Many children try their hardest to avoid school, but it’s a bit harder when your school travels with you wherever you go.
That was life for owner and manager of Ashton Entertainment Chantel Ashton-Rodriguez, who grew up in an eight-generation old circus family travelling around Australia as apart of the renowned Ashton Circus.
“It was literally a village on wheels,” Ashton-Rodriguez says.
“We had two school teachers that traveled with the show and caravans that were decked out inside to be school rooms with desks.”
During her childhood, the touring production functioned as a self-contained community consisting of about 70 people.
This mobile community maintained its own infrastructure, including electricians and mechanics to service the equipment as they travelled around the country.
The Ashton family’s history in the industry is among the longest in the country, with records of great-great-grandfather James Henry Ashton performing as an equestrian in 1848.
He established his own circus in Tasmania in 1850, beginning a lineage that has now reached its eighth generation.
While the original Ashton Circus ceased operations in 2000, the family’s legacy continues through three separate touring branches today.
Ashton Entertainment represents one of these branches, serving as an extension of the traditions into which Ms Ashton-Rodriguez was born and bred.
Her heritage is a blend of international traditions, as her mother represented the Australian Ashton line and her father, Brasil Sanchez-Rodriguez, was a Spanish circus performer.
“My nana and grandpa brought that circus from Spain to Australia to tour it and that’s how my mum and dad met,” she said.
Growing up, she was exposed to a variety of acts, from her father’s work with tigers and elephants to trick riding and the Russian bar.
“You sort of do a bit of everything,” she said, recalling her early training in bareback riding while wearing a safety harness.
Since 2017, she has managed the business while maintaining an active performance schedule that includes aerial silks, knife throwing and the “Globe of Death.”
“I stand inside the globe when the motorbikes go around … probably the globe would be the most risky [stunt]” she said.
The modern industry faces significant challenges, particularly during the recent fuel crisis when regional travel was discouraged and moving the equipment was quickly becoming an expensive venture.
“We couldn’t fill our prime movers. The service stations wouldn’t let us fill it because they kept us at 200 litres,” Ms Ashton-Rodriguez said.
“The show doesn’t continue without ticket sales; that’s the only way we can move from town to town and keep the show going and keep artists employed.”
Despite these economic hurdles, Ms. Ashton-Rodriguez believes the circus medium remains a vital form of entertainment.
“I think the circus is still thriving,” she said, pointing to a recent sellout season on the Gold Coast.
Ashton’s The Great Australian Circus is scheduled to open at Browns Plains on Friday, 31 July and will run through to Sunday, 9 August before heading to Ipswich.
Book tickets via Ashton Entertainment.
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