CircEsteem is an old building lined with a mosaic murals across the exterior, that stands in the middle of the 4000 block of North Sheridan. Its mission for the past 16 years has been to unite youth from diverse racial, cultural, and economic backgrounds and help them build self-esteem and mutual respect through the practice of circus arts. Aidan Weinberg, a freshman at Parker, has been with the circus for seven years, and has been learning life skills along the way.

At Circesteem, Weinberg is a diabolist. A diabolist is someone who does the diablo or Chinese yo–yo, which is two sticks and a long string connecting their ends, structured in a big yo–yo style design.

Weinberg spins the yo–yo between these two strings and then throws it up in the air, allowing him to do tricks with it. In addition to diablo, some of his other talents include standing and balancing on a partner’s shoulders, and performing juggling tricks with a partner.

“Juggling is a thing I see Aidan getting better every day, and I see a lot of his dedication,” Weinberg’s head skills coach, Cornell Freeney, said. “Splits and flexibility is my next challenge for him. Right now, I think Aidan is at 50% of what he will be at the end of the year.”

At a recent practice, Weinberg took part in an activity in which two people went in the middle of the room—the stage for the time being—with a single drumstick. The person who had the drumstick called it anything they wanted. Weinberg said, “This is a camera,” and his partner said, “A what?!” They repeated that exchange three more times until they both said at the same time, “Oh, a camera.”

The activity was really to help the performers learn to look at the audience when they spoke and be engaging. “A lot of circus students, Aidan himself, come in for the first time when they are young,” Freeney said, “and they are very shy and reserved and kind of feeling things out.”

Freeney wants to get his point across that circus is not all about talent, it’s also about character. “Once you’re more into the program the more you take ownership of it,” he said, “the confidence goes through the roof.”

The circus, accessible to ages 8 and older, produces two full shows a year—one in the fall/winter and one in the spring. However, they also do pop-up volunteer shows throughout the year.

“When we perform an act for the first time, I’m always naturally pretty nervous,” Weinberg said. “On my first performance ever I was super nervous and froze up and just didn’t do well at all. I was standing behind the curtain, extremely nervous, and when I came out, all I could see were these big bright lights in my face. It was so bright I couldn’t even see the audience. As I’ve been doing it for 7 years, I’ve been getting better and better, and now I interact with the audience and feel more natural when performing.”

A big part of Weinberg’s experience with the circus has been the relationships he’s made with the people he has met. “You definitely get to meet people from all over Chicago,” Weinberg said. “People who live on the far south side, downtown Chicago, it’s like all these different cultures coming together.”

At CircEsteem, even younger students play significant roles. “Even if you are younger, there is always something you can be good at, and you can teach other kids,” Weinberg said. “When I was eight or nine, I was basically a teacher assistant of one of the Diablo classes. Even if I wasn’t great at it yet, I still got the opportunity to help people, and I think that really exemplifies CircEsteem’s goal.”

Weinberg is very focused on volunteer work with the circus, and his favorite program is called, “Homework and Circus.” “It’s an hour of homework, tutoring younger kids with their school work,” Weinberg said. “You become a teacher and a mentor for them. It’s a really cool program.”

Program director Kasumi Kato is the head of CircEsteem and of the “Homework and Circus” program. “Aidan started coming on and off to our Monday, Wednesday, Friday programming,” Kato said. “Since he started coming, I’ve seen him kind of grow into a quirky, silly goose.”

Weinberg loves to perform his act in front of all kinds of audiences, whether it’s at a gala where adults are making donations to the non-profit organization, or at his old elementary school —Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School. Weinberg is striving to improve his skills to move up to the performance troupe, which is the highest rank at the circus, and Kato and Freeney do not think he will have to wait much longer. Kato said, “He is coming out of his shell here.”