Life in the Circus: Anastasia IV and Sarah Schwarz
Running away to the circus: a Polish hair-hanger and German wire walker discuss their act
The Conversation · BBC World Service
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Show Notes
Anastasia IV from Poland joined the circus at eighteen. She performs one of the most risky and unusual acts in the circus: hair-hanging. Anastasia endures pain in her scalp and neck as she swings around the auditorium suspended by a metal ring which is plaited into her hair. She says it's 'the closest you can get to actually flying like a bird'
Sarah Swarz grew up in a circus family in Germany and started performing at the age of ten. She trained as a wire walker, contortionist and acrobat. She and her husband live in a trailer and travel with their Piglet Circus where her pig Max, is the 'boss of the show' - he can use a microphone and is trained to undo her clothes for a striptease routine.
Anastasia IV (r) (credit: Circus of Horrors) Sarah Schwarz (l) (credit: Jessica Ford)