Barefoot, with her arms extended horizontally and fingers cupped, 14-year-old Elia Taylor executes a ballet movement. She lifts her right leg, points her toes and stretches the leg gracefully forward.

But her foot doesn’t land on the wood floor of a dance studio. It lands on a one-half-inch-wide cable suspended between two platforms over the grass in the backyard of her Chandler home.

“She’s so elegant!” exclaims Elia’s 13-year-old brother Aubrey, who is standing next to the tight wire and watching her incorporate the ballet moves into her routine. Sometimes his sister puts on her toe shoes and delicately moves across the cable en pointe.

Elia is an impressive tight wire artist, juggler and contortionist who, with strict self-discipline and a firm schedule, honed her talents over the last nine years. Her daily agenda includes two hours of stretching and about three hours of skills practice.

“People say to me, ‘Wow, that’s so amazing! How do you do it?’” Elia says with a smile. “But I do it for so many hours a day that when I hear someone say that, I actually have to stop and think…is what I do difficult?”

Aubrey has talents of his own. Blessed with a warm personality that can light up a room, he’s a magician, illusionist and clown who can spin plates in the air.

Their brother Ian, also 13, is a dynamic flash of energy as a gymnast and acrobat who can juggle while standing on stilts or walking on top of a large ball.

“I love flying around and doing loops and practicing with my family,” he says. “A lot other kids don’t get to spend as much time with their family as we do, and it is very fun.”

Elia and Aubrey are preparing their routines for the 2011 International Circus Festival, an event created about 35 years ago by Rainier III, Prince of Monaco. The International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo is the largest and most prestigious event in the circus world.

The Taylor teens participate in their own family’s performing troupe, Taylor Circus Stars, which does shows for local schools, fairs and special events. “There’s enormous delight in being part of a circus, and while we are happy when our kids want to do it, it is never a requirement for them,” says their father, Martin.

It was the children’s mom, Barbara, who ignited her kids’ circus passion. In the mid-1980s she attended tryouts at Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, hoping to be admitted to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey clown college in Florida.

“At the time, I thought I was going to be a nurse,” she says. “But I learned that I really can’t read a thermometer well. So, on a lark, I tried out.”

Soon she was at clown college, learning to balance on a unicycle, walk on stilts and ride an elephant.

“To get up on an elephant isn’t easy at first,” Barbara recalls. “You learn to step on their knee, grab the top and bottom of their ear and they will then put you on their back and give you a little jolt.”

For three years, she worked as part of the Ringling Bros. circus, traveling and living on the circus train. “I loved stepping off the train and finding this brand new city to explore,” Barbara says. “The other performers came from all different parts of the world, so I loved the different kinds of cooking and the different languages. It was a spectacular experience.”

She met Martin after she finished her circus job and returned to Phoenix. Barbara’s father told Martin he couldn’t marry his daughter until he learned to juggle.

“During our romantic phone calls to each other, I could hear him saying, ‘one, two, three, one two three,’” Barbara remembers fondly. “It’s true,” adds Martin. “I learned to juggle so I could marry her!”

The family’s youngest child, Liam, is now learning to juggle. Sometimes Elia walks him across her tight wire.

When asked how old he is, Liam charmingly answers, “trois.”

“That means ‘three’ in French,” notes Barbara. “Liam speaks French because French is the language of the circus.”  

Martin and Barbara homeschool their children.

“It’s exciting because my parents are my teachers, my coaches and my parents so we are a close, close family,” explains Elia. Her mom and dad use the idea of the circus—the epitome of humans doing super-human things—to teach life lessons.

“We say to them, ‘Imagine what you can do and then you can do that!’” says Martin. “You can break whatever’s holding you back, put in the effort needed and then do what you want to do. If Elia sets a goal, we say, ‘You can do that.’ If Aubrey wants to go to Broadway, we tell him, ‘You can do that.’ If Ian wants to be in the Olympics, we say ‘You can do that!’”

Two of the four Taylor children are adopted, though “we can’t remember which two,” is how Barbara explains it. Traveling the world as a performer taught her what it really meant to be a family.

“In the circus we are gypsies,” she says. “We belong to one another and we’re used to the idea that you meet people and become family immediately, and so the idea of adoption isn’t foreign to us. It is a lovely thing and we believe in offering that kind of diplomatic grace to others.”

The Taylors look forward to June in Phoenix because that’s when the Ringling Bros. train makes its stop here for a series of shows. The family always goes backstage to see old friends—both human and animal. The elephant Barbara used to ride is named “Baby” and is still part of the circus.

“The first time my mom saw Baby again after being away from the circus, it was such a happy reunion,” says Aubrey.

“It’s true about their memories being advanced,” adds Barbara. “She put me right on her back once again.”

The Taylors help with publicity for the circus before it arrives—from clowning around at a Diamondbacks game to stilt walking at a freeway opening party.

“Never before have I worked with performers who have been as gracious and kind as the Taylor family,” says Jenn Hepner, local publicist for Feld Entertainment, producers of the Ringling Bros. circus. “From the littlest family member, Liam, all the way up to mom and dad, they are all spectacular, in every sense of the word.”

For their own Taylor Circus Stars show, each family member plays multiple roles on stage and behind the scenes, constantly cheering each other on to do their best. “They truly enjoy each other’s successes,” says Barbara. “That enthusiasm for their brothers and sister is something we really value.”

Family members wear stunning makeup painted on with an ink brush and colorful, sparkly costumes handmade by Barbara. Some have feathers or sequins stitched in interesting patterns. “I have to make them,” says Barbara. “The costumes must work correctly for what we do”—including Elia’s contortionist moves in unusual directions.   

At a Taylor Circus Stars show for about 200 Phoenix elementary school children, the family set up a circus ring for their stage. They brought children from the audience backstage and taught them tricks, then offered them a chance to step into the ring to show off for their friends.

“Did you see me?” asked one 8-year-old boy as he returned to his seat in the audience after balancing a peacock feather upright on the palm of his hand. “I’m having so much fun!”

At the end of the show, the Taylors answered questions.

“Does it take a lot of practice?” one child asked.

“Yes, but if you want to be better at something, all you have to do is start with 15 minutes a day. Do 15 minutes of soccer or 15 minutes of reading,” Martin answered. He told them that Elia couldn’t touch her toes when she first decided she wanted to be a contortionist.

“What do you do for your work?” another young student asked.

“Our work?” Martin replied with a smile. “Why, this is what we do for our work. For our work, we get to play.”

Watch this story on 12 News.

You can watch the Taylors perform

To learn about Taylor family shows, call 602-400-0924 or visit taylorfamilycircus.com.

Your kids can learn circus tricks

The Fitness Factory, located at 16020 N. 77th St. in Scottsdale, offers a Kids Circus Arts class for ages 5 to 9. Classes meet each Monday. 480-607-KIDS (5437) or thefitnessfactoryaz.com.