Real-Life Decision Making
When circus performers put acts together, they have to decide which elements to include. But once they decide on the look and the feel of an act and take it before an audience, they must perform it without hesitation. There is no room for improvisation or error.
"You don't make wrong decisions when you are doing an act," says Mary Rawls. She worked for more than 50 years in the circus as a trapeze artist, elephant handler and ropewalker. "You don't get to the ring until it all becomes instinctive."
If it is not instinctive, the consequences of a wrong decision can be devastating. "Yes, there is always the chance that you will get maimed, or injured and not be able to do what you love to do," she says. "You do take a chance every time you go into the ring, if you are doing something adventurous or daring. But it becomes second nature to you."
But no matter how much they prepare, circus performers may have to make decisions at a moment's notice.
You are a circus performer. You and your partner perform a wire act. The wire is about eight feet off the ground. And as you perform, your partner takes a tumble and falls off the wire. The fall knocks her out cold.
What do you do?