Katja Schumann is a retired circus performer who performed with, among others, and the Big Apple Circus.
Early life
Schumann was born to Ernst "Max" Schumann, a circus proprietor, and Vivi Merete Mikkelsen, the daughter of a Danish veterinarian.
Career
Circus
Schumann made appearances with her family's circus in Denmark, Cirkus Schumann, representing the fifth generation of her family to perform in the circus. She starred in her own act at 10, and made appearances in her family's show through 1983. In 1974, Schumann was awarded La Dame du Cirque at the International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo. In 1976, Schumann was awarded the Gold Medal at the Circus World Championships in London. In 1981, she made her first appearance in Paul Binder's Big Apple Circus, marrying Binder in 1985, the year she also became the first woman in the United States to perform 'The Courier of St, Petersburg', originated by Andrew Ducrow. She also performed haute école. In 1992, she performed at the Big Apple Circus with her father and daughter, and would in later years perform with her son and niece. The term "Schumannship" was coined for the Schumann family, meant to invoke "superb equestrian skills." While working in America, Schumann has presented a wide variety of horses, with a particular interest in Arabian and American Saddlebred horses. According to R.J. Candranell of Arabian Visions magazine, "The horses go back in all lines to the 1906 Davenport importation of Arabian horses from the Anazeh and Shammar tribes." Schumann says of horses, ”They are our colleagues, not our pets. We and the horses depend on one another. I think the bedouins and cowboys did the same.” Schumann would also occasionally lend her horses to other shows and their performers, such as bareback rider Timi Loyal of the Loyal-Suarez equestrian troupe, and pasture the animals on local farms when they were not working.
Film
In 1965, Schumann appeared in a documentary short about her family, directed by her cousin, Benny Schumann. In 1990, scenes for Woody Allen's film Alice were shot at the Big Apple Circus; Schumann makes an appearance presenting horses. In 1991, she appeared in the HBO documentary The Big Apple Circus, commemorating the 15th anniversary of the show, narrated by her husband at the time, Paul Binder. In 2019, she worked behind the scenes of Gooseboy, a family film about a young Danish boy and his goose guide; Schumann provided her trained goose and was credited as "animal handler."
Schumann has two children with Paul Binder, Katherine and Max. Max was born in her family's RV, without a doctor or midwife present, after Schumann performed two shows earlier that day, experiencing "a couple of contractions during the act." Said Schumann at the time, "I caught him before he hit the floor. He quacked and snorted a little and I thought, 'this boy looks just fine to me!' so I tucked him in with me under my bathrobe and waited for the midwives to arrive." Max was born on a Wednesday, and Schumann took off the Thursday morning circus show before returning to perform that evening.
