THREE-RING CIRCUS PERFORMS TODAY

Martin Espana's great-grandfather was a comedian and acrobat in Brazil. His grandfather was a tight-wire walker. His father, Martin Sr., is a "catcher" in their trapeze act. And 17-year-old Martin is the daring young man on the flying trapeze.

Learning to fly 25 feet off the ground is difficult and requires a lot of timing and concentration, Martin says. "It's like a clock ticking."

But being a "flyer" also is quite thrilling.

"It's like jumping off a cliff, but you know somebody's going to catch you," he says.

Friday afternoon, Martin and his father were at work setting up the trapezes in the Show Me Center, where the Sterling & Reid Bros. Circus gave a single performance later that night. More performances are scheduled at 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. today.

Besides the trapeze act and an act the Espanas do on an apparatus called The Wheel, the three-ring circus also features the Nuneses' balancing act, tigers, elephants, elephant rides, Arabian horses and an albino snake.

Those who attend also will have the opportunity to have their picture taken with one of the Wolf People, members of a family whose faces are covered with hair because of a genetic mutation.

"They're not freaks, they're normal people," said Dawn Rafter, assistant manager of the circus.

She said she sometimes gets upset if people stare when they go out to a club, but the Wolf People don't. "They're not ashamed of themselves."

Martin started learning the trapeze "late" at 13. He always works with a net stationed 9 feet off the ground and has never been injured. "Maybe that's because I haven't been doing it that long," he says.

Martin's mother is a dancer from Brazil. His father is from Mexico. He has two sisters and a brother. One sister, 12-year-old Marilyn, is part of the circus on this trip.

The Espanas are based in Greenville, Texas, but travel 10 months of the year with different circuses. Martin has performed at The Palace outside Detroit, the same arena where the Detroit Pistons play, and has performed in Australia, New Guinea, the Marshall Islands, Alaska and Canada as well as across the U.S.

Girls still seem to be impressed by the feat of flying through the air. Martin, who speaks three languages, gets mail from one female fan from Papau New Guinea.

He doesn't miss having a more "normal" life.

"I get to travel a lot, see a lot of cultures," he says. "... I think my life is exciting."