Disclaimer: Ethan Essner is a Deputy Arts Editor for the Tufts Daily. Essner was not involved in the writing of this article.
One night, as third-year combined-degree School of the Museum of Fine Arts student Candy Li skipped across the Academic Quad, she suddenly became possessed by the statue of Jumbo. She felt its angry spirit and learned the dark truth of Jumbo’s life. While many believe Jumbo to have been a beautiful circus elephant with a heroic end, Li discovered how he was overworked, used and abused. She became filled with rage and vengeance for both Jumbo and other neglected circus animals.
As Li uncovered the pachyderm’s story, she began running and performing circus acts, eventually inspiring her to found Jumbo’s Revenge, a new circus club for students of any level.
“The birth of Jumbo’s Revenge is a grotesque yet necessary one. More members have since been graced by the spirit of Jumbo, and never again will the animals be the circus acts on Tufts campus. We, members of Jumbo’s Revenge are the acts, and Jumbo is the ringmaster, the leader, of Jumbo’s Revenge,” Li wrote to the Daily.
Li and her co-founder Ledao Gavalda, who specializes in aerial silks and is also a third-year combined-degree SMFA student, already represent a range of various circus arts that the club practices. Gavalda and Li thought of the idea in their first year after meeting and discovering a common interest in circus arts.
As their idea developed over the summer of 2023, Gavalda and Li connected with Esh Circus Arts to find a space for the club to hold events and workshops for members. These events began in the winter of Gavalda and Li’s second year. Although members have received a student discount, costs remain a barrier to making the club fully accessible; each person must pay $35 per event.
Although they were unable to earn TCU recognition last year, Jumbo’s Revenge is currently petitioning to become a recognized club. This would provide stronger monetary support, allowing new students to get involved who would otherwise not be able to participate.
“We had a meeting and it went pretty well,” Li said in an interview with the Daily. “The only thing is, [TCU said], ‘Oh, we would love to see more events,’ and [we told] them, ‘Yes, us too, but we don’t have money for more events.’… There’s been a good amount of interest; I think an aspect is just financially, people want to do it but they can’t pay the $35.”
While the financial component is a struggle, current members of the club have enjoyed exploring circus arts.
“When I was in elementary school, being a part of my school circus was one of the most enriching experiences,” junior club member Ethan Essner wrote to the Daily. “Jumbo’s Revenge, for me, was an opportunity to recapture that enriching, impassioned feeling that I haven’t felt since I was in elementary school.”
Others, like assistant acrobat and second-year combined-degree SMFA student Tainá Rocha, also have a childhood history with performing arts and have high hopes for the club.
“My goal is to work off the rust and feel confident about my skill level in aerials,” Rocha wrote. “I hope that we are at some point able to get apparatuses on campus, this would be the most ideal way of furthering the accessibility our club intends to provide.”
In the meantime, the club is trying to collaborate with other performance groups under the umbrella of circus arts, namely the Tufts Mime Troupe and Jumbo Fire and Flow. Li stated that an event with the miming club is in the works, where each group would teach the other their respective techniques and skills with a social event afterwards.
As the year progresses, Li’s priorities will be securing funds either through the TCU or fundraisers like bake sales. She also wants to increase awareness of the club by making practices and events more frequent and potentially performing on campus, either as their own club or with other arts groups.
“It would be really cool to have a big performance with a bunch of other performance arts groups, but also have the a cappella groups open for us, or maybe they’re singing while we’re doing flips and whatnot,” Li said. “It would be awesome to do events on Tufts’ campus, so people [can] just show up easily. … To really put together a show and tell a story — that would be the dream.”
More information can be found on the club’s Instagram.
