How the Circus Saved the Life of a North St. Louis Native - CircusTalk

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How the Circus Saved the Life of a North St. Louis Native

Sidney ‘Iking’ Bateman is one of the many fearless performers of Circus Flora.

“A backflip for me is walking,” Bateman says. “It’s funny but it’s true.”

He’s been a professional entertainer ever since his graduation from Beaumont High School in St. Louis in five years ago.

“I don’t consider coming in at seven o’clock, doing a show, working four hours out of the day. I don’t consider it work,” Bateman says. “It’s fun and it’s one of those things that you’ve been doing for so long, it feels like a part of your daily routine.”

Bateman’s talent stems from a childhood of tumbling, and a basketball and track and field career in high school. Even the mental aspects of fear or shyness came to him naturally.

“Never let a trick take over your mind because when you do that, that’s when you become scared,” Bateman says. “You have to not think when you do these things. You have to respect the trick, but you can’t let it take you over.”

But in his life before the circus, there was one thing he couldn’t control — his north St. Louis neighborhood.

Link to Full Article on CBS St. Louis.

 

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