Review: "Detour on an Elephant" by Barbara File Marangon

Detour on an Elephant by Barbara File Marangon
Published 2014 via Ogham Books
★★★

Marangon wanted to dance on the biggest stages on Earth—but first she thought she'd have a side adventure with the Greatest Show on Earth.

Detour on an Elephant chronicles Marangon's year with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. It sounds like a wild ride of an experience—it was the seventies, and things we take for granted today (like the ability to call home at will) were distant dreams...even more so on a circus train. My family used to take Amtrak across the country when I was little, and there were toilets in the rooms and showers down the hall—but not so on these circus trains. In the old days of the Big Top, all of the performers were given a bucket of cold water to wash themselves and their clothes or costumes, writes Marangon. We were actually privileged to have a sink of our own with cold running water on the train (50).

Marangon intersperses her stories about the circus with briefer stories about a short period spent dancing in Austria. It was easier, at the time, to get work dancing in Europe than in the US—easier and with more job stability, if not the same glamour. Klagenfurt, where she danced, looks lovely now (especially in warmer weather!), but at the time it sounds pretty grim, and the contrast of socially acceptable work as a dancer (combined with isolation and limited opportunity) against even less conventional work in the circus but a vibrant social life and diverse experiences is valuable.

A part of me wanted to remain in the circus world forever. The only thing to think about each day was traveling to the next city and the two or three daily shows to perform. There were no worries about making the rent money or paying the bills each month, finding work, or going to look for new friendships and relationships. In the circus, everything was taken care of. The work was constant, your home was the train, and friendships and relationships were found with other performers. A person like me, with little or no family, could find comfort and security in the adopted circus family. However, the price you pay for the security of a family is the loss of freedom. For this reason, I had decided to separate myself from this secure world at the end of the tour. The longer I stayed, the harder it would be to leave. One day I would wake up, too old to get off the train and begin another life. What would happen to me when I couldn’t dance or perform anymore? That would be the only life I would ever have known: the circus. (148)

Two things I would have liked: first, I never quite understood what Marangon's act looked like—partly that's because it's been many years since I saw a circus perform, and partly because that's just not what she focuses on. I would have liked to hear more about that and about the other dancers (though I love that she talks so much about other performers and workers who weren't in the spotlight). And second, I hope that if this goes to another edition it'll get another round of copy editing; mostly it's fine, but some things made me laugh (as when Marangon repeats a German sentence she learned while working in Austria and almost every single word has an error), and it took me a while to find Tiger, Tiger (which she mentions) because in Detour on an Elephant the author's name is spelled Charlie rather than Charly.

Marangon went on to continue her dance career, and altogether it sounds like she created a rich and exciting life for herself. I hope that Chasing Castles eventually comes out in an ebook format, because I'd be curious to read about those further adventures.