Tent is everything as Zoppe circus stops in ChandlerFor Zoppé Italian Circus, 'The tent is our life'

Michael Schennum / The Arizona Republic Acrobat Indiana Pintado, 15, practices outside the The Zoppe Family Circus tent at the Chandler Center for the Arts on Wednesday.
by Weldon B. Johnson - Dec. 27, 2010 The Arizona Republic

"Everybody helps put the tent up; everybody helps take it down," Giovanni Zoppé said. "The tent is our life. The most important part of a circus to a circus performer is the tent. Without our tent, we don't work."
Zoppé is a sixth-generation circus performer. Once the show starts, he becomes Nino the Clown.
He is also the show's producer and booking agent, overseeing the business of the traveling circus. Since Zoppé revived the show about three years ago, the Zoppé Italian Family Circus performs about 15 times per year (it's hoping to add about five more engagements). For that to happen, Zoppé has to account for details ranging from straw and kiln-dried wood shavings for the animals to electrical and water hookups for the performers' RVs to making sure they know the quickest routes to local hospitals in case of emergency.
But for three days before the show, his most important job is overseeing the raising of the tent. Despite a fall while performing 20 years ago that left him in a coma for four days, Zoppé, 44, still helps set tent poles and climbs on top to secure the rigging.
"A lot of circuses have a separate crew to put up the tent," Zoppé said. "Then, the circus people come in and walk into the ring. We don't do that. That's not true circus."
The Zoppé family members are true circus people.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/2010/12/27/20101227chandler-zoppe-family-circus1225.html#ixzz19P7BUusF