Ever wondered what it’s like to grow up in the circus?
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Well Jansen Grant from the Lennon Bros Circus couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
Mr Grant is a seventh generation performer and was born and raised in the circus.
He said nothing can compare to the feeling he gets when he performs.
“I love performing, I love entertaining people, I love working with animals and other people and meeting new people, travelling around Australia, there's no better way of doing that than in the circus,” he said.
“When you have people surrounding you, screaming, cheering you on and clapping, it's amazing.
“I wake up every morning to lions roaring and trucks starting up all the time, pegs being driven into the ground, the whole atmosphere of the circus is what does it for me.”
The circus is on the road for 11 months of the year.
He said although it could get tiring, the people he worked with make everyday an adventure.
“It's fun, but it can get tiresome at times, like trucks breaking down or getting bogged, but you do it all because you love it,” he said.
“On this circus we have 25 people that are on site 24/7 and out of those there are about 12 performers.
“It's like family, I was born and raised in the circus so half of these people I was around when I was a kid.”
Being only one of two circuses in Australia to still have big cats in the program they have dealt with protests in the past.
Mr Grant said it really was a shame because the lions, and all animals, were treated with the utmost care, like they’re part of the family.
“The standards of our animal care are some of the highest in Australia, even beating some of the zoos,” he said.
“A lot of zoos have a zero touch policy, so they can't be in contact with the animals in the zoo unless you're the vet or something like that, whereas Mohammed the lion trainer, he goes in the cage with cats and plays with them all the time.”
The show has performances in Griffith on Thursday 27 at 6pm, Friday 28 at 6pm, Saturday 29 at 2pm and 6pm and finally Sunday 30 at 11am and 2pm.