Cirque du Soleil’s Totem The Grand Chapiteau, Port Lands (Cherry and Commissioners streets) Selected dates until October 9 When we were a wee Torontoist lass, growing up in the suburbs of this fair city, the big ticket in town was the annual Shriners Circus. So this week, when we approached the blue-and-yellow big top for [...]

During the summer, some suburban mall parking lots across Toronto become temporary, G-rated entertainment centres as circuses appear literally overnight. Foremost among these are Shrine circuses, which are similar in some ways to a caravan of quirky relatives who show up summer after summer, seemingly unannounced, in enormous camper trailers. For reasons purely nostalgic, they are always welcomed back—as long as they promise to sleep in the driveway.

In the heart of the Junction, Heather Kentner spends her days on hoops, aerial silks, and a trapeze. This equipment—along with mats for floor work, like partner balancing and tumbling—are the tools Kentner uses to introduce her students of all ages to the various arts of the circus.