Wanderlust Circus

this group was founded in 2006 Oregon by Nick 'the creature' Harbar and Noah Mickens- they started out as a very small band of creative individuals and has since gained a lot more members and grown to be an actual circus troupe. their acts consist of contortionists, aerial/burlesque/belly dancers, and cowboy clowns.

they have their own fictional history though:

"Victorian English ringmaster William Batty and his spirit cousins, the members of the Wanderlust Circus, are blessed and cursed with conditional immortality: should they ever leave the circus life, their long years will catch up with them leaving them old or even dead. Batty and the Wanderlust Circus all come from different time periods – Victorian England, the Old West, swing-era New York and even the present day. Batty himself is over two hundred years old. Shows follow the troupe's adventures on the road with simple comic stories providing the through line between acts."

click here for their wikipedia which has way more information about shows they've done, venues and similar acts etcetctec

their troupe (^^in order):

Russell Bruner,

 NagaSita, 

Mr. Creature, 

The Rose City Acro-Devils (Jon Dutch, Anngela Burt, Joesai Carr, Scott Maxwell, Amanda Warren),

 Brittany Walsh, 

William Batty, 

'Leapin' Louie Lichtenstein, 

and the Wanderlust Circus Orchestra (Shoehorn, Anna Leander, Joe Haegele, Paul Evans, Jeff Holt, TJ Arko, Griff Bear, Kristopher White)

Circus Contraption

starting with my favourite!! circus contraption was formed in 1998 and performed under a number of different names before settling on their current one. They released 5 (amazing) albums before disbanding around 2010

^ this guy is Drew Keriakedes/Shmootzi the Clod - he was an insanely talented individual and one of my favourite artists-- he used to do the main vocals for a good portion of their songs and has been the main songwriter for the band. 

(he later started another band called God's Favourite Beefcake which made really cool music)

^this guy is David Crellin/Armitage Shanks- he was the group's ringleader and vocalist for some of their songs. he's an amazingly talented singer and has such a powerful sounding voice. i think they made a good choice in giving him that position because in performances i've seen, he just seems to give off that loud energy you'd expect from a ringleader. 

their troupe (crazyy long i know):

Joseph Vito "Dexter Mantooth" Albanese

Evelyn "Acrophelia" Bittner

Sari "Pinky d'Ambrosia" Breznau

Erin Brindley

David "Armitage Shanks" Crellin

Max "Fresco Rose" Davis

Colin "Ernesto Cellini" Ernst

Kevin "Chameleo" Hinshaw

Jenny "Nova Jo Yaco" Iacobucci

Drew "Shmootzi the Clod" Keriakedes

Whitney "Delphinia Spit" Lawless

Matt "Bunny LaMonte" Manges

Kari "Sally Pepper" Podgorski

Terry "The Carnie" Podgorski

Orycteropus "Ory" Afer

Lara "Darty Kangoo" Paxton

Hugh "Salamity Clam" Sutton

Jeff "Buster Speck" Walker

Annastasia "Esmeralda Diamond" Workman

Jason "Dr. Loligo Calamari" Williams

Yard Dogs Road Show

I discovered this band very recently! these guys are a 13 member travelling cabaret that incorporates things like burlesque, vaudeville and sideshow oddities into their performances into a genre that they call hobo cabaret.

what i thought was really cool about this band is that not only have they collaborated with both circus contraption and wanderlust circus but Zoe Jakes of beats antique (ive posted about before and loovee so much) is their burlesque and belly dancer

honourable mention the insect circus because their travelling museum looks insanely cool im disappointed that i never got to see them before they stopped !!