Historian Dr. Sakina Hughes and circus artist Paúl Gomex will discuss the intersections between circus arts and the histories of African American and Native American communities. Drawing on Hughes’ research into traveling performance venues as spaces of community-building in the post-Civil War era, and Gomex’s work building 406Cirque as a home for ensemble-based practice in Montana, this talk will explore what it means to walk the tightrope between cultures, disciplines, and communities.