“It’s kind of funny, the audience kind of reads different,” he said. “You don’t see many shows that are able to do that.”Īnd he said they enjoy performing in front of such a diverse audience. “We’re one of the few groups that continue to straddle that,” he said. He often likens this to Cartoon Network having kid’s shows on the day and its “Adult Swim” block of adult centered shows at night. Kids are taught acts like trapeze, and he said these lessons give them confidence to do things they never believed they could do.īindlestiff crosses a rare boundary by specializing in both family friendly shows and racier adults-only shows, he said. “Kids can run away with the circus, and still make it home for dinner,” he said. He said their youth programs in Columbia County, mostly offered by Monseu, who goes by the name “Ringmistress Philomena,” during shows, makes the circus a possibility. “We’re becoming a part of a community, and we bring the circus with us,” he said. In the mid-2000s, Bindlestiff moved from Brooklyn to Hudson after he moved there and bought a house with Monseu, he said.Īnd he said because of that, ever increasing travel experiences and their work with teaching youth circus in Hudson and Chatham, they established deeper roots in the area. “In one hand, we had a case of fire-eating equipment, and in the other, our wardrobe,” he said.īindlestiff was founded in New York in the early 1990s, He said they met other entertainers and hatched the idea of hitting the road with five or six artists in a van, starting Bindlestiff’s touring life. He admitted they once traveled the country by jumping trains, hitchhiking and just walking. Nelson said he met Monseu 27-years-ago when they were working a graveyard shift in a diner.īindlestiff derives its name from a stick that hobos carried their belongings in as they traveled the country, he said. “If they’re really connecting with the audience, we don’t stop that from happening,” he said. and Barnum & Bailey, like clown Ambrose Marcos, who trained at Ringling’s Clown College.Īnd he said Bindlestiff provides artists with a level of freedom larger shows don’t. He said they’ve worked with 400 artists, some of whom who have performed with Cirque du Soleil and Ringling Bros. “Audiences can come month after month and experience a new production,” he said. The shows have a very contemporary twist, touching on current politics and techno lifestyle and with exception of Nelson and Monseu feature different performers for each production. While Bindlestiff’s done a show at Helsinki each month this winter, he said no two shows are alike. “Turn off your television, and pay to see an artist, the way we create it and experience it with us in the same room,” he said. But while Bindlestiff has an extensive YouTube presence, he said its acts are best experienced in person.
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