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

Dylan Wynne: regular teenager by day, circus flier by night. 

It starts with psychedelic patchwork of yellows and pinks. From there, broad strokes with a wadded paper towel form abstract shapes of white and black. Suddenly, a clown has emerged.

The anticipation is palpable in the Circus Science tent. Young visitors strain forward from their perches on chairs two sizes too big for them, or from front-row seats on the grass.

This week in the Circus Arts Cookhouse, cook Amity Stoddard prepared a historical circus dish, “Old Settler’s Baked Beans,” following Pat Milligan’s original recipe.

On the Folklife Festival’s 50th anniversary, one thing I’ve learned is that milestones are tricky business. They simultaneously fill you with a soaring sense of pride and the overwhelming reality of how much more there is to do.

For the last few days, a nostalgic sound has been wafting through the Folklife Festival. It’s a familiar sound but from a likely unfamiliar musical instrument.

Husband and wife Mark Jaster and Sabrina Mandell started the troupe in 2006. Their house, tucked away among the trees, is half living space and half composing space.

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.