turned professional that Irvin Feld and Kenneth Feld purchased Ice Follies and Holiday On Ice, later to become known as Walt Disney's World On Ice and, subsequently, Disney On Ice. Feld went on to create a more than 20-year legacy of live figure skating spectaculars, and Stuart followed a road that would eventually lead her back to where it all began.

Jon Weiss was a high school senior in Center Reach on New York's Long Island when someone handed him a newspaper clipping about auditions for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. "I went on a lark," he admits. "I was involved in the performing arts in school, but wasn't sure what I wanted to do after graduation. I didn't take it too seriously." In fact, in the middle of one of his try-out stunts, he fell off a chair and bruised himself badly, thinking that would be the end of it. Instead, he was called back for a second audition and was ultimately offered a spot in the clowning class of 1981. After graduation, he was offered the opportunity to perform with the Ringling Bros. Clown Alley and decided to try traveling with Ringling Bros. for a year and then head to college near home and his girlfriend, Laura. Instead, Laura came to visit him while he was touring with the Blue Unit, and the circus welcomed her with open arms. The two were married in a grand Ringling Bros. wedding held at center ring in Madison Square Garden arena in 1986. In the ensuing years, they welcomed Jonny, now 11 years old; Nicole, age 8; and Max, age 6, into their and the universal circus family, and in 2006, Jon and Laura celebrate their 25th year with The Greatest Show On Earth . Jon started his Ringling Bros. career as a member of the famous Clown Alley and Laura as a dancer. In addition to making countless Children Of All Ages laugh over the years with his antics, Jon also developed a childhood penchant into a masterful talent, and is able to balance objects everything from shoes to lunchroom tables to chainsaws all on the point of his chin! In 1988, as the result of a passing "Gee, that's cool!" comment, Jon was offered the opportunity to learn the unique circus skill of being a human cannonball. He continued to perform this daredevil act, with Laura lighting the fuse, on both the Blue and Red Units until 1996 and has been shot from a cannon more often than anyone in the history of Ringling Bros. over 5,000 times!

Bennett started working with lighting systems for concerts right out of high school, in Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. He served as a technician, learning everything he could about how lighting designers worked and the staging of touring shows. At 23, the young man moved to California and went to work for a new production company which had just signed a contract with a totally unknown young singer. The singer had few technical people, so Bennett volunteered to be his lighting designer. The two became fast friends and subsequently long-time business associates. The unknown singer's name was Prince. Bennett has worked with Prince for 15 years. His lighting design for the rapidly rising star earned him a considerable reputation in the music business and design commissions from groups such as Heart, Van Halen, Duran Duran and Earth, Wind and Fire and individuals such as George Michaels, Jon Bon Jovi, Janet Jackson, M.C. Hammer and Don Henley. He has been involved in many MTV productions including the 1999 MTV Movie Awards Show and the Music Video Awards. Bennett has also designed the lighting displays for Feld Entertainment's Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey and Barnum's Kaleidoscape .

It was not until she was 15 years old that Liliana Escobar realized she had vocal talent. One of her friends was trying out for their high school's annual concert and Liliana went along to watch. Having never shown an interest in performing until then, during the course of auditions, "I thought to myself that I could do better," she recalls. As it turns out, she was right, and the next year Liliana was featured as the principal singer in the show. From there, Liliana began to perform regularly in school and local musical productions. Her father, whom she identifies as a great inspiration, encouraged her to "always try to work at something you love," much as he had done as a merchant marine. His profession took the family, originally from Mexico, to many countries when Liliana was very young, including Norway, Spain and the United States. However, for the past 15 years, she, her parents and her younger sister have called Monterrey, Mexico, home. Her early experiences instilled a love of travel and adventure in Liliana. "My parents always told me that I could take risks," she says. So, at the same time that she attended college at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and majored in international commerce and marketing, Liliana pursued her dream of singing. She explains that, in Mexico, it is not common to go to school for the performing arts, so she trained independently as a classical singer and performed in local reviews, as well as holiday and church concerts to hone her skills. "I knew that it would take many years to reach the caliber of the people I admired," she explains. In the meantime, Liliana also went on to hold several corporate positions, including the Port of Houston Authority's representative in Monterrey and with the American Consulate General in Monterrey as a U.S. Department of Commerce representative.

In 1980, after six years with Ringling Bros., Mitch left to pursue his career with other circuses, including one that he eventually founded in Canada. He also decided to move to the country to lead a quiet, contemplative life when not performing. Along the way, he married and had a son, Ian, who is now 24. At one time, Mitch and Ian performed a comedy trampoline routine together. However, Ian has since pursued a career in academics, although he also continues to play the drums professionally, like his father once did. Ultimately and fittingly, Mitch was reunited with Tim Holst, Ringling Bros. Vice President for Talent and Production, at a tribute show for Lou Jacobs in Florida. Mitch returned to the show's Red Unit in 2000, working with and mentoring the younger members of Clown Alley. "The timing was good for me," Mitch says. "I was ready to go on the road again." He joined the Gold Edition of The Greatest Show On Earth for its inaugural tour in 2004 and is thrilled to be entertaining Children of All Ages once again in the show's second consecutive and highly anticipated production. Mitch's clown character is a thread woven throughout the entire, all-new presentation of the Gold Edition. Again and again, Mitch, posing as a "bad magician of sorts," attempts to insinuate himself into act after act, with varying degrees of unsuccess. As a result of his escapades, he even finds himself spending the entire intermission inside a bag on the arena floor; a gag that he reveals has generated some unexpected benefits. "I can hear people debating whether I'm still in there or not, and I also get to listen to them talk about how much they're enjoying the show!" In summary, Mitch feels that his overall performance is a tribute of sorts to his mentor and friend Lou Jacobs. "I am honored beyond words to be a part of Ringling Bros. the same circus stage Lou called home for so many years," he asserts.

Guerrero works very closely with Kawahara at all stages of the creative process for a new show. "It all starts with just Sarah and I out there on a blank piece of ice, imagining what certain moves and steps will look like with 45 people," he explains. Guerrero records the counts and steps so the creative inspiration is not lost. Later on during the rehearsal process, he is the liaison to the creative departments - especially costuming, as well as helping run the rehearsals and working with individuals or groups of skaters. A very organized person who pays close attention to detail, Guerrero is another pair of eyes for Kawahara. He says, "We both watch the skaters as they go through the numbers. I see things she doesn't and then we can go back and clean up the little details." Guerrero keeps everything running smoothly so that Kawahara can focus her attention on the creative process - the bigger picture. A native of Chicago, Guerrero began skating at the age of eight after seeing Peggy Fleming skate on television. He earned gold medals from the USFSA, the CFSA and the ISU in both figures and freestyle and competed nationally and internationally for six years. Among his accomplishments, Guerrero was the 1982 World Junior Silver Medalist. And, in 1989, he became the U.S. Open Professional Master Cup bronze medalist and the U.S. Open Professional Challenge Cup champion. After 10 years as an amateur competitor, the young athlete joined Disney On Ice, thus beginning a professional performing career that would last 13 years and take this talented young man all around the world. The variety of shows on his resume is an eclectic mixture ranging from big arena shows to a grueling one-night stand tour of champions to theme park presentations and television specials. He even worked for six months in a show in Atami, Japan. During his career, Guerrero performed with Olympic and world champions such as Oksana Baiul, Brian Boitano, Viktor Petrenko, Nancy Kerrigan and Rosalyn Sumners, to name a few. "I really enjoy performing live - anything can happen," he comments. "I love to see people enjoying themselves." Then, Guerrero decided to make the shift to the production side of entertainment. While working at Kings Island, he found himself in the triple role of manager, performance director and principal soloist. His duties were expanded to installing shows for the same company in five of their parks. In 1993, Guerrero started working with choreographer Kawahara. Anastasia on Ice marks their first collaboration on a major touring arena spectacular, and Walt Disney's 100 Years of Magic is now their second. Recently, Guerrero acted as assistant choreographer to Kawahara for the TV special Reflections on Ice: Michelle Kwan Skates to the Music of Mulan. Guerrero speaks admiringly of Kawahara's work. "She's very focused and has a vision of where she sees the project going," he says. "Sarah is an innovative, intuitive choreographer - she likes to use every part of the skater's body in her choreography," he elaborates. "She also does not feel confined to the ice surface. She has the performers work with and on the set and props as well. Her choreography never duplicates movements and she always fills in empty spaces," he adds. "The audience is never bored looking at her work and I'm having a great time working with her. We both take a great pride in our work. It's very exciting to see our creative ideas come to life on the ice," he concludes.

After two years touring with The Greatest Show On Earth, Rik moved to Texas, where he continued clowning on his own and studying music to enhance his character. It is only fitting that Austin's hometown clown (readers of Austin Family Magazine have voted Bonzo Crunch "favorite Kid's Entertainer" for several years) has joined the All-New Gold Edition of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. This unique production is venturing into cities that have either never hosted a Ringling Bros. show or hasn't done so in years. In his new role as the advance clown for the Gold Edition, Rik travels to each city ahead of the show to share the news with everyone that Ringling Bros. is headed into town to present the most intimate, interactive, and educational circus ever. As a person who radiates energy and enthusiasm, Rik is well-suited for a job that requires miles of travel and schedules filled with community events. In schools, Rik stresses not only the animals and the daring aerial acts, but also the science of the circus the facts of speed, technology and physics that are often overlooked, but can be real learning opportunities. According to Rik, the best times, though, are the events with kids, "when you put your makeup on and you're a clown and a little kid sees you. When they see you, their eyes get really big and just the excitement on their faces is incredible. It gives you a feeling that you just don't get anywhere else."

Leaving behind the world of amateur competition, Kawahara joined Ice Capades as a principal skater for seven years. Kawahara's unique artistic style was soon noted by members of the skating elite such as John Curry, Toller Cranston and Peggy Fleming. As the resident coach with Ice Capades, Kawahara began to choreograph for the understudy performers. Impressed by her choreography, Fleming asked Kawahara to choreograph for her at her headliner show in Lake Tahoe. Kawahara followed that with choreography for a Christmas skating production at Radio City Music Hall in New York City featuring Robin Cousins, Toller Cranston and Peggy Fleming. The initial choreography projects led to a prominent career. Kawahara was the principal choreographer for Ice Capades for five seasons. She has choreographed for such renowned skaters as Dorothy Hamill, Tai Babalonia and Randy Gardner, Gordeeva and Grinkov, Oksana Baiul, Ilia Kulik, Kurt Browning and Elvis Stoiko. For the past 14 years, Kawahara has been Scott Hamilton's principal choreographer. Additionally, she has choreographed several television ice productions, including four productions for the Walt Disney Company. In 1996, Kawahara was asked to do the choreography for the principal skaters, Oksana Baiul, Viktor Petrenko, Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini, for Kenneth Feld's television production of The Wizard of Oz on IceSM. That successful collaboration with Kenneth Feld led Kawahara to two Disney On Ice productions, The Spirit Of Pocohantas and Disney On Ice presents Happily Ever After featuring Hercules. In recent years, Kawahara added the TV specials Reflections on Ice: Michelle Kwan Skates to the Music of Mulan and Michelle Kwan Skates to Disney's Greatest Hits to her ever-growing resume. Also with Kwan, Kawahara choreographed the skater's long program for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Contributing further to these Olympics, she directed and choreographed the skating segments of the Opening and Closing ceremonies. Her choreography for the Olympics led Kawahara to her second Emmy award in the choreography category. To top it off, she was also honored with the American Choreography Award for best choreography. Currently, Kawahara is the director for Champions on Ice. She makes her home in Los Angeles with her husband, Jamie Alcroft, a stand-up comedian and actor, and their three children, Alysee, Hayley and Thatcher.

Lane began his career as a singer and dancer, performing musical theater. He admits that his experiences as a performer give him better insight into his career as a costume designer. "I know how the performers will move in their clothes. My costumes are constructed to last for five years of domestic and international touring," Lane says. "I also design with safety in mind." When Lane is not in the workroom designing costumes, he can be found in the garden. He also uses his creative skills as an interior decorator.

When asked, the extraordinarily talented Sylvia Zerbini cannot actually recall the first time someone put her on the back of a horse. "We always had elephants, horses, ponies, you name it. And knowing my father, I was probably about two years old," she guesses. The daughter of renowned exotic animal trainer and circus impresario John "Tarzan" Zerbini, it was clear from the beginning that Sylvia would help carry on her father's and her family's legacy. What ultimately came to pass is that she would also continue in her mother Jacqueline's performing footsteps, becoming an accomplished aerialist as well. A ninth-generation circus performer, Sylvia's artistry is, in part, a product of a long and colorful genealogy. Her father's family, originally from Algiers, Africa, owned one of the first circuses to cross the Sahara Desert. Tarzan Zerbini gained his popular nickname from his sensational exotic animal act that he brought to the United States in the early 1960s. Here, he met Sylvia's mother, who was originally from France and was performing a double trapeze act with her sister while both Tarzan and Jacqueline were working for the Mills Brothers Circus. The two were married and in the years that followed there came daughters, Patricia, Sylvia and Christine. All three girls grew up in the circus their father eventually founded in Missouri and continues to direct, and each quickly assimilated into circus life. Sylvia could never decide which of her parents' environments she preferred, so she came to master both the mental challenge of animal training and the physical challenge of aerial artistry. Sylvia clearly remembers riding independently at age five and getting her first pony, Silver, when she was seven. In the meantime, she made her professional debut on the single trapeze when she was twelve years old, and by thirteen, she was performing her first solo aerial act. She also presented her father's elephants when she was fifteen, later convincing him to purchase several white Arabian horses that Sylvia developed into a world-class liberty horse display. In 1999, Sylvia was a featured performer in Feld Entertainment's production of Barnum's KaleidoscapeSM and subsequently joined both the 132nd and 134th Editions of The Greatest Show On EarthO as a featured trapeze artist and equestrienne. Her talents have been enjoyed by circus fans throughout America and Europe, and have even won her a command performance before the late Prince Rainier III of Monaco. In the new Gold Edition of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & BaileyO, Sylvia combines her two exceptional skills in the show's opening act, a breathtaking display of animal communication and ethereal aerial beauty. Sylvia gallops into and around the ring mounted bareback on a magnificent Andalusian stallion. A lyra also known as an aerial ring descends from above and Sylvia is swept from the horse's back and into the air, moving gracefully and daringly on this unique apparatus as her equine escort departs alone. Almost immediately, six albino Arabian horses enter the ring and begin to execute an amazing performance at liberty, directed from on high by their mistress, Sylvia, without the assistance of either reins or touch of any kind. In an ultimate exhibition of human and animal rapport, the horses cavort and twirl controlled only by Sylvia's gestures, or "talking without words," as she calls it. All the while, Sylvia continues to dazzle the audience with her remarkable aerial prowess and sheer strength on the lyra above the moving herd.

Tom Dougherty admits that while he may not be a multigenerational circus performer, he is a fifth-generation "Brooklynite." His family still calls the largest borough of New York City home. Tom remembers his grandmother telling him stories about Ringling Bros. and Barnum & BaileyO and how it marched straight down Seventh Avenue in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. However, Tom never attended a circus when he was child and becoming a clown was not even a blip on his early radar screen. The son of a lawyer (his father) and a school principal (his mother), Tom was raised on opera and ballet. His great-great-great-grandfather conducted the Frankfurt Symphony and worked closely with such renowned composers as Mendelssohn, Handel and Schumann. Other relatives were respected architects and painters, as well as poets and musicians, providing Tom with the inspiration to pursue oil painting as a hobby himself. Tom attended private Episcopal schools, studied Latin and ancient Greek, and then pursued a major in political science looking for a way to affect the world in a positive way. He soon became disillusioned with the political atmosphere of the 1970s and directed his attention increasingly towards his artistic bent, studying at Brooklyn's renowned Pratt Institute for a time. One summer, a friend who ran a children's theater company asked for Tom's help in painting sets. He agreed, and when one of the actor's fell ill, he stepped into a role in one of the company's productions. By the end of his first performance, he was offered an acting contract. "I was always very animated," Tom reveals. "I guess I just hadn't realized how it could be channeled until then." Tom went on to study acting at the renowned Neighborhood Playhouse under Sanford Meisner and was putting together a presentation on Shakespeare's clowns when he read about auditions being held at Madison Square Garden for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & BaileyO Clown College. His interest piqued, Tom feigned an injury in order to miss his acting classes, went to the audition and made the cut, graduating from Clown College several months later and performing with the Blue Unit of Ringling Bros.O for the next three years. In 1981, Tom returned home to become artistic director of a theater in Brooklyn and wrote a play entitled In the Nick of Time, which was staged at New York City's Lincoln Center and later in Baltimore, MD, where Tom moved to form his own theater company, Theatricks. For the next fifteen years, Theatricks developed a strong local following but was largely funded by a solo clown show that Tom performed throughout the United States in conjunction with the Cleveland, Baltimore and National Symphonies, among others. In addition, he directed his own clowning school, dispatching clowns in training to several circuses during their third year of a five-year program. Ultimately, when one of his charges failed to fulfill a contract, Tom stepped in and found himself "back under the big top." There he has remained for more than thirteen years, clowning for a number of shows, including the Big Apple Circus and Cirque de Soleil, and eventually becoming artistic director for a small circus in California, "something I always wanted to do," he admits. In 2005, Tom noticed that an old friend, Tim Holst, Vice President of Talent and Production for Ringling Bros., was sitting in the front row at one of Tom's performances. Tim offered him a position with the newly formed Gold Unit of The Greatest Show On Earth and Tom felt as if his life had come full circle. "Ringling Bros. gave me my start in what I love the most. I felt indebted to the organization and honored to tread in the same ring as all the great clowns some of them my teachers who preceded me. It has been like coming home."