|
Bo and Bello bonding
By MARY EVERTZ
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 4, 2001
A member of a clown dynasty partners with a tambourine-playing pachyderm for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
|
 |
TAMPA -- With his bright red hair spiking some seven inches into the air like a leaping flame, Bello Nock springs from a rolling, bouncing cube and starts flipping around the center ring in the opening act of the Greatest Show on Earth.
Amazingly, not a hair moves.
What's the secret of keeping his hair aimed skyward, like an out-of-control Chia Pet?
"Viagra," he chortles.
[Times photo: James Borchuck]
While Bello Nock and Bo had never worked together before rehearsals began last month, there was an instant chemistry between the two, Noch says.
|
Bello, 32, does everything from riding a motorcycle on a high wire to navigating the sway pole -- a stunt invented by his circus performing family, the Nerveless Nocks. But he also shares top billing with a 9,000-pound pachyderm named Bo, touted as the "world's wittiest elephant."
Somehow, it seems more than a marketing slogan. With a gentle command from Bello, Bo shakes hands with his trunk. On request he will also toot a tune with it.
Like Bello, Bo and his owner/personal trainer Larry Carden have signed on to headline the red unit of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus for the next two years.
While man and elephant had never worked together before rehearsals began last month, there was an instant chemistry between the two.
"Bo and Bello, Bello and Bo ... the greatest team the circus has ever known," goes the theme song that ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson belts out as the two cavort.
Bello blows two horns, Bo shakes a tambourine with his trunk and then gives it a tap with his foot. Bo walks across a bar, Bello follows. Bo lies down in the ring, Bello lies down. Bo passes a baton to Bello, who uses it to keep time with the circus band. Then Bello holds a drum while Bo taps out a rhythm.
The act might be new to the circus this year, but it has roots that go back hundreds of years.
Bello was born into a circus family 32 years ago in Sarasota, the youngest of Eugen and Aurelia Nock's four sons.
[Times photo: James Borchuck]
Bello Nock was born into a circus family 32 years ago in Sarasota, the youngest of Eugen and Aurelia Nock’s four sons. “We can document that the Nock dynasty began in Switzerland in 1772,” he says.
|
"We can document that the Nock dynasty began in Switzerland in 1772," says Bello. His dad, who died last year, was the inventor of the swaying pole act that reached 60 feet in the air.
Bello still performs the stunt, but how high he goes depends on where he is performing.
Bello, a 1998 winner of the Monte Carlo Silver Clown award, is the second member of his family to perform in a Ringling production.
In 1973, Bello's uncle Pio Nock became the first clown in the family to attain international prominence. He performed a comedy high wire act with Ringling Bros. over a cage of wild animals.
But his heritage isn't the only reason Bello chose his profession.
"When you are the youngest of four kids, you have to do something to draw attention to yourself . . . so I started clowning," says Bello. He first performed as a clown at age 3 in a Dumbo circus routine.
At age 6, Bello was touring with Cathy Rigby in the road show of the Broadway musical Peter Pan, in the role of Michael Darling.
Though the family maintained a home in Sarasota, they moved to Dells, Wis., when Bello was 9, and the family began performing in the Tommy Bartlett Thrill Show.
As a third-grader in Wisconsin, Bello met a little girl in his class named Jennifer. They kept in touch over the years, even though Bello attended school for a while in Sarasota. They have been married for 13 years and have three children, and a home in Sarasota.
For the next two years, though, a 74-foot custom motor home will be their main living quarters. Alex, 11, and Amariah, 7, are home schooled by their mother. Annaliese is 4.
[Photo: Ringling Bros]
The tigers of animal trainer Mark Oliver Gebel are also included in this year’s circus production.
|
Though Bello is a seventh-generation circus performer, he is not pressuring his son to follow in his footsteps, but he isn't standing in his way.
"Things are there if he wants to do it," says Bello. For example, there are three trampolines in the swimming pool area of the family home in Sarasota so the kids can bounce from one to the other.
Bo also travels in a specially designed custom semitrailer truck. Though he's a star, he does perform routines with other elephants, which have taken him into their herd and do the trunk and tail routine with him as if he's always been with them.
And he fits in just as well with his human partner.
"I have never worked with a partner, so being with Bo is a new experience . . . he's a great performer," Bello says. "When we work, he knows what I want."
With that, Bello bursts out in song: "Bo and Bello, Bello and Bo . . . the greatest team the circus has ever known."
PREVIEW
The 131st edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus with Bo and Bello, Mark Oliver Gebel and ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson will give six performances at Tampa's Ice Palace, today through Sunday, and 11 shows at the Times Arena at Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Jan. 10-15. Tickets, $11.75-$28, available through http://www.ringling.com, Ticketmaster or call (813) 287-8844 or (727) 898-2100.
Back to Weekend
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
