Does an injury end a career in the circus? For Danny Rodriguez, a fifth-generation circus performer born to aerialist parents, nothing would stop him.

Family is central to Sheila Kay Adams’s music and identity. She is, after all, a seventh-generation Appalachian ballad singer.

A lifelong circus performer, Lucky Malatsi started training as an acrobat at the age of four. Now he is the ringmaster for UniverSoul Circus.

On the morning of June 30, 2017, the United States gained a new crop of citizens with the first of two Citizenship Ceremonies at the Folklife Festival.

This year’s Folklife Festival is jam-packed with amazing performances and awe-inspiring shows. But if you’re visiting with young ones, what is the best way to keep busy between shows?

Dominique Jando knows the circus inside and out. Born and raised in Paris, France, and now living in San Francisco, he has spent his entire adult life surrounded by the circus.

On opening day of the Folklife Festival, audiences witnessed an unexpected and touching moment when cofounders Paul Binder and Michael Christensen presented the “keys” to the Big Apple Circus to one of its new proprietors.

In this excerpted interview, former circus clown David Carlyon recalls his time as a performer, focusing on his adventures aboard the circus train as it wound its way through the country.

Elena Panova is a Russian-born aerialist currently living in the United States. She was active in the circus for twenty years, starting her career in 1985 with the Moscow Circus, then in 1991 she went to New York City to work with the Big Apple Circus.