Step right up, little ones

Marisa O’Neil

Wearing a pith helmet and carrying a hoop, 7-year-old dog trainer

Reylina Pozo took the stage, ready for her act.

Her career with the Circus Fun Review at the Orange County Fair

had started only a half-hour earlier, when ringmaster Stephen

Michaels held auditions for the show. Saturday’s audition involved

simply being between 5 and 12 years old, being at the fair’s Kids

Stage, and being willing to perform.

“She didn’t want to do it at first,” her grandmother, Linda Bryant

said. “She’s shy.”

Michaels, a performer in another fair act, the Russell Brothers

Family Circus, gave Reylina and the other eight children selected a

quick crash course in the circus arts. Then, they were ready for

their debut.

“If they do it right, give them a hand,” Michaels told the

audience. “If they do it wrong, give them a hand.”

They started with a procession around the stage. There was a

tightrope walker, a magician, a juggler, the dog trainer, and

children dressed as two lions and a tiger.

Hayden Manning, 5, wore an elephant costume and held on to fellow

elephant Mark Baldo’s tail as they brought up the rear of the parade.

The acts were far from death-defying but were definite

crowd-pleasers.

A blue-and-white rope, stretched across the stage, served as the

high wire. The juggler stuck with chiffon scarves. The wild animals

were only fuzzy vests with stuffed heads.

And Reylina’s canine performers were the walking, barking,

jumping, but battery-operated variety.

Her job was to pass the hoop underneath each dog when it sprang

into the air. But with three popping pooches on stage, Reylina had a

hard time keeping up.

Alyssa Baldo, 10, wore a Lion costume for her act. Under Michaels’

direction, she stood, sat and jumped with the other big cats.

“It was fun,” she said. “But the hardest part was keeping the

costume out of my eyes.”

Her brother Gregory, 8, pulled a rabbit out of a hat as a

magician. Her youngest brother, Mark, was one of the elephants.

Their grandparents, Laguna Niguel residents Tom and Vivian Baldo,

decided to bring the children after seeing the show on Friday, the

fair’s first day.

Hayden, the other little elephant, lumbered around the stage with

Mark. Together, they did tricks like standing on one leg, spinning

around a platform and crawling underneath each other.

“It wasn’t hard,” Hayden said confidently after the show.