Welcome to the Salida Circus. Founder Jennifer Dempsey is giving kids in Colorado permission to succeed, fail, and try something new. (Video by Katie Klann)
SALIDA • Beside a chicken coop in the backyard of a home on the countryside, a dozen kids are flipping, twirling, cartwheeling, juggling, walking on balls and contorting their bodies on silks and rings suspended in the air.
Their ages range between 9 and 13. Their tutor is Joe Lobeck, a muscled 30-year-old fit for “American Ninja Warrior.” Maybe you saw him on season four of the show. That was 2012. A few years later, he found himself in this little mountain town.