Editor’s Pick: Omnium Circus at Capital One Hall
Omnium: A Bold New Circus is touted as the world's "first fully inclusive circus performing arts company."
A revived, animal-free version of the Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus is expected to launch later this year.
But smarter and truly progressive-minded fans of the circus arts have already found a far more impressive troupe of circus artists to support, a diverse collective of variously abled performers joined together as Omnium: A Bold New Circus, which is touted as the world’s “first fully inclusive circus performing arts company.”
Launched by Lisa Lewis a few months into the pandemic in 2020, Omnium sprang to life as a virtual production that summer.
A year ago, the New York-based organization made its in-person debut at Northern Virginia’s Capital One Hall. It earned a prolonged standing ovation, in part because of its diverse cast, which includes differently abled, autistic, and deaf performers, but also because the company’s inclusive and positive ethos just seems to be that infectious.
“Through shared positive experiences,” reads Omnium’s mission statement, “we enrich empathy among people of all races, colors, ethnicities, and abilities, and build aligned and supportive communities.”
Omnium is now ready with a new show featuring more “gravity-defying aerial acts, mind-blowing contortion, unbelievable balance, hysterical high-skilled comedy, and much more” — all feats with “no limits, no boundaries, and no barriers,” and intended for all ages and the entire family.
The show is presented with “unprecedented accessibility,” including an American Sign Language interpreter, live audio description, and relaxed seating for neurodiverse and sensory-sensitive audience members.
The circus returns to Tysons the last Saturday of February with a show featuring Danette E. Sheppard-Vaughn, a veteran of Ringling Bros., as Ringmaster; Ermiyas Muluken on the “Rolla Bolla Free Standing Ladder”; aerial artist Erin Ball; the established unicycle basketball team the King Charles Troupe; choreographers and married crossbow duo Ottavio and Naomi Gesmundo; wheelchair-bound dancer Rik Daniels; Vivien Espaňa, part of a legendary multi-generational circus family and known for her “one-of-a-kind head-balancing trapeze and aerial lyra act”; poet/acrobat/dancer Anna Gichan; clown duo Dick Monday and Tiffany Riley; “slack wire/cyr wheel” performer Evgeny Vasilenko; and juggler Tatiana Vasilenko.
One show only. Saturday, Feb. 25, at 2 p.m. at Capital One Hall, 7750 Capital One Tower Rd. in Tysons, Va. Tickets are $32.75 to $58.25 plus fees. Visit www.capitalonehall.com or call 703-343-7650.
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