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In the family way August 15, 2003 By Molly Beck (Credit: illinoistimes.com) Making her way up the 120-foot pole, Tina Winn confidently waves and smiles to the crowd. As she sits on the trapeze bar, she loops a rope around her ankle and falls with ease. If you think Winn has a death wish, you're wrong. Along with her husband, John, and daughter, Ashley, she performs similar stunts everyday as part of "Galaxy Girl and Cyber Cycle," a stunt act currently on the carnival midway at the Illinois State Fair. The Winn family calls Sarasota home, but for John it's never been permanent. "We are on the road more than not," he says. "We're going to be home for two weeks after this, and I consider that my vacation." Always being on the road means John and Tina home school Ashley, who's 16. "Wherever we go, she has to come along," says John. When they're at home for extended periods, John, 45, and Tina, 38, work in theater. John does stage rigging and lighting, while Tina works in costumes and make-up. On the road, they are transformed into death-defying daredevils. In their act at the state fair, Tina (or "Galaxy Girl") starts off by working the trapeze and doing handstands on the top of that 120-foot pole. Once she reaches the ground—without one bead of sweat on her forehead—she hands the stage over to her daughter "Miss Ashley," the "Hula Sensation." Ashley does various tricks with a couple of hula-hoops and ends her act with 50 hoops in motion ringing her body. John (or "Cyber Cycle") completes the performance by riding a motorcycle atop a 40-foot high apparatus while Tina swings in the air by her neck. When asked how it feels to swing by her neck, Tina is blunt. "It hurts," she admits. "My chiropractor says I should find a new profession." John's family has been performing high-wire and aerial acts for seven generations. "My family is from Europe and as a child we toured there," John recalls. "My father took me up on a high-wire as a baby and strapped me onto another person. In the following years, I was able to do it myself." John sees Ashley one day taking over the family business. "Ashley does a motorcycle act on a high wire with us as well," he says. "She just needs to figure out what kind of acts she would like to do, but I'd also be tickled if she wanted to go to college. It would be nice to have a lawyer in the family." "Galaxy Girl and Cyber Cycle" performs everyday on the carnival midway at the Illinois State Fair at 2, 5, and 8 p.m. They'll be returning to Springfield this November for the Shriner's Circus at the Prairie Capital Convention Center. —Molly Beck Back to Articles