Step right up to 'Bellobration'

For the first time in its 137 years, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is producing a show that is named after its star performer.

This year's "red-unit" company of "the greatest show on earth" is being touted as "a Bellobration" — after comic daredevil Bello Nock, now on his fourth consecutive tour with the circus.

But Nock, who is the seventh-generation member of a Swiss circus dynasty, said during a telephone interview from Stockton, Calif., that there are other changes from longtime circus tradition.

Like last year's alternating "blue-unit" company, this edition will have a storyline, albeit a more whimsical one that is integrated into Bello's mischievous actions.

And the traditional "three rings" have been replaced by structures that are continually being reconfigured into different shapes.

According to ringmaster Tyron "Ty" McFarlan, the arena floor is still divided into three sections part of the time, but it can also become one big open floor.

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Nock, who readily admits that "I am never sitting still," is afflicted with attention-deficit disorder and dyslexia, which is probably why he is adept at so many facets of circus life — clowning, wire-walking, the sway-pole, acrobatics and such dare-devil pursuits as the swirling "wheel of death."

Maybe Nock could be labeled a mirthful multitasker. "People who have seen me perform in the past will see some absolutely all-new material and some jaw-dropping moments. I like to scare people silly. I'm a mixture of Jackie Chan and Charlie Chaplin. I have always been very involved with the show, trying to be anywhere and everywhere."

He is excited to be returning to Salt Lake City, he said. During the circus' winter break, he enjoys freestyle skiing at Park City. "We have some great friends in Salt Lake City, including illusionist Lark Evans."

In Florida, Nock and his family have a 10-acre "stunt ranch" with nine trampolines, a motocross dirt track, a high-diving platform and his own freestyle training facility. "It's not open to the public. I love my toys!"

Instead of traveling all season long on the circus train, Nock and his family — his wife and three children — travel about half the year in a custom-made RV coach.

Nock's trademark is his unusual image — iconic tall orange hair and an oversized tuxedo. "I've worn my hair like that all my life."