The first thing you hear on the telephone is the circus music. Then comes the voice: “Hi, it's Nori. I'm on break so I have a few minutes to talk.”
“On break” means that she has just finished a series of double back flips off a thirty-five-foot ramp of plastic snow suspended from the rafters of an arena in Raleigh, N.C.
Just another day for Nori Lupfer '03, who took a leave of absence this winter term from her studies in the visual arts to perform with the “Max-Air Blizzard Battalion,” an aerial ski act in the Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Lupfer, a native of West Lebanon, N.H., has been doing ski acrobatics and aerial ski jumping since she was twelve, when she first appeared as an aerial freestyle jumper on the national circuit. She was a World Cup competitor in “acro” (ski ballet) until that sport was discontinued in 2000. After a switch to aerials, she found herself ranked eleventh at recent Olympic trials.
She worked in the circus act last summer and got an offer to rejoin just days before the College's winter term started. With some help from Dean of Students Fred Alford, she made last-minute arrangements to “run away and join the circus.”
The act consisted of a seven-member troupe of skiers and snowboarders who did a rapid-fire series of aerial stunts amid a dramatic display of lights and pyrotechnics. The ramp is made of a plastic material that is wetted with soap and water to simulate snow. Sometimes heat or dry air makes the surface slow, so skiers must make adjustments on each jump so they don't miss the wedge-shaped air bag on which they land.
Lupfer was in the circus's “red unit,” which made stops this winter in Jacksonville, Raleigh, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Baltimore, and Washington (the “blue unit” visited other cities). The circus moved from city to city on a train that carried everything-350 performers and crew; elephants, tigers, and horses; and about 500 tons of equipment. All meals were served in what circus folk call the “pie car,” and there also was a school for about twenty-five children.
Lupfer says she loves working with performers and living
on a train car. “It's a little soap opera. Everyone knows everyone else.” She had her own compartment on the train, complete with stove and refrigerator, with a bathroom down the hall. Since only three of the performers were Americans, she said the train cars were filled with a range of languages, cuisines, and customs.
This spring, Lupfer is involved in an independent study project with Professor of Photography Martin Benjamin, based on the photographs she took of fellow performers and crew.
“I'm used to being on the road,” she says. “I love the lifestyle. It's a good job and it's nice to be on the move in a different place every week. I'm learning a lot about people, and I'm getting an education in the circus and working on my art.”