On this whimsical episode of the Live Like An Acrobat Podcast, host Shenea Stiletto interviews Danise Payne, a circus clown with twenty-five years’ experience. She graduated from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1978 and toured with the Red and Blue Units of The Greatest Show on Earth. She has performed with five circuses and became the first Black woman clown in a circus in Europe. Ms. Payne was featured in Ebony magazine, and on Entertainment Tonight and NBC’s Today Show. Danise is also a member of The Circus Fans Association of America, the Circus Historical Society, and the Screen Actors Guild. She was also featured in the Uncle Junior Project by Veronica Blair, and her own memoir, entitled Elbows in My Ears: My Life with Little People, Tigers, and Wardrobe Trunks, uncovers a never-before-told tale of a Black woman with a career among little people, tigers, and wardrobe trunks.
This post was last modified on April 22, 2024 8:59 pm