European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 17, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Circus Between acts big t0p Winter photos by Gus Schuettler circus performer Conny Caroo and discussing costumes with ringmaster Rene rehearsal Hall is a dimly unheated shed used to store big top and circus Conny Caroo practising her balancing by King Cruger staff writer now is the discontent of Edith Paragenings the circus is in Shes with stuck with it while it Winters Over in Woerlen a sleepy Little town in Germany Oden Winter this is the worst time in the Paragenings says and stares out her apartment window at the rain pelting Down on a Large lumber Yard the Winter Home of the famous circus Shes been with the circus front office for the past 25 years and wintering Over is no Novelty to she Doest like Rene irek feels the same when the circus hits the Road again in hell be dressed to the nines and running the one ring show As its ring Mas irek is Clad in Day glow Orange mechanics Over alls As he takes a break from working on some of the 35 Large circus wagons that must be repainted and readied for the Long season circus founded in is one of the circus worlds biggest and Best the circus Tours with 120 now there Are Only 12 who Are wintering when the circus season ended Back in the others scattered All Over the most keep working in the of season with appearances on some play the nightclub others simply take the Winter the animal acts pack up their dogs and ponies and head for warmer no circus animals Are spending the Winter circus Sarr Asani owns no animals of its own and that is by it costs too much to feed the animals Over the Winter so we contract for the performers and their that Way we can vary the animal acts from year to it would be impossible to train animals to do different says circus a privately owned German attempts to change its show a Little each in sorry to say that German circuses Are too old they have great individual but not enough we Are trying to give our circus More color and sparkle this says one reason that we have so few people Here this Winter is that we Are changing he irek says the circus acts normally get together for the first time Only two Days before the Start of the new season and that the show is then thrown together during dress this in order to try and inject More Glamour into the circus Sarr Asani will hold two weeks of dress rehearsals before it takes to the circus Sarr Asani is scrapping its big the biggest in Europe nearly 60 feet 200 feet in diameter and with a capacity and will use a smaller this is being done in order to bring the audience closer to the we have to make More Contact with the we have to bring the people the circus has to go Back to where it was 20 years ago and give people Beautiful costumes and a sense of says Paragenings says the circus business has become a very hard there Are too Many circuses and too Many circus acts on she says there Are eight Large circuses and 25 smaller ones in Germany the circus business is a Gamble according to who says that it costs the equivalent of to a Day in expenses to keep circus Sarr Asani on the we have to calculate our expenses he no one runs off to join the circus that because no one wants to work anymore and the circus is too much when problems come we work two Days straight without any says who ran off to join the circus after becoming established As a com Mercial i just flipped out one Day and joined the i started As a ring boy one of the lowest jobs in the circus and worked my Way up to circus Sarr Asani maps out its Tours three years in we go where other circuses wont be says who has spent All her time with the circus dealing with such things As schedules and trans Ive never been a but for me the circus world has a special kind of Liberty we live intensive she circus Sarr Asani plays 30 to 40 cities and towns in Central Europe each unlike smaller circuses that May be forced to play As Many As 80 to 100 different places during their the circus puts on two shows per Day and endeavours to play one place As Long As Possi the key to Success is to stay As Long As possible in one place so that the word gets out about the Snow every time a circus moves mostly by train in Sarra Sanis Case it costs a you cant believe the expenses we Paragenings although Paragenings and irek Are both Many of Sarra Sanis acts come from All Over the when the circus is on the Road it takes along a full time teacher to instruct the children of its instruction is in but Paragenings says this Doest present a problem since most circus children speak several including As a matter of people who work directly for the circus get free room and but individual acts that Are under contract Are responsible for their own Good acts Are paid very Well and the people live very says we get our acts through agents and by going to see other reports who explains that acts Are under tight contract and cant switch circuses until the season is we judge acts by watching the audience sometimes an act is but the crowds love it so we 11 get it for our no matter How we feel about the while irek maintains that no one runs off to the circus he met the woman who is now his wife because she was determined to join the he met Conny Proeger nine years ago in while he was touring with a at she had just finished school and wanted to join the he told her to get some kind of Job training before she Only he would he Welcome her in the three years later then touring South Africa As ringmaster for circus was astounded to get a letter from the almost forgotten Young the Mes Sage said that she had completed training As a window decorator and was flying to South Africa to take him up on his she soon they were a on her own she attempted to learn a balancing she started out balancing a Broom on her she worked on a balancing act for hours every Day and finally after three years took her place in the Shes a featured performer with circus Sarr Asani and uses the professional name of Conny her act includes supporting a 30pound set of wooden Wagon wheels atop a sword balanced on her to keep Caroo practices several hours a her rehearsal Hall is far from glamorous its an enormous shed used to store the big top and a dozen circus its unheated an the Light is bundled under layers of Caroo keeps her act when she int Busy with Caroo cares for her 4 year old and works with irek in design ing new costumes for her the Rains come the lumber Yard turns into a the circus Winters it e 0 to 9 9 0 Page 14 the stars and stripes february 1981 the stars and stripes Page 15