Mark David

Aerialist

By Dominique Jando

Born Mark David Pilger in 1961, Mark David (1961-2008) was a native of Baraboo, Wisconsin (United States), the historical home of the Ringling Brothers—which may have explained his childhood dream of becoming a star performer with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, still known to that part of the world as just "the Ringling Show."

His mother, Marge, had been a vaudeville performer, and she began training Mark in gymnastics and acrobatics when he was four years old. By the age of eleven, he was proficient in most of the basic circus disciplines, and could hold his place in a flying trapezeAerial act in which an acrobat is propelled from a trapeze to a catcher, or to another trapeze. (See also: Short-distance Flying Trapeze) act.

He did most of his subsequent training at the Circus World Museum, in his hometown of Baraboo, with the performers who worked there during the summer season. He learned wire-walking, perch-poleLong perch held vertically on a performer's shoulder or forehead, on the top of which an acrobat executes various balancing figures. balancing, and eventually developed a cloud swing(English, American) The ancestor of the trapeze: a slack rope hanging from both ends, used as an aerial swinging apparatus. The addition of a bar in the middle led to the creation of the trapeze. act. He made his professional debut in 1976, at age fifteen.

Although he is well remembered for his elegance, Mark David had a daredevil side, which would be later reflected in his swinging trapeze act. He worked for a time with Jim and Heidi Grogan’s Star Ship 3 aerial act, which was performed suspended from a helicopter: With them, Mark did a solo trapeze act up to 500 feet from the ground!

In 1981, Mark David finally made it: He was featured with his cloud swing(English, American) The ancestor of the trapeze: a slack rope hanging from both ends, used as an aerial swinging apparatus. The addition of a bar in the middle led to the creation of the trapeze. act in the 112th edition of The Greatest Show On Earth—in the Ringling Show in the historical shadow of which he had grown up and learned his trade.

The swinging trapeze act he subsequently developed was inspired by his idols, Gérard Soules and Elvin Bale, who made their mark with spectacular trapeze acts performed in full swing, in which they did stunning heel catches without any protective device. Both had been featured above the center ring of The Greatest Show On Earth, in the 1960s and 1970s respectively.

Mark’s childhood dream eventually came true when his new trapeze act debuted and starred above the center ring in the 1984-1985 Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey production of The Living Unicorn. In 1986, he participated in the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris, where he won a Silver Medal. The many circus agents and directors present at the festival didn’t fail to notice him, and this was for Mark the beginning of a successful international career.

His act began with a long ascent to his trapeze on a Spanish web, which he performed into an impressive series of roll-ups. It was followed by various arm planges and heel catches (including a single-heel catchIn a trapeze act, a dive frontward or backward, caught to the trapeze bar by the heels.) on his static trapeze. His swinging routine culminated with a spectacular forward dive, again caught by the heels on the trapeze bar—and all of it was performed without safety.

Mark David performed extensively in Europe, notably with Circo Americano and Circus Krone in Munich. In 1993, he appeared on the British independent television channel ITV, doing a version of his trapeze act under a helicopter flying over the Thames in London. He also performed occasionally at the Circus World Museum in Baraboo. He returned to the Ringling Show in 1999-2000, for its production of The Living Carrousel—a particularly elegant show that fitted perfectly Mark’s own sense of style.

Mark David had been plagued with health problems for some time when he met with an untimely death caused by liver failure on September 13, 2008. Although he had settled in Sarasota, the home of many American circus performers, his funeral service was held in Baraboo, at the Circus World Museum, where he had began his long love affair with the circus.