Circus Harmony: Balancing Character & Community

Jessica Hentoff is the Artistic/Executive Director and founder of Circus Harmony. Jessica has been using circus arts to motivate social change since she founded the St. Louis Arches youth circus troupe in 1988. To expand youth circus opportunities for St. Louis youth, she created Circus Harmony in 2001. Jessica is the only person to be a founding member of both the Big Apple Circus in NYC and Circus Flora in St. Louis. In 2009, Ms. Hentoff was named St. Louis Arts Innovator of the Year and Outstanding Arts Educator of the Year. Ms. Hentoff serves as a founding board member of the American Circus Alliance, on the steering committee of the Global Alliance of Circus Schools, and as youth/social circus advisor to the World Circus Federation. In 2014, she was honored to be the first person to receive the American Youth Circus Organization/American Circus Educators’ Excellence in Circus Education Award. She is the 2020 recipient of the Youth Learning Institute’s Youth Development Practitioner Award.
Ms. Hentoff has been teaching and performing circus arts for 50 years! Ms. Hentoff’s remarkable vision and use of circus arts has helped children soar in and out of the circus ring.