This Nyack Circus Is By Kids, For Adults

Stop by Nyack's Grace Episcopal Church over summers and you risk tripping over an errant juggling ball—or stumbling upon the region's only children's circus.

Amazing Grace Circus, the only year-round children's circus in the county, runs a circus camp out of Nyack's Grace Episcopal Church. And for nine years, the camp has taught Nyack's youngsters—from age four to 18—how to juggle, walk a tight wire, rola bola and more.

The camp's staff—trained acrobats, puppeteers, clowns and performers from around the Rockland region­—instruct Nyack and Rockland kids in acts ranging from trapeze to unicycling.

"We introduce the kids to a little bit of everything," said Karen Gersch, the camp's head of training, during a recent morning warm-up. Gersch is a founding member of the Big Apple Circus.

"That's how circus works," she added. "You try out everything and find what you're proficient in."

The camp runs for seven weeks each summer: three two-week sessions and one one-week session. Each session ends with performance for parents and friends; children take to the stage in Grace Episcopal wearing full costumes and makeup.

"It highlights all the skills they've been learning and let's them show off," Gersch said. "It's remarkable what they come up with in two weeks." 

During a typical day, the activities are varied. Children begin with several warm-ups and group stretching exercises.

"We're very fierce about warm-ups," Gersch explained. "We're doing physical activities all day."

Kids continue on to practice all circus acts until they settle on a particular one to hone for the show. The day—which runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.—is punctuated by breaks for fruit and water. During lunch, children watch videos of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Big Apple Circus and other famous spectacles.

A few minutes at one the camp is enough to realize it's not an ordinary summer day camp. Children flip and cartwheel across mats, and balance atop balls and hop over unicycles to get to the water fountain.

"Often parents will enroll their kids here for a week as a test," said Carlo Pellegrini, who runs the camp and youth groups at Grace Episcopal. "And the kids want to spend another week."

Pellegrini helped start the camp almost a decade ago at the request of teenagers enrolled in the church's youth programs.

"After September 11, they wanted to do something for the community," Pellegrini said. "The church, and Village of Nyack, lost friends and residents in the attack."

Pellegrini was the youths' go-to guy; he left college in the early 1970s to join the Royal Lichtenstein Circus.

"It was the world's smallest circus," Pellegrini said. "Three members."

After touring the United States for several years, Pellegrini hung up his circus act for 12 years, transitioning into advertising. But when the church's youth asked for his help, he once again assumed the role of ringmaster.

"At first we only put on one show," Pellegrini said. "But it quickly grew into what it is today."

The rate to enroll for one week is $350; two weeks is $675. The camp offers scholarships—supplied by donations and Catholic charities—for children in need.

"We won't refuse a child," Gersch said.

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