Photo credit: Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey®
“When I saw the circus and the Guerrero family perform in the Ringling Brothers, I said ‘Wow. That’s what I want to do.’ That was my dream and I practiced hard to make it,” Mustafa Danguir told Hollywood on the Potomac about his path to performing in Washington with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Presents Circus XTREME – The Greatest Show On Earth® at the Verizon Center. “Slowly, slowly I became a trapeze artist and later on high wire. I was working all over Europe. I went to Japan with Circo los Muchachos, working slowly, slowly, until I got a contract from Ringling Brothers. That was the goal, my dream come true.”
The Guerrero family is in the Guinness Book of World Records and the family is a legend in the circus world for their seven-man pyramid; and they did it the hard way – without a net.
Mustafa Danguir
“The Daring Danguir ascends more than two stories above the arena floor on a high-wire as narrow as a human thumb, negotiating dangerous stunts and displaying stunning footwork. The troupe tempts fate with seemingly impossible jumps, leaping over not one, not two, but a three person lineup, as well as a breath-taking one-man leap from one troupe member’s shoulder to another’s. For their final trick, the Danguir triumph over gravity by building a monumental four-person pyramid.” Production
“I started in Morocco. In Morocco, an acrobat is like a basketball player here or football player. Acrobats in Morocco are very popular. In the sea we play tumble, Moroccan tumble. When I was 11 years old, a director from Los Muchachos, the second biggest circus in the world, saw us. He saw us being acrobats and he said ‘Wow, you guys have a talent. I would like to bring you guys to the circus school, and you guys can try circus.’ Of course, it was fun for us, and also he offered to us a good opportunity to make something different. So I got to the circus in Spain via Circo los Muchachos, and I start practicing juggling, acrobat, trapeze, many things from the circus – almost everything.”
We wondered what his mother thought of his career choice.. “My mother, I mean, she gave up. From the beginning she was like ‘Ay, don’t do that, don’t do that, don’t do that!’ But she gave up. She saw that I was so hyper, so nervous a person when I was a kid. I’m still a little bit, but not that much. She said ‘Okay, this guy is crazy. I hope nothing happens to him.’ So they really gave up; not just my mother, but also my father. They said ‘Okay, that’s what he likes, that’s what he loves.’ And they saw that I was doing it good, and better, and better. I’m high wire I think; it’s because high wire makes me feel wow, it makes me feel good. My mother, she’s passed away, but she was proud of me all the time. When I did something, she was proud of me all the time.”
Mustafa is in charge of his troupe. We wondered what kind of responsibility that is. First of all, I guess people have to trust you; but do you feel inside all the time a nervousness about your colleagues? “Yes. To be honest to you, I feel more nervous when I see my colleagues doing the high wire, than when I do it myself. Always I teach them, like the Guerrero family taught me, and the others who taught me to trust in your partner, more than trust in yourself. Because if you think about your partner, you will take care of you. So truly, the trust is the most important thing. It’s like I give them my life in their hand, and I know the life of them is in my hand. It’s really something … sometimes we don’t speak about it, but we know it is there. I know that I give you my life, and you know that your life is in my hand. So we have to trust each other, more than 100%”.
Tell me, what does it feel like to do high wire? Do you pretend that the floor is underneath you and you don’t look down? How do you do it? “First of all, our mind is … the human body and mind is unbelievable. We can do anything if we dream to do it, or to propose to do it. So you have to teach your mind. When I was a kid, I started 1 foot from the floor. After I practiced that, 2 feet from the floor. For example, we practice every day, and every day before we go to the show, we have a low wire, like 2 feet from the floor. You show to your mind you can do it up there. Slowly, slowly, you practice 2 feet, after 3 feet, after 10 feet, after 15 feet. So you’re going up, and up, and up. Actually, I believe that the body of human beings has no limit.”
Take me to Washington and the whole scenario as to how you interact with the other aspects of the circus and the other performers. “Right now we have this show, it’s called Extreme, and I love it because this is my second time that I make something like extreme. Every act is extreme, from the beginning to the end. I love it because that’s what I always like to be – extreme. For example, we have the troop from Mongolia, 20 acrobats, they make some exercises unbelievable. I mean, I do dangerous stuff, but when I see them, it’s wow, it still surprises me. We have the BMX from the United States and they are fantastic with the bikes. They make flips, somersaults, and they are amazing. Every exercise that they do is extremely dangerous. From the beginning to the end of this show, the excitement doesn’t stop. It’s called Extreme. This is the best name to give to this show, because it’s really extreme. An example is our act. I don’t know if you’ve seen our act, but from the beginning to the end, is all extremely dangerous.”
We wanted to know if Mustafa was afraid of the other acts. Would you like to stand next to an elephant or would that make you afraid? I’m changing the fears. – like they may fear what you do, and you may fear what they do, but they’re both, to me, very fearful. “Yes. Okay, first, I mean, I fear. I’m scared, I’m a human being, but I control that. That’s what we say, we are professionals of fear. We control that. We teach our mind to control, you don’t fear. Truly yeah, when I see the elephant, I respect them because you can see that they are big, huge animals, and they respect you too. It’s everything about respect. I’m afraid, but I control that, this is what I wanted to say. Yeah, I love what I do, I love my job, I love Ringling Brothers because it’s what I’ve always been dreaming about.”
Tickets for Extreme can be purchased here.
Preview video:
