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From Still Rings to The Circus Ring with Bobby Dixon- Circuspreneur Podcast Ep.105
24 Plays23 days ago
#ComedyLegend #CircusComedy #AcrobaticLegend #Mensgymnastics
WAS Hall of Fame Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19WJkb8recs
Attend World Acrobatics Society Congress 2025-
https://worldacro.com
On this episode of the Circuspreneur Podcast, host Shenea Stiletto interviews gymnastics and circus acrobatic comedy legend Bobby Dixon. Bobby began his entertainment career in water shows, sports shows, and half-time shows, performing comedy trampoline, tumbling, comedy P-bars, hand-balancing, comedy diving & high-diving, and even comedy flying trapeze. He was the “Head Clown” every year for the annual Dolphin Show at the University of Iowa. After the final Olympic Trials in 1972, Bobby studied comedy acrobatics with Iowa gymnastics legend, Larry Griswold, and began performing Larry’s comedy act with a 3 meter diving board and a trampoline in 1973.
Bob started out performing in gala shows and circuses. His first contract outside the United States was in a South African circus in 1974. From Africa he went to a season of amusement parks in Scandinavia and then to a Spanish circus for a couple of years. After that, he began expanding his possibilities to include other venues. From 1999 he also performed several visual comedy acts with his much funnier companion, best friend, and personal sports massage therapist for the past 40 years… his wonderful Dutch wife Anoushka.
Bobby is an Acrobatic Legend and is now Associate Editor of ACROnews for the World Acrobatics Society, which has its upcoming congress in Las Vegas this coming September 5-7th and is open to the circus public.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to StageLink and Guest Introduction
00:00:02
Circuspreneur Podcast
This podcast is also available via stage link.com, the groundbreaking new platform for live performing arts. Please support the podcast by liking, subscribing, commenting, and tagging the podcast.
00:00:13
Circuspreneur Podcast
It helps us to continue to bring the industry high level content. I'm your host, Sinead Saletto. And my guest on today's Circuspreneur podcast is legendary Bobby Dixon. Welcome to the podcast, Bobby.
00:00:26
BOBBYDIXON
Hi, Shania. ah So happy to be here.
00:00:30
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, it's a pleasure, Bobby. It's an absolute pleasure. I'm so excited to speak to you today, somebody that has had just such a prolific career. And Bobby has a phenomenal, phenomenal bio.
00:00:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
And I am going to give you just a small snippet of that. ah But it's still lengthy because he's lived a lot of circus life.
Bobby Dixon's Career Beginnings
00:00:51
Circuspreneur Podcast
so Bobby began his entertainment career in water shows, sports shows, and halftime shows, performing comedy trampoline, tumbling, comedy pee bars, hand balancing, comedy diving and high diving, and even comedy flying trapeze.
00:01:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
He was the head clown every year for the annual Dolphin Show at the University of Iowa. After the final Olympic trials in 1972, Bobby studied comedy acrobatics with Iowa gymnastics legend Larry Griswold and began performing Larry's comedy act with a three meter diving board and a trampoline in 1973.
00:01:19
Circuspreneur Podcast
hoo. Bob started out performing in gala shows and circuses. His first contract outside the United States was in a South African circus in 1974. From Africa, he went to a season of amusement parks in Scandinavia and then to a Spanish circus for a couple of years.
00:01:34
Circuspreneur Podcast
After that, he began expanding his possibilities to include other venues.
Performing with Anoushka and Editing for AcroNews
00:01:38
Circuspreneur Podcast
Bobby has performed in variety shows, circuses, reviews, sports shows, musical theater, cruise ships, historic street markets, comedy festivals, casinos, botanical gardens, nightclubs, and schools. What hasn't he done?
00:01:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
He has performed in TV shows in eight European countries, as well as in Africa, South America, and Asia.
00:01:51
BOBBYDIXON
That's it.
00:01:56
Circuspreneur Podcast
From 1999, he also performed several visual comedy acts with his much funnier companion, best friend and personal sports massage therapist for the past 40 years, his wonderful Dutch wife, Anoushka. Anoushka, oh my gosh.
00:02:11
Circuspreneur Podcast
Bobby is an acrobatic legend as well and is now associate editor of AcroNews for the World Acrobatic Society, which has its upcoming Congress in Las Vegas this coming September 5th through the 7th and is open to the circus public.
Circus Adventures and Retirement
00:02:27
Circuspreneur Podcast
Woo, I mean, that was a podcast episode in itself, Bobby.
00:02:31
BOBBYDIXON
Whoa, I feel really old now.
00:02:35
Circuspreneur Podcast
Seasoned, Bobby, seasoned. That's what Legend, legend. That's that's that's a better word.
00:02:42
BOBBYDIXON
ah ah
00:02:45
Circuspreneur Podcast
I mean, how did you fit all that circus in? i like, how did you, i mean, you know, how did you do it, Bobby? i mean, starting from, you were just telling me you're currently and have been based in Holland now for since what, 1973 or 1974. So you've been based outside of the U.S. s for how many years now at this point? That's just, that's wild.
00:03:06
BOBBYDIXON
Yeah. Well, ah most of those years I was traveling and and for the last 40 years with ah Anushka together.
00:03:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:03:17
BOBBYDIXON
And so we were, this was Anushka's mom and her father were kind of our base in Holland.
00:03:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
Wow.
00:03:29
BOBBYDIXON
So if we had a couple of weeks off, we would come back here and it was usually on the way to the next contract. So ah we never really had a base where we were staying for a long time and until we actually retired in 2020. Yeah, yeah, we would. But...
00:03:46
Circuspreneur Podcast
And you just retired, you just retired in 2020 and COVID had something to do with that. And if it weren't for COVID, you'd still be going, you'd still be taking to
Transitioning to Comedy and Career Advice
00:03:58
Circuspreneur Podcast
the stage.
00:03:58
BOBBYDIXON
yeah yeah we would
00:04:00
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah, all these years later.
00:04:01
BOBBYDIXON
but But not with any acrobatics. Only comedy.
00:04:08
Circuspreneur Podcast
go and we what needs to be done, right, Bobby?
00:04:11
BOBBYDIXON
Yes.
00:04:11
Circuspreneur Podcast
you know and we do we do what needs to be done right bobby
00:04:16
BOBBYDIXON
i start I stopped with the acrobatics when I was, what, 59, 60? Yes. Yeah. sixty
00:04:22
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, wow. So young.
00:04:24
BOBBYDIXON
yes yeah
00:04:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
Only at 59, Bobby. you just You had to hang up the acrobatics at 59. Wow.
00:04:30
BOBBYDIXON
that and ah And it wasn't because of any physical limitations. It was just everything around the act was such big props and that and then carrying them upstairs sometimes because they don't fit in the elevator and all of these things.
00:04:47
BOBBYDIXON
And we just decided, nah, nah, was time.
00:04:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
and Yeah, we yeah we've we we've had enough of that. I know i I get that way sometimes. I do partner acrobatics and then I also do my solo hand balancing and my solo hand balancing, my prop got like bigger and bigger and bigger over the years.
00:05:02
BOBBYDIXON
yeah
00:05:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, then it turns into freight, then it turns into shipping, you know, then it turns into getting it a passport. I mean, it is so complicated when you have like all those problems. And after a while, i'm like, you know, maybe I should just go back to the partnering.
00:05:15
Circuspreneur Podcast
Having the human being ended up being sometimes a lot simpler, you know, to pack away.
00:05:15
BOBBYDIXON
good Really?
00:05:21
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:05:21
BOBBYDIXON
and Absolutely. absolutely And then, ah of course, i I always have backup.
00:05:29
Circuspreneur Podcast
yeah
00:05:29
BOBBYDIXON
My whole life I've had backup. So we started the the comedy ah routines, my wife and I together, already a couple of years before that the that I retired the acrobatic act.
00:05:31
Circuspreneur Podcast
ah
00:05:42
BOBBYDIXON
So they were already worked in. So when then we stopped with the ah with the acrobatic act, there was no problem.
00:05:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, wow. Yeah, it was pretty seamless, I imagine, which which
Golden Ages of Gymnastics and Show Business
00:05:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
is smart. I mean, you know, that's something even that we teach nowadays for the youngest, you know, the younger circus generation of, you know, you got to have always something in your back pocket to be able to transition into something else because you never know.
00:06:02
BOBBYDIXON
Absolutely.
00:06:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
i you know, I'm going to drop the video of you too, Bobby, in the show notes for everybody listening in so that you can see the phenomenal work that Bobby did in in your acrobatics and your comedy act too, because you know just to see the little small snippets of you performing um and that level of expertise, we were speaking about that um you know prior to getting on the recording today, Bobby, of just of you know the the arts of things that are, I wouldn't say dying, but they're definitely evolving and they're becoming a little bit different. but Could you speak a bit about you know coming to this art form at that time, you know Bobby, like in the 70s, coming from the gymnastics background, which I love.
00:06:42
Circuspreneur Podcast
I love seeing you do acro in your videos.
00:06:42
BOBBYDIXON
o
00:06:45
Circuspreneur Podcast
I love that you did you know you did artistic gymnastics and then you're doing diving. I mean, you did it all. like yeah You did it all.
00:06:52
BOBBYDIXON
well and Well, the the World Acrobatics Society, as you know, has six categories of acrobatics, and I did all of them at one time or another.
00:06:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
And you were you're holding the torch for Iowa. like you did it You did everything.
00:07:11
Circuspreneur Podcast
Like the only one there. Yeah, there's no there's no award. There's no category that you know that you that you left out.
00:07:16
BOBBYDIXON
that
00:07:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
I think you're beyond the the notion of triple threat um at this point in time. And then we all be as lucky. um
00:07:24
BOBBYDIXON
ah
00:07:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
you know, like, I just i just can't imagine. But how did it feel, you know, Bobby, you know, retiring in 2020, after that many years, and then also to going through that many different generations of circus, and also to from the competitive environment, which is starting to be more and more popular now. But it wasn't as popular back then to go from gymnastics into circus
Performing with Anoushka and Circus Community Insights
00:07:48
Circuspreneur Podcast
in that way. We were, you know, people weren't always like ushered into circus in that way.
00:07:52
Circuspreneur Podcast
And so I feel like that was like such like an interesting transition for you to have that open up for you to turn into like that really just phenomenal career doing very well in gymnastics and then doing very, very well in circus. It just blows my mind.
00:08:06
BOBBYDIXON
Well, I like to say that I am so lucky that I ah participated in what I consider and many others also considered to be the golden age of gymnastics.
00:08:19
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:08:19
BOBBYDIXON
And then right after that, the golden age of our type of show business.
00:08:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:08:24
BOBBYDIXON
So, ah well, how lucky can you get in one lifetime?
00:08:29
Circuspreneur Podcast
Well, according to you, it's like eight to 10 different categories. That's how
00:08:36
Circuspreneur Podcast
it seems to be. I mean, some of us are just trying to get into one or two, but Bobby is in a whole different universe on his own in eight 12.
00:08:46
BOBBYDIXON
Well, I guess that's why they gave me the Lifetime Achievement Award, because they they couldn't decide on on which category to give me.
00:08:55
Circuspreneur Podcast
I'd say you earned it.
00:08:59
BOBBYDIXON
yeah
00:09:00
Circuspreneur Podcast
I'd say, I'd say you've also given back a lot. I mean, you've also coached, you know, you've been involved in so many different capacities. You've created sporting brands. You've helped in that capacity. You've been there on the health and nutrition side. You've done high performance coaching before it was called high performance coaching. I mean, we have all these phrases now that folks use, you know, for all of our environments, but you were in that vein of kind of setting that groundwork before we had all of these very, I would say fancy terms.
00:09:28
Circuspreneur Podcast
fancy terminology um you know for those particular roles. But it kind of seems again like you and Anoushka evolved into those spaces just pretty naturally. I mean, you kind of just did a little bit of everything before it was popular to do that too.
00:09:41
BOBBYDIXON
Oh yeah. like Well, like you said in the introduction, and it is true, she is much funnier than I am. ah So, you know how oh most artists want to become famous.
00:09:56
BOBBYDIXON
That's their their goal. My goal in show business was to become a prop for Anoushka.
00:10:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
Again, something to live for. I
00:10:09
BOBBYDIXON
Yes.
00:10:12
BOBBYDIXON
And i came I came pretty far with it as well.
00:10:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
i mean, it it brought you it brought you, well, actually I would say 2020 and beyond because I would say I think it's a lifetime of being her prop at this point in time.
00:10:26
BOBBYDIXON
Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:27
Circuspreneur Podcast
that know That never ends. Stage or no stage.
00:10:30
BOBBYDIXON
ah
00:10:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
I would imagine you both live your bit every single day.
00:10:35
BOBBYDIXON
yeah
00:10:39
BOBBYDIXON
Yeah, we we absolutely love being performers. And ah we never had a problem ah on stage together. sometimes Sometimes we were even laughing more than the public was.
00:10:52
BOBBYDIXON
We were having such a good time.
00:10:56
Circuspreneur Podcast
How lucky, how lucky to be able to perform, and you know, with your wife and have that level of of rapport, um you know, with with each other and having those like that that inside inside joke quality that you're able to have all of these years and and and doing that, you know, what how do you think it changed, you know, and evolved for you, Bobby, to go from, you know, being kind of like a solo performer and then also to evolving into having a partnership in that way that lasted for so many years.
00:10:57
BOBBYDIXON
Yeah. Yeah.
00:11:09
BOBBYDIXON
yeah
00:11:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
We always say in the circus, That is either what's going to keep you together or that's what's just going to split you up and break you apart.
00:11:30
BOBBYDIXON
ah but Well, i I can't take much credit for it. i have to give all the credit to Anushka.
00:11:37
Circuspreneur Podcast
Of course. Of course. Of course. I expected, we all expected you to say that.
00:11:40
BOBBYDIXON
but yeah we we uh
00:11:41
Circuspreneur Podcast
So good answer, Bobby. Good answer. Yeah.
00:11:46
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:11:46
BOBBYDIXON
but yeah we we are so was fortunate to to have ah so many performer friends all over the world. ah I still have ah dozens and dozens of lifelong gymnastic friends in the States and and of course our a circus and a variety artists, ah performers yeah here in Europe. And yeah, just great.
00:12:10
BOBBYDIXON
we We have so many friends. we We have trouble ah ah visiting all of them enough.
00:12:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah, a great a great circus problem to have, right? i i feel I feel the same way all the time.
00:12:20
BOBBYDIXON
Yeah, yeah, really.
00:12:23
Circuspreneur Podcast
I'm like, I just, you know, I'm not going to make it to that country this year. So I guess we won't be seeing each other. It's a good problem to have.
00:12:33
BOBBYDIXON
Well, you're always welcome here with us.
00:12:36
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, oh, I appreciate it. Any opportunity to come to Holland. I love Netherlands. We were speaking about that before we got on the call that I lived um and worked in Netherlands for over a year um that last time around and, ah you know, in and out after that, but like solidly for like a year and a half.
00:12:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
um A few, you know, several years ago and it was great.
00:12:53
BOBBYDIXON
Okay.
00:12:55
Circuspreneur Podcast
I was working with Hans Klok at Theater Kade. I was working at the Palazzo. I just had such a great time.
00:13:00
BOBBYDIXON
Okay.
00:13:02
Circuspreneur Podcast
And then I was doing a lot of eventing as well when I was there. And it's, you know, Holland, Netherlands, it's just ah such a fantastic time. I've also been working
Traditional vs. Contemporary Circus Elements
00:13:10
Circuspreneur Podcast
with some circus researchers recently um that are out of the Netherlands um and they were just in the States and they joined me in DC. So it's just a great, great, great place. And we were talking about all the circus that you have access to you as well, Bobby. You just came from the circus today before you got on the call.
00:13:25
BOBBYDIXON
Yep.
00:13:27
Circuspreneur Podcast
And which circus was it?
00:13:27
BOBBYDIXON
and we're going to it
00:13:28
BOBBYDIXON
we're going to another one tomorrow.
00:13:31
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, of course.
00:13:31
BOBBYDIXON
Oh, no, Saturday. Tomorrow evening. Tomorrow evening, yeah.
00:13:36
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, tomorrow evening. And you were telling me that it's like a collective of like, ah, this one is in Belgium.
00:13:37
BOBBYDIXON
Yeah. This one in Belgium.
00:13:41
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, okay.
00:13:41
BOBBYDIXON
Yeah.
00:13:41
Circuspreneur Podcast
Nice. And it's like like a collective you said of like younger um circus um ah folk and like older circus folk, like a combination. You were saying that before you got on the call, like the mix of people that are going.
00:13:52
BOBBYDIXON
Yes, absolutely.
00:13:54
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah. And that's something that you guys do regularly.
00:13:58
BOBBYDIXON
So it's artists from around Holland and Belgium mostly. ah Occasionally, yeah someone from Germany will join us. But the yeah, but it's it it's a great little group.
00:14:08
Circuspreneur Podcast
Of course, of course. yes Don't forget the German. Oh, yeah, that's so wonderful. Yeah, we were speaking about how interconnected it is, you know, in Europe when you can see that many circuses in the span of the week.
00:14:20
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, sometimes I saw like, I don't know, like 10 different shows from 10 different circuses, um like living overseas. And it's a little bit different in America, except if you're in Vegas, you know, I'm based in Vegas. So if you're in Vegas, you're also like in the heart of circus, too, you know, with having like not only the new circus here, but there's a lot of circus history here.
00:14:39
Circuspreneur Podcast
yeah,
00:14:39
BOBBYDIXON
Oh yeah.
00:14:40
Circuspreneur Podcast
you know, and, and, and that's again, like, you know, again, where you come into, you know, Bobby of like your connection and your perspectives on circus history at this point in time, I can only imagine the stories and we don't have enough time to get into all the stories that, you know, you must have from, you know, traveling and, you know, being in different parts of the world and, you know, being green at a certain point and just kind of coming into it and getting into the circus industry and community again, you know, do you want to share um a couple of like, you know, so kind of standout stories for you, for you of getting into the environment and, you know, maybe things that were kind of, I don't know, maybe like startling or shocking to you or things that maybe you just kind of had to end up rolling with.
00:14:52
BOBBYDIXON
ah
00:15:22
Circuspreneur Podcast
And then it just became the norm for you when you were in circus at that point.
00:15:26
BOBBYDIXON
ah Yeah, it's a it's really been the gift of a lifetime, both the gymnastics and the ah and the ah performer life.
00:15:31
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:15:35
BOBBYDIXON
Yeah, i could I couldn't ask for anything more.
00:15:39
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah, I bet. I think that we're really fortunate to go from the competitive environment. Like that's my background too. So that's why I love speaking to fellow gymnasts that, you know, came, you know, into this environment, um you know, and came in into essentially run away with the circus.
00:15:57
Circuspreneur Podcast
I mean, I remember, you know, the first time getting into things and everyone's just kind of like rolling with the punches and you're like, wow, like that's just what we're going to do here. Like the ship is moving.
00:16:05
BOBBYDIXON
ha.
00:16:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
um You know, the tents leaking, you know, there were so many things where you get into it. Obviously, like having that core training from being a gymnast is what sets you up to be, I think, you know, comfortable in so many situations in circus where you are doing a lot of dangerous and dangerous. you know, kind of crazy things that I always say is kind of like orchestrated chaos within circus.
00:16:28
Circuspreneur Podcast
But, you know, you get kind of set up to be comfortable to be able to do that in all of these different environments where you're on the train or, you know, you're almost going to miss the show, but the show must go on. You still got to make it to the stage or you're working in in an environment where people are super conservative. You're working environments where there's like no structure.
00:16:44
BOBBYDIXON
if you if If you can't adapt, get another profession.
00:16:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
All of the things.
00:16:51
Circuspreneur Podcast
Then stay out of the circus.
00:16:58
Circuspreneur Podcast
I mean, how do you feel about circus now, Bobby? Um, you know, like, how does it how do you how do you view I would say, you know, we call it the modern circus if you don't want to use that term, I would I would be curious, what do you call circus now in this form in this capacity? Did it feel modern when you started doing it in the 70s to like, what did that feel like?
00:17:21
BOBBYDIXON
oh No, ah we're not really that fond of what they call contemporary circus. ah
00:17:30
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:17:32
BOBBYDIXON
we We like to see beautiful costumes and and ah ah connection with the public.
00:17:41
Circuspreneur Podcast
here
00:17:42
BOBBYDIXON
working for the people, to the people, and with the people. And with many contemporary ah shows or performance, that doesn't seem to be the the main ah the main thing.
00:17:58
BOBBYDIXON
but So we're little old-fashioned, I'd say, yeah.
00:18:04
Circuspreneur Podcast
Well, you know I think i think it it speaks to just like ah you know the different times that we're that we're all in and we gravitate towards some things. Sometimes I feel like I'm an old soul because I i very much like a combination of of those of the contemporary, of the of the modern, and then of the traditional circus too.
00:18:22
Circuspreneur Podcast
like I love a rhinestone. I always tell everyone,
00:18:24
BOBBYDIXON
Nga ha ha ha ha.
00:18:26
Circuspreneur Podcast
You're never going to see me without a bedazzled costume. I just I can't help it. There's a there's a quality, um you know, performers, you know, in in previous years where I just thought that that was just such a, ah you know, just such a skill and such a way, ah you know, to refine.
00:18:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
your presence on the stage and like you said, like your connection to the audience. and and And I think like instrumentally and being connected to the audience and how much you felt responsible to the audience, right?
00:18:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
In terms of, it's not so much about like how you're doing, it's like, is the audience happy?
00:18:56
BOBBYDIXON
well
00:18:57
Circuspreneur Podcast
Are we feeding them? Are we giving them what they came for? Like, that's what I hear a lot from folks that feel like they are a bit old fashioned, so to speak.
00:19:02
BOBBYDIXON
and
00:19:05
BOBBYDIXON
Well, with comedy, you kind of have to have a connection with your public. or you're you're gonna die big time.
00:19:11
Circuspreneur Podcast
That too.
00:19:19
BOBBYDIXON
But no, the contemporary circus, that also has its place, of course. is Nothing stays the same. and the And people have have different ah ideas of what they and they the but what they like, what they enjoy. So yes, I mean, the the contemporary shows
Changes in Gymnastics and Performance Standards
00:19:38
BOBBYDIXON
are doing very well, so somebody likes them.
00:19:43
BOBBYDIXON
Yeah.
00:19:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
they're popular.
00:19:44
BOBBYDIXON
and it's like And it's like us, ah if we see an act and we go, ah Didn't care much for that, but they got a standing ovation from the from the public.
00:19:56
BOBBYDIXON
Yeah, whose opinion is more important?
00:20:00
Circuspreneur Podcast
Right. Yours or the audience?
00:20:04
BOBBYDIXON
There you go.
00:20:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
They responded. They stood up. They loved it.
00:20:09
BOBBYDIXON
and
00:20:09
Circuspreneur Podcast
I mean, there you go.
00:20:12
BOBBYDIXON
that's what That's what you're getting paid to do.
00:20:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
it It's showbiz. It's circus biz.
00:20:19
BOBBYDIXON
yes
00:20:21
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know what I like to say? You're an entrepreneur in the circus. That's why you're a circuspreneur. yeah
00:20:26
BOBBYDIXON
You got it. You got it.
00:20:30
Circuspreneur Podcast
You gotta to fill seats or there's no one to clap for you. I mean, what can we say, right, Bobby? and
00:20:35
BOBBYDIXON
Now, yep.
00:20:37
Circuspreneur Podcast
<unk> it's It's a lonely circus with no seats.
00:20:40
BOBBYDIXON
Yes, yes.
00:20:43
BOBBYDIXON
ah
00:20:46
BOBBYDIXON
ah
00:20:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
But like, I, you know, I think that, you know, just your, you know, your, your, your, your perspectives, you know, i also wanted to ask you too, Bobby, about your perspectives also too on gymnastics these days. Gymnastics has just gone from, you know, to like 1000 now in terms of popularity and,
00:21:04
Circuspreneur Podcast
access And, you know, you were NCAA, you were incredibly successful in CAA. But even at that time, you know, you had limits to what you're able to do. They didn't have, you know, NIL and you couldn't take all this sponsorship money and you didn't have you weren't.
00:21:19
BOBBYDIXON
Absolutely.
00:21:20
Circuspreneur Podcast
ushered into all these things and you had a magnificent career um in gymnastics. You could like broke all of these barriers. um You know, what does that feel like now and seeing what it's become? Do you like it?
00:21:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
um You know, and yeah. And then what did you like also to about, i you know, you would say the golden age of how things were before, because some people, you know, don't like the way that certain things have evolved. And again, like we're saying, it's so many different perspectives. Everyone has what's important to them and what feels right for them.
00:21:50
BOBBYDIXON
Yeah, yeah. Well, some things have been a major improvement. Like, as you know, we tumbled on basketball floors. And my knees keep reminding me of that every day.
00:22:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
How did you do that?
00:22:07
BOBBYDIXON
So the so the the new floor, x floors, but that's a safety factor. That saves a lot of legs and knees and that. Yeah, all for it.
00:22:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
yeah
00:22:17
BOBBYDIXON
But some of the... The difficulty, ah ah love the difficulty, of course, but sometimes it gets a little out of hand and you lose the the ah performance factor.
00:22:34
Circuspreneur Podcast
yeah
00:22:35
BOBBYDIXON
Gymnastics should be a pretty sport, you know, elegant.
00:22:40
Circuspreneur Podcast
yeah
00:22:41
BOBBYDIXON
And so sometimes the difficulty gets a little out of hand and you you start to lose the elegancy of the sport.
00:22:51
Circuspreneur Podcast
and Interesting. Yeah. You know, they did that um in acrobatic gymnastics, Bobbi, on the edge of my retirement, they had opened up the code of points so big that you could literally do as many acrobatic sequences as you wanted to. And it was exhausting.
00:23:09
Circuspreneur Podcast
And you couldn't do like any choreography to transition. into your next trick, which is again, the beauty of acrobatic gymnastics.
00:23:13
BOBBYDIXON
Yeah.
00:23:18
BOBBYDIXON
Absolutely.
00:23:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, so they, they changed it after, after the last year that I competed, actually, they changed the points and they went back to the older version where you could actually have, you know, the elegance that you're speaking about.
00:23:31
Circuspreneur Podcast
You can have the personality. You could have the character. And, you know, again, I was grateful to try to go as far as I could with Dakota points with when I was in that.
00:23:41
Circuspreneur Podcast
But it was just like it took away some flavor of the sport and the originality that there was in acrobatic gymnastics as well for a while because it was like, OK, that that trick is going to get us the most points.
00:23:42
BOBBYDIXON
Yeah.
00:23:54
Circuspreneur Podcast
We're going to do it 15 times in one routine, no matter what.
00:23:57
BOBBYDIXON
yeah Yeah, really. I agree with you 100%.
00:24:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
It was really, really hard.
00:24:03
BOBBYDIXON
ah
00:24:04
Circuspreneur Podcast
And again, I want i want people to, and things inevitably go to different levels anyway. You're inevitably going to try harder tricks and do those things.
00:24:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
But you know the essence of keeping, I think, like the spirit and the soul and the heart of of of the of the environments and of the disciplines is important when you see the further side of it And I experienced both.
00:24:26
Circuspreneur Podcast
So, you know, even someone who got to experience both, I was like really happy to see when they shifted back to that because you could obviously you could abuse that code of points when you wanted to. And then you could also really just get one over on people if you needed to.
00:24:39
Circuspreneur Podcast
um
00:24:40
BOBBYDIXON
Bye.
00:24:40
Circuspreneur Podcast
you You know, it became like this whole thing that, ah you know i you know, like all of these like unforeseen consequences of, you know, trying to go for, all right, let's go for a quad. You know, let's do three quads.
00:24:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
Like we don't need three quads. Like let's do one. One is wonderful. um And then let's give us some resting time and get people, give give the athletes opportunity to restore and rest.
Legacy and Contributions to the Next Generation
00:25:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
um you know, and have like a, I think, yeah, just like a more kind of like moderate exchange in the sport, which I feel like most people are more or less more happy about that. So i think I think it's a win-win.
00:25:19
BOBBYDIXON
I agree. I agree. And well put.
00:25:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
Thank you, Bobby. Well, Bobby, we are coming down to the last few minutes of the podcast. And I
00:25:31
BOBBYDIXON
ah
00:25:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah, I know. It goes so fast. it You know, it it goes so fast. You know, the podcast always gets away ah away from me. And even this time, I can't wait also to you in the future to interview your fabulous wife, Anushka.
00:25:45
Circuspreneur Podcast
I love her name. Like I just, it's, you know, it's one of my favorite names and she only name, you know, to lead with that.
00:25:51
BOBBYDIXON
Oh, thank you.
00:25:56
BOBBYDIXON
Thank you so much. You're very, very kind.
00:25:59
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, no, of course. It'll be an absolute pleasure pleasure to um to interview her as well and get her um you know her version of all of the um you know circus escapades that you've been on together for these 40 years. But it's also, too, again, culminated in your recognition um you know by the World Acrobatics Society you know and being an acrobatics legend and having two sides of of of that acrobatics career as you know an amateur and competing and then as like a professional actor.
00:26:26
Circuspreneur Podcast
acrobat um And then now, you know, you're also involved in with the Acro newsletter, um you know, and then just also too in promoting Congress and promoting the nominations of so many legends that, you know, folks sometimes just haven't even been heard of. And that's what I love about the World Acrobat Society. I was honored to be inducted.
00:26:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
when I was inducted um into Waz and then just seeing the names that I was you know going to stand amongst was just you know absolutely amazing. you know Everyone just, sometimes when I tell people, they're like, we cannot believe that you've been inducted into Waz.
00:26:56
BOBBYDIXON
oh ah
00:27:02
Circuspreneur Podcast
So that's the standard that they have set over these past several years.
00:27:06
BOBBYDIXON
i I felt the same way when I when i got inducted. i was I was just blown away. i was yeah so humbled by Like you say, you stand there and you look around and you see all of these real legends of the sport, really. And you think, wow, I belong here? This is fabulous.
00:27:28
BOBBYDIXON
ah
00:27:31
Circuspreneur Podcast
yeah all it took All it took was ah a few back handsprings and a hat trick, huh, Bobby?
00:27:31
BOBBYDIXON
yeah
00:27:36
Circuspreneur Podcast
Like the one, you know, just, you know, obviously saying it in a very like, you know, very like jokingly way, but you have to do so much, you know, people that are getting inducted have had, again, prolific careers and like you and you're so humble, um Bobby, in terms of your contribution to the sport of gymnastics and in terms of your contribution to the art of um of the circus industry.
00:28:00
Circuspreneur Podcast
um And again, I really love the pairing of your journey. It reminds me and mirrors so much of my journey that happened, you know, so many decades later, but ah decades later, but we're all paired within that shared experience. We all speak gymnastics and we all speak circus. And I think that's such a beautiful way to be united. And I just wanted to get, you know, your last thoughts, Bobby, on your career, your perspectives of circus.
Advice for New Performers and Closing Remarks
00:28:23
Circuspreneur Podcast
um Also too, as well, in terms of Congress for WAZ coming up um in this next few weeks and folks ah coming out to enjoy, to meet circus legends like yourself, you will not be there this year, but folks can listen to again, this episode to get to know you better.
00:28:39
Circuspreneur Podcast
um and I'm going to, again, put your, your episode from WAZ in the chat so they can see the video that they presented for you when you received your lifetime achievement award.
00:28:47
BOBBYDIXON
Oh, thank you.
00:28:49
Circuspreneur Podcast
Hmm.
00:28:49
BOBBYDIXON
I do want to say that I owe all of my successes to a lot of people who helped me along the way, who coached me, who trained me. Yeah, I was, ah I hope that I was ah as good a product ah for them as I could have been, which I wasn't. I could have been better, but I was having too much fun.
00:29:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
You were magnificent. And even more, Bobby, you've got time. Please continue.
00:29:24
BOBBYDIXON
You're frozen.
00:29:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
And even more, you can share even more, Bobby, about about your experience um to send us off on the podcast.
00:29:32
BOBBYDIXON
Oh, ah gee, this that's hard to to to say in ah in ah just a few words. ah ah Like I said, it's been a gift of a lifetime.
00:29:45
BOBBYDIXON
ah And ah I'm so thankful to all the people who helped me reach ah the successes that i that I have reached. And ah and um Most happy for the friends, for the friends that we've made both of the the sports and Lifetime. you'll meet You'll meet many of them at WAS.
00:30:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
I'm looking forward to meeting them.
00:30:14
BOBBYDIXON
they will They will take good care of you.
00:30:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, thank you. Yes, that that I feel. And is there any advice that you want to leave current performers with, Bobby, um or those thinking about getting into the circus that are just starting out with their journey or in the middle of their journey?
00:30:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
What advice would you like to give them whether they're in gymnastics competing right now, or they are going for, you know, a well rounded circus career? What feedback would you give?
00:30:43
BOBBYDIXON
Okay, well, the first thing would be what we mentioned before, always have a backup.
00:30:49
Circuspreneur Podcast
me
00:30:50
BOBBYDIXON
ah for For your profession, for your finances, especially, ah and as far as so being performers or gymnasts, don't specialize.
00:31:06
BOBBYDIXON
have Have a broad ah broad concept of what you're doing ah because All the little things that you learn from other other aspects of the sport or or the profession will help you greatly in the ah ah
00:31:27
BOBBYDIXON
in the end. Yeah, sorry.
00:31:30
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, no, you're fine. yeah That is so valuable. Oh, my gosh.
00:31:34
BOBBYDIXON
and And the last thing, always have fun with what you are doing. I like to say, ah having fun is, ah no, winning is is no good unless you're also having fun. And having fun is ah ah not no good unless you're also winning.
00:32:02
Circuspreneur Podcast
Well said.
00:32:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
I agree.
00:32:07
BOBBYDIXON
i could I thought you might.
00:32:10
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, I think we're on the same page here, Bobby.
00:32:15
BOBBYDIXON
great Great minds. yeah
00:32:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
What did they say? You're just fantastic. Thank you so much, Bobby. You are just absolutely wonderful.
00:32:23
BOBBYDIXON
oh
00:32:26
BOBBYDIXON
Thank you for having me, Shania. ah This has been really great. but It's been fun.
00:32:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
ah di Yeah, there you go.
00:32:32
BOBBYDIXON
There you go.
00:32:35
Circuspreneur Podcast
i'm I'm glad that it's been fun and that you've enjoyed yourself. um And I hope that, ah you know, you felt honored, Bobby, on the Circuspreneur podcast. We're definitely honored to have someone with your and prolific, I have to continue to say that, fantastic, wonderful,
00:32:49
BOBBYDIXON
you
00:32:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
successful circus career. It is not lost on us on the Circuspreneur podcast. And, you know, we thank you. We stand on your shoulders, as we like to say on the Circuspreneur podcast.
00:33:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
Thank you for building us up. Thank you for leaving a legacy. And thank you for putting so much back into the industry as well. um you know, with was, um and then with, that you know, all of your amazing advice and feedback um and energy. And yes, until next time, you know, Bobby, all of my best to you.
00:33:26
Circuspreneur Podcast
and I hope to meet you soon in the future and see you down the road.
00:33:29
BOBBYDIXON
Very definitely. Sometime, somewhere.
00:33:31
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yes.
00:33:33
BOBBYDIXON
And thank you so much for having me. It really has been an honor for me.
00:33:38
Circuspreneur Podcast
no Thank you so much, Bobby. And I want to leave everyone here.
00:33:41
BOBBYDIXON
Take care. Take good care yourselves. Stay healthy. That's the most important.
00:33:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, yes. Thank you so much, Bobby.
00:33:50
BOBBYDIXON
Okay.
00:33:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
This Circuspreneur podcast is also available on stagelink.com, S-T-A-G-E-L-Y-N-C a g e l y n c dot c o m the groundbreaking new platform for live performing arts that provides unmatched access and connection to this vibrant world of shows and entertainment.
00:34:04
Circuspreneur Podcast
If you're a professional in the performing arts, visit stagelink.com slash pro. StageLink Pro s t a g e l y n c p r o offers industry professionals higher visibility, networking opportunities, and tools to support and enhance their careers. Again, until next time, everyone, please stay safe, stay healthy. As Bobby says, I'm your host, Sinead Stiletto. Please tune in to the next episode of the Circuspreneur podcast.