Stony Brook students often see people outside of the Staller Center walking on tightropes, juggling and doing back flips. Students are witnessing the Stony Brook Circus Club.

Kevin Paray, also known as “The Unicycle Guy,” founded this new club three years ago. Zane Sterling, the president and co-founder of the club and a sophomore Computer Science major, said, “We hope to live up to their clown-sized shoes and create a place for anyone to come hang out and practice the circus arts.

“Towards the end of last semester we started discussing becoming an official club to get some slacklines for the community that wouldn’t graduate with their owners.” Sterling said, “At the time, Kevin Paray was also looking into starting the Circus Club, which had died off in the last few years.”

Paray and Max, the de facto leaders of the slackline community, have decided to form their two clubs together in order to increase their chances recognition and funding from the Undergraduate Student Government.

The club’s goal is to have people who take interest to the circus arts come together in order to meet new people and have fun. The current members of the club all joined for various reasons.

Club members practice the art of the circus, and some students even bring their own equipment. The members juggle balls, clubs and rings, ride unicycles, contact juggle, perform on slacklines and dabble in Diablo (also called Chinese yo-yo) and devil sticks.

“In fall of 2012, myself and a few other people got together and talked about making a club,” Paray said. “We all had various skills, I had started unicycling my freshman year here, fall 2010.”

Some of the members joined the club because it can be beneficial to them. Sterling, for example, uses this club as a fun way to have his exercise.

“I find that going to the gym can be pretty boring, so it’s good to have a way to work out,” Sterling said.

Some members even use the club time in order to unwind after a long day or week from studying.

The Circus Club has yet to have any performances on campus. However, they plan on to put on events at the community theater and the Stony Brook Children’s Hospital.

For those who have an interest in the circus arts or those who need a way to exercise, the Circus Club is a unique way to do it.