Under the Big Top

It takes the skills of a slapstick comedian and the agility of an acrobat to headline the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

For Bello Nock, star of the circus' "Bellobration" show, a little dyslexia mixed with attention deficit disorder doesn't hurt either.

Not to mention that attention-getting red hair that stands 12 inches tall, which local audiences can see firsthand today through Sunday at the Orleans Arena.

Nock appears to come by his skills the old fashioned way, with DNA. He's a seventh-generation member of the famed Nock circus family, dating back to 1840, when the family created the first Swiss circus.

Three members of the family came to the United States in 1954, one of them Bello Nock's father, Eugen, creator of the "Sway Pole Spectacular" act, and his mother Aurelia. They joined the Ringling Bros. circus.

Born with enough names for four kids, Demetrius Alexandro Claudio Amadeus Bello Nock first took the spotlight when he was 3. By age 6, Nock was on Broadway playing Little Michael Darling in "Peter Pan" starring Cathy Rigby.

Three years later Nock performed a low-wire act -- 6 feet above the ground -- with his brothers, "The Nerveless Nocks," in a variety show in Wisconsin Dells, Wis.

"It was a high-wire act to me," Nock says.

He remembers learning a valuable lesson from his father at that age when he successfully performed a handstand for the first time. "I held it for 10 or 15 seconds and when I finished I said, 'I did it!' And my father said, 'Can you do it three times on Saturday?' You have to be able to do a stunt more than once" to make it in the circus.

The acts went higher after that as Nock honed his acrobatic skills with various circuses in the United States and Mexico. Finally, in 2001, Nock joined the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and was tapped as the production's first headliner for this year's 137th edition.

"I'm a 20-year overnight success," Nock says. "They've had stars before, like (wild animal trainer) Gunther Gebel-Williams. I have to pinch myself every day. It's a wonderful honor."

Nock's onstage for almost all of the circus' two-hour performance, and when he isn't, he's most likely to be found backstage learning a new skill, such as his current activity, tap dancing. He plays 12 musical instruments and speaks five languages.

His big act is the "Wheel of Steel," performed with Nikolas Wallenda of the famous Wallenda family, in which a metal wheel splits into two parts. Nock says he created the act accidentally. "I design and build my own stunts, and I built five versions, but one time one piece of metal was different than the other."

With a little help from his wife, Jennifer, and Wallenda, the gravity-defying act was perfected.

Despite his dangerous stunts, Nock says he's never been seriously injured and has never missed a show, not even the time he had minor surgery. He went on to perform that night.

"I've had cuts, nicks and bruises almost constantly, but I never pay much attention to them. I've never had a broken bone. I plan to do this as long as I'm breathing."

So, to answer the one question everyone wants to ask, what about that hair?

"Believe it or not, it's au naturel," Nock says. "It's really red. When I was 11 I was performing in a water ski park and everybody had a crew cut. I got one too but the sun burned my head. I grew it out and have kept it like this ever since.

He uses Kenra brand hair spray to help keep it standing. "It takes three minutes to do, from getting out of the shower to getting dressed. I blow dry it and use a little bit of spray. It's actually very low maintenance."