ST. LOUIS - s4story -- St. Louis is now home to an international Ambassador of Circus! On January 18 in Monte Carlo, the World Circus Federation, under the patronage of Princess Stephanie of Monaco, gave this prestigious title to  Jessica Hentoff, who is known by many in St. Louis simply as the Circus Lady.

Being a World Circus Federation ambassador is a recognition bestowed by the Federation on individuals who have made exceptional contributions to promoting, preserving, and advancing circus arts and culture worldwide. They are honored for their leadership, artistic excellence, and dedication to the circus arts.

Jessica Hentoff is the Artistic/Executive Director and founder of Circus Harmony, an internationally renowned social circus school. She has been teaching and performing circus arts for over 50 years and has been using circus to motivate social change since she founded the St. Louis Arches youth circus performance troupe in 1988. Jessica created Circus Harmony in 2001 to expand circus opportunities for St. Louis youth. Circus Harmony will be celebrating its 25th anniversary as a nonprofit organization with a Silver Circus soirée on April 11 at City Museum.

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Circus Harmony is based inside of City Museum in downtown St. Louis where they offer circus classes to people ages 3 to 93. Circus Harmony students, teachers, and guest artists also present over 650 shows a year there as well as performing with Circus Flora, at Grant's Farm, and for numerous special events.

First and foremost, Circus Harmony is a social circus, meaning they use the teaching and performing of circus arts to promote social change by building character in individuals and building bridges between communities. They are known for their Peace Through Pyramids partnerships with other youth circuses around the world— especially their 11 year partnership with the Jewish/Arab Galilee Circus in Israel. Circus Harmony also offers pre-professional training and a number of their alumni are performing around the world with companies such as Cirque du Soleil, Seven Fingers, the Flying Wallendas and more. One of them, Sidney Bateman, even went from the circus to the WWE

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The key attributes of the Circus Ambassador role are to raise public awareness and appreciation of circus as an important cultural and artistic tradition while embodying the values of the circus — creativity, diversity, tradition, and innovation. Ambassadors are meant to inspire new generations of circus artists and supporters.

Since 2001, she has been passing it on through the work of Circus Harmony! In addition to the year round shows and classes they offer at City Museum, Circus Harmony  also offers free classes at St. Louis City Recreation Centers, St. Louis Public Libraries, and the Legacy Center. They also teach Circus Science classes for Urban League and Northside Community School.

www.circusharmony.org.