by Lissette Cartagena
Published Spring 2001

As most graduating seniors prepare for stepping into the “real world” by brushing up interviewing skills, revising their résumé’s and attending etiquette dinners, Summer Marik is brushing up on her skills on a trapeze bar.

Even though Marik is working on an advertising major and a fine arts minor at Pepperdine, her career goals have little to do with either field.

She wants to join the circus.

A tiny seed was planted when she was eight years old and her father took her to see Cirque du Soleil in San Diego. Cirque du Soleil (“Circus of the Sun”) is a performing arts circus show that travels around the world. The performances left her in awe.

 “I loved it. I wanted to be them!” she says.

Back then, the idea of being part of one of the most popular displays of acrobats, contortionists and performers was nothing more than a fantasy. However, after a difficult breakup with an unsupportive boyfriend, Marik realized that she needed to boost her damaged self-esteem.

 “I was kind of at one of those points where I thought, ‘OK, I have to do something that will make me feel better about myself,’ or ‘What would I want to do if I could do anything random that he would never expect that I would be able to do, but I’ve always wanted to do?’”

Whether Jazzercising or tumbling, Marik has always been physically active. On a high school trip to Club Med, Jamaica, Marik tried the trapeze bar and trampoline and found she was a natural.

That kind of experience encouraged her to pursue her childhood fantasy. The seed planted 11 years earlier re-surfaced and Marik sent her application to audition for Cirque du Soleil.

At the audition, however, Marik found that her modest experience was nothing next to that of her competition.

“I’m now the reason that they require videotapes before you go to auditioning,” she says with sarcastic pride. “I auditioned with backhand springs and people auditioned on rope, single trapeze, trampoline and on the Chinese poles … all these awesome things that I’d never even seen.”

Marik then realized that to have a shot she would have to learn more about the aerial exercises for which she was competing.

During the next year, Marik became a flying trapeze student under Richie Gaona, an experienced circus performer and stunt man whose work can be seen in such films as “The Mask,” “The Grinch” and in Jackie Chan’s upcoming film, “Rush Hour II.”

She has been training with Gaona for two years and has become skilled on the bars. Her skill on a single trapeze is her strongest point.

Single trapeze is an individual exercise where a performer uses a suspended bar which is only an inch and half thick to do various balancing tricks. For this exercise Marik uses her body to help her balance on the narrow bar.

In flying trapeze, Marik performs acrobatic stunts while on an elevated swing. For this exercise, Marik works with professional catchers who are swinging on a trapeze across from her, ready to lock arms with her as she completes a stunt.

While Marik has gotten familiar with the trapeze bar, she is still learning new types of performances. For instance, the corde-lisse (or rope) is a 20-foot-long cord hung from the ceiling. Marik is learning how to climb the rope and do various tricks by wrapping the rope around her body as she does flips and other stunts.

Marik has come a long way from the embarrassment of that first audition, and the bond between her and her various instructors has helped her feel secure in her talent.

“All my instructors are so behind me that they’re more convinced that I’ll get work than I am,” she said.

Gaona and her other instructors helped her get into the San Francisco School of Circus Arts last summer. There she refined some of the fundamental skills of the circus arts that would strengthen her skills as a trapezeist. She also began to learn about acrobatics.

Marik says she gets support from her family and friends in her ambitions to be a circus performer. 

“My mom’s my advocate. She comes and watches me all the time,” boasts Marik.

“She would come to (flying) trapeze at least once a month … everyone knows her there.”

Marik’s roommates have also been encouraging.

Long-time friend Libby Travaglino, remembers their trip to Club Med, Jamaica, where both she and Marik played on the trapeze.

“She took to it like a fish to water.”

Travaglino is impressed with Marik’s determination. “She wants to do this so badly that it doesn’t matter when people make jokes … we all stand behind her 200 percent.”

Janelle Chapman, Marik’s other roommate, adds that Marik is fearless about her pursuit. “She’s not afraid to go out and talk to who she needs to talk to to do this.”

Despite all of the support, Marik admits that the decision to follow her dream has not been all swinging and playing. Besides the incredible demands on her body, she faced some doubt about leaving her more practical goals of going into advertising.

“It was my brother who convinced me that I don’t have to work at a nine-to-five job,” said Marik. 

Not only is her career choice out of the ordinary, Marik has also had some interesting experiences preparing for the circus.

One day when looking for her first costume to audition in, her instructor took her to Playmates, a retail store that sells clothes for strippers.

“I was surprised because I thought that (buying clothes at a stripper store) was a little weird,” Marik said. “But all my teachers and performers buy their clothes there.” 

 “Because they’re used to dancing on the poles and tables, they (have to) use the most resilient fabrics,” she said. “You can move really well in them.”

Today, the little seed that was planted when Marik was eight has blossomed into a very real career goal.

After graduation, she wants to work for Cirque du Soleil, but has other options.

She has already been offered a job at Club Med, but she wants to work with a circus first.

While she might be a little nervous with her upcoming auditions, she looks forward to fulfilling this dream and taking it to the next level.

“You always have something to learn,” she said. “You never get bored and yet there is so much to be proud of yourself by. There’s just so much room for accomplishment.” 

HOME