What Does an Animal Trainer Think About in Bed?

Jennifer Vidbel, the animal trainer for the Big Apple Circus, recently sat down with us to talk about her work life on “Career Talk Live.”

Jenny revealed what happens backstage, who’s on top at the circus, and what she thinks about in bed.

Because the master tape is marred by a loud tone–our fault, boo!–we’ve transcribed the interview, with very few minor edits.

Part I:
Haig Chahinian: Hello, welcome to Career Talk Live. I’m your host Haig Chahinian and I’m here today with an extremely special guest: Jennifer Vidbel of the Big Apple Circus. She is the animal trainer for the whole circus. Welcome back to the show, Jennifer. We appreciate that you’re making the time to come talk with us about your work and your life, because the two, we’re learning, are so intertwined. Your life is your work, and your work is your life, it seems to be.

Jennifer Vidbel: Absolutely.

HC: OK, you agree with that. Again, welcome back to the show. We were talking in the previous segment about letting go: of a strategy, of a “plan” I heard you call it, sort of a pre-conceived notion of where you would like to end, and what that takes.  Thinking about this after the show, it seems it takes a lot of patience.

JV: That’s key.

HC: Where do you get that from?

JV: It’s just here. And I think it comes with the love. You’re doing what you love to do. Patience is just there.  Because you’re doing what you love, the animals are happy, I’m happy, so it’s absolutely going to be an amazing result.  So patience is just there.

HC: We were talking about the audience in the last segment, and for example, you’re not thinking about what the audience may have been promised, or something like this?

JV: No, I think that they know, and that the animals and I are showing that we’re just having fun. And I’m only human, they’re only animals, and of course it might not be perfect. No one’s perfect.  The important message is that we’re having fun, and we’re here to have fun with you.  But it’s not always going to go as planned. “As planned,” there’s that word again. So don’t plan!

HC: Is this the case for each performance itself?

JV:  Sure. It’s live entertainment. And whether it’s the animal act or the aerialists or the acrobats, it’s live entertainment. The aerialists are risking their life, the acrobats are doing really crazy, amazing things. They’re also doing what they love, and this is their passion. It’s not a movie, it’s not scripted, and I think that’s what’s so exciting about the circus. You never know what’s going to happen.

HC: Jennifer, I should say: I get the benefit of sitting directly across from you, however our viewers are only seeing your profile. So would you sit at a diagonal? I should have been clear about this earlier, so our viewers have the benefit of seeing you as well. OK, very nice. Thank you.

I’m struck again, I’m struck by everything that you’re sharing, in this case – how the animals bring out the humanity in your work.

JV: Yeah, they’ve taught me simplicity, they really have. And they’ve taught me to have fun, because they’re just fun to be around. They want to have fun, they want to eat, they want to sleep, they want simplicity. That’s the greatest lesson I’ve learned from being around animals.

HC: You talked about fun last time. Something that we’re learning about work today is, in Jenny’s case, and I think in many examples, it’s so important to be able to have fun in the work you’re doing. How did you learn this? Because it’s not a common lesson.

JV:  It’s not something to learn, I think it’s something inside of you. You have a passion, and you go for it. It can be fun, it is fun for me loading horses in the middle of the night in the pouring rain to get to the next city — I’ll have a story to tell the next morning. Setting up our tents, because we have portable stables for all the animals. Watching out during a storm all night, making sure the animals are safe and well cared for. It’s all fun, because I’m doing what is my passion, what I love to do. So it’s a great story in the morning. I have lots of war stories.

HC: Sounds like it. As you’re describing what’s fun, you’re also relating something very serious about the work: protecting the animals.

JV: Protecting the animals. And this is what’s interesting—that’s what’s so great about this business.  You never know what’s coming down the road; you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow. But it’s definitely not this 9 to 5, where you walk into the office. That’s what I love to do, of course the animals are my family, and I’m very happy to stay up in the middle of the night to make sure they’re OK, as any parent would do for their child. It’s protecting them, it’s part of what we do.

HC: I remember in the program that I saw, you shared how you wake up thinking about the animals.

JV: Yes

HC: Like they’re the first thing on your mind?

JV: They’re the first thing on my mind.

HC: Every day?

JV: Every day. And they’re the last thing I think about before I go to bed.

HC: And the last thing you think about before bed. So you’re living and breathing with these animals.

JV: Absolutely. It’s kind of like, yeah, I’m their parent.  Of course, when I lay down at night to go to bed, I think, I go through my checklist, making sure I did everything – Is this safe? Is that safe? OK, they’re fed. Did that one get his special treat? Did this one, you know, all the water buckets, all these things go through my head right before I go to bed. In the morning, I just want to get up and check everybody out again.

HC: Talking about family, do you get tantrums, and sibling rivalry among the animals?

JV: All the time. I have so many.

HC: Conniption fits?

JV: Sure. I have a couple of stars in my group who don’t like to share the spotlight, so there can be issues at times. I treat them like people. There can be days when I feel “I don’t feel like doing this today”…

HC: You feel like this.

JV: Sure, like I’m tired, or I have the flu, or something, we all have these days.

HC: Naturally.

JV:  And so do the animals. So you really have to work around them. I’m blessed to have a lot, and there are understudies, so if they’re not feeling it, they’re not going to perform.  They’re going to rest and hang out. And if you know them well enough, they’ll tell you. They’ll tell you.

HC: You’re blessed to have a lot of animals. So these are your animals?

JV:  Yes.

HC: They’re yours.

JV: Yes.

HC: They’re not the circus’s.

JV: No. The circus has hired me, they’ve seen me, I’ve sent a video, I’ve shown them what I have and what I can do. And then they hire me.

HC: So you contract.

JV: Yes.

HC: You assume responsibility for the animals?

JV: Yes.

HC: That’s an interesting business arrangement.

JV: It is. As a circus hiring me, they know I’m going to be a lot of work.  The animals are priority, so there are certain standards they just know, they have to give me what I need, and what the animals need.

HC: That’s written in the contract?

JV: Oh yeah.  And it doesn’t even have to be written in the contract. It’s an understanding.

HC: Of the circus.

JV: Of the circus.

HC: Of how the circus goes. The animals are at the top.

JV: The animals are at the top. They’re the priority, they have needs, and they’re going to get them met. There’s no negotiating with animal acts. It’s “this is what I need, and you have to provide it.”

HC: So if the animals are at the top, and you’re the animal trainer, your role is at the top. Would you say?

JV: No, I wouldn’t say that, because with the animals the priority is the animals and their care, and their well-being. I have to do my job, I have to present these acts. But the great thing about the circus is there are no stars. Each act is a star in itself, and it’s different. That’s what makes a circus a circus – is the variety. It’s not like when you go to a Broadway show, you’re going to see this person, this singer you know. With the circus, you’re going to see it all. That’s what makes it so amazing, is the variety.

HC: That comes across. Each act is special in its own wonder, and there doesn’t feel like competition among the acts.

JV: No, not at all. Like I was saying before, the animals are the priority, and everybody understands that. It’s not like, well, no one’s ever felt lower, there are no bad feelings about that, it’s an understanding. Everyone in the circus loves the animals, the acrobats, the aerialists. They’ll all come at one point and say hello, bring treats; again, we are this family, and it’s just this understanding. And not that they’re stars, but we have to take care of them and make sure they’re happy.

HC: You’ll forgive my thinking, coming from a place of working with a lot of employees of corporations, where there’s a hierarchy, despite discussions of a flat structure. So I’m thinking about who’s on top.

This is really helpful. Organizationally, it’s interesting to look at the structure of the circus and to understand the variety and the sort of egalitarian-ness, while the animals need to come first because there are a lot of ways that they can’t take care of themselves.

JV: Right. And everybody will look after them. Which is a great feeling, me coming with this family of animals. To know that everybody’s watching out. When I’m in the ring there are so many animals backstage, and everybody’s looking out for them. Everybody’s very careful, making sure everything is safe and ready to go.

HC: You’re very supported.

JV: Very supported, yes.

HC: By everybody?

JV: By everyone. And that’s the amazing thing…

HC: The acrobats are watching over the animals?

JV: Sure, yeah, and they have a great respect for them as well. When it’s time for the animals to come in, all the warming up stops. And there’s a kind of calm, and quiet that you don’t hear any time else but when the animals are in there.  Everybody gets quiet, everybody’s respectful, the animals come in. There’s even whispering, it’s an amazing, really amazing thing to be around backstage.

HC: Every performance.

JV: Yes.

HC: Similar to our previous segment, I was looking to sort of map out your career path, and we started and stopped at age 12. Then we get into talking about your work today, very interestingly and engagingly of course.

So, you were a teenager. With rebellion?

Come back to Whole Wide Work to find out how Jenny’s parents would have threatened her in her youth, where she hopes to be in 2061 and much more about life in the circus. In Part 2, forthcoming.

Image via