On Friday, Nov. 4, The Great Dubois performed at the Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall. The Great Dubois is known as “the world’s most unique two person circus” for being a fast paced circus with entertainment for all ages. They feature different acts, such as classic circus stunts, magic and more! The circus consists of Michael Dubois and Viktoria Grimmy with over five generations of circus experience between the two of them. Dubois has been performing for over 15 years and Grimmy is a fifth-generation circus performer from a multigenerational performance family that previously was in the Soviet Circus. Her family moved to the United States to expand their opportunities and soon later began touring with The Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus for years. Grimmy had performed her features in Pippin on Broadway. She has even placed bronze in the Monte Carlo Circus Festival. Michael has been performing since the early 2000s with a previous partner. In 2009 his previous partner moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in Producing and Michael began his Solo Circus. Soon after meeting his wife, Grimmy, together they created The Great Dubois. This circus has collected multiple credits including being featured in the well-known movie The Greatest Showman and being featured in hit television shows, such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with David Letterman. Grimmy even performed on Britney Spears World Circus Tour and in the movie Burlesque.
The show Friday evening began with a bang. There was never a dull moment on the stage as they switched fast through each act. The show featured different acts like juggling, balancing on a loose wire and multiple tricks on a unicycle. Those were just what Dubois did! Right off the bat Dubois began interacting with the audience since it had been over three years since COVID-19 began and they were not allowed to bring people onstage. He began his first act by juggling, having help from an assistant called onto stage. Grimmy, alongside assisting him, showed off her own tricks with hula hoop, juggling and contortion acts. The show was able to move quickly and provide a bunch of laughs for not only the kids but the parents too. They even performed an act together, juggling six pins between two members from the audience. Grimmy was able to perform her contortion act, looking like a pretzel. Not only did Michael call up three kids to the stage, but he even brought the parents on stage to assist him with one of his coolest acts of the night: escaping a straight jacket while on a six foot unicycle. This was so impressive it had the whole crowd in awe as we watched him slowly get out of the jacket. It had been so long since I was able to go and see a show like that, that also was so interactive with the crowd, which did not just perform and move on. If you ever have the chance to go see the pair I definitely recommend going to their show, especially since you can take your kids or younger siblings to have a great night for the whole family.
Lauren Flynnmiller is a second-year Interdisciplinary Studies major with minors in Journalism and American Sign Language. LF954@wcupa.edu