Tanya Gagne (Founder & Director of The Trapeze Loft) Photographer: Melissa Lynn
Roll up! Roll up! Not since the days of PT Barnum and his travelling menagerie of freaks, artistes and lion-tamers has New York been so mad for the circus. This time around you're more likely to see plucky rescue dogs than roaring beasts in the ring, and saucy burlesque aerialists have stolen the headlines from the human freaks... unless you're down Coney Island way, of course. But maybe the biggest change is happening out of the spotlights. Modern New Yorkers, unlike their nineteenth-century counterparts, are not always satisfied with watching the thrills and spills from the stalls. In recent years there's been an upsurge in interactive circus experiences. Whether you want to eat dinner under the big top, clown around at an open-mike night or try your skills on the trapeze, there's a vibrant subculture just waiting for you to take centre-stage.
