Con Colleano(1899-1973)

A member of the Circus Hall of Fame, Con Colleano is in the Guinness Book of World Records as being the first person to ever successfully attempt a forward somersault on a low-wire tightrope. The son of an Irish bare-knuckle boxer and an Aboriginal woman, Con and his family put together a traveling troupe of high-wire walkers, jugglers, and clowns that eventually left Australia for America and other exotic places. For years, Colleano, masquerading as a Spaniard, walked the tightrope in many exotic places for Cole Brothers Circus and Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey Circus. Dressed in a toreador's costume, Colleano, with his wife Winnie (a dancer and skilled trapeze artist), and members of his family who were part of the act would dance a bolero, and show his acrobatic expertise with an amazing repertoire of movements, including dance moves and twists and turns.