Michael DuBois’ “Solo Circus” Hits NIC Stage

It’s not often that unicycles, balloons and machetes are experienced all in one night, or ever for that matter, but NIC was graced with a taste of that rarity last night.

Renowned performance artist Michael DuBois hit the NIC stage Tuesday night to perform his “Solo Circus” – an hour-long, one-man performance of dangerous stunts, tricks, and yes, some brief balloon animals.

Dubois juggles pins. Thomas Hansen/The Sentinel

DuBois has performed on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” twice, and the “Late Show with David Letterman.” Along with television performances, he also makes time to bring his act to smaller stages.

“That’s the thing, like, people think that, ‘look if you’re on TV [you don’t perform smaller venues]’, but that doesn’t mean anything about doing performances to make a living,” DuBois said. “I do 75 colleges a year and at least 75 other gigs a year too.”

When asked if high profile performances add any nerves, DuBois said they are rarely a concern.

“You know, it’s not even nerves, it’s more just anxiety that I can see well and that I’m warmed up. […] It’s always logistical stuff I worry about, like the music, because I run my whole show on a remote in my pocket, so it’s making sure that everything’s working properly; those are my big stresses. And travel. The show’s easy.”

Yet despite the lack of nerves, it doesn’t mean his shows have always gone without potentially dangerous mistakes. DuBois says he’s fallen off a unicycle while in a straight jacket, gotten his jeans caught on the unicycle chain, and had a stage break under him.

“You have to pay attention. Stuff happens.”

Dubois frees himself from a straight jacket on a six-foot tall unicycle. Thomas Hansen/The Sentinel

DuBois was raised in Upstate New York, where he learned to juggle in school at the age of 12. He eventually graduated from Penn State, where he went on to make his first appearance on the “Tonight Show” with performance partner, Chris Chelko. It was after Chelko got a job with the “Tonight Show” that DuBois started performing independently and created his “Solo Circus” show.

“It was really cool,” said NIC student, Annalee Fox. “It was very high-action and very funny.”

Dubois juggles machetes on a unicycle. Thomas Hansen/ The Sentinel

“He was really entertaining,” ASNIC Events Coordinator Maria Paluzzi said. “I think he really got the crowd involved, and everybody loved what he had to do.”

“I hope more people come to other student events because they’re really fun and it helps get every student together, it brings nontraditional and traditional students together and coming and just having a really fun time.”