Audiences will find more than just awe-inspiring performances under the big top tent at UniverSoul Circus, says founder Cedric Walker.
Circus, like other forms of theater, is a space for sharing cultures and making audiences feel seen, Walker said.
“What makes theater powerful is that you can see yourselves on stage,” he said. “From ‘Romeo and Juliet’ until now, the power of theater is to go to see yourself.”
A Baltimore native, Walker has brought his circus back around his hometown as part of its 2025 tour. UniverSoul is performing shows at Security Square Mall in Baltimore County’s Woodlawn area through Labor Day, Sept. 1.
Currently the only Black-owned and operated circus in the United States, UniverSoul has been performing across the country for more than three decades.
The circus features acts from around the world, but Walker said the common thread among them all is the cultural exchange that takes place when different communities come together.
“Urban culture is trend setting,” he said. “It’s dance, it’s music, it’s swagger, it’s soul. From gospel to the Harlem Renaissance, from Motown to Soul Train to hip hop, it’s changed the world. And there wasn’t, at that time before us, a family attraction that reflected that culture.”
Among the new acts that have joined the circus are an Ethiopian Pole Act with spinning and posing on a tall pole; the Power of Love ballerina performance; contortionist Kefeni; the Morning Doves aerial lyra duo from Mongolia and Ethiopia; and roller-skaters from Cuba and the U.S. performing acrobatics and choreography to hip hop music.
Some other acts include hoop divers and a teeterboard act, both from Ethiopia; the Double Vision strong-man hand-balance duo from the Dominican Republic; and the Zhukau Swing acrobatic act from Russia.
Walker grew up in the Druid Hill Park and Edmondson Village areas of Baltimore City, before graduating from Edmondson High School and moving to Tuskegee, Alabama. He would go on to become a production and stage manager for the Commodores, and later served as a promoter for the Jackson Five.
He said those Motown performers – and others, like The Temptations, The Four Tops, and Diana Ross – paved the way for where UniverSoul is today.
“The acts that they (Motown) made were giants,” Walker said. “They focused on excellence: excellence in delivery, excellence in presentation.”
He added, “Those acts were authentically who they were and they were for everybody. You learn that in Motown, we’re presenting to the world. We’re not presenting to any specific audience; we’re presenting authentically who we are to the world.”
In 1994, Walker first opened UniverSoul Circus in Atlanta, Georgia. A couple years later, the circus struck out on “our maiden journey outside of our home of Atlanta,” with a tour to four U.S. cities: Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles.
Thirty years later, UniverSoul’s tour still visits Walker’s hometown of Baltimore.
“It’s just so much joy and warmth,” he said about Baltimore. “I think the biggest thing for me is internal about coming home and being welcomed.”
Part of what sets UniverSoul apart, Walker said, is that it is a one ring circus.
The single ring concept, as opposed to a three ring circus, “changed the circus in the world from that big, monstrous show to a more intimate expression of culture…. It’s like the living room table or the dining room table. You can see your neighbors across the ring and you can interact. It’s a lot more to it than just great acts.”
“You can see the straining muscles of an acrobat as he performs his tricks … and look at the concentration in his eyes,” Walker added.
Audiences can expect to be watching the show one minute, and to potentially be part of the show on stage the next minute. On the flip side, they might see performers in the ring during one act, and out among the audience in another act. Interactive performances are a staple of UniverSoul’s style of circusing, Walker said.
With just one week left in its Baltimore run, Walker encourages audiences to visit for an entertaining and uplifting show.
“Circus has always been positive…. Come and be prepared to have a whole lot of family fun,” he said.
