With Billy Smart's Circus setting up its big top at Crystal Palace, reporter ELISA BRAY paid a visit to the professionals and found out how new laws could put an end to a much-loved tradition ...

A QUICK lesson in juggling, a go on the hula hoops and I am exhausted.

But to the artistes at Billy Smart's Circus, many of whom were born into their profession, the acts are second nature.

Ball jugglers Vassily and Evgeniy are a perfect example of the family tradition.

The Russian father and son duo have their costumes made by mother Elena and Vassily trained his son in acrobatics and gymnastics.

To complete the picture, Evgeniy's 18-year-old sister Ailona, who studied dance in Moscow, performs the hula-hoop number.

She first performed the act in public at the age of 15, so no matter how good her attempt at teaching me, elegance and skill go straight out of the window when it's my turn.

When I ask 19-year-old Jennifer Lyfering, who performs the magic act, where she is from, she laughs: "Where am I from? I was born in the circus, we are always travelling.

"My three uncles all have their own circus, one with tigers, another juggles with his feet. We have everything in our family."

This is Jennifer's first tour without her family but she was too busy with the three daily shows during the visit to Crystal Palace Parade to feel alone.

Billy Smart's Circus last came to south London in the late 1960s. It began in 1946 when the successful showman bought a big top and added circus performances to his funfair as an extra attraction.

However, the circus quickly took over, leaving the funfair by the wayside.

The circus is a way of life but the Licensing Law 2003, which comes into effect next year, is a big threat to the family tradition.

Previously, the circus and similar events such as Punch and Judy remained unlicensed because they do not have fixed premises but the Department of Culture Media and Sport is including the circus in the Licensing Act.

The problem is three-fold, says Billy Smart's marketing director Chris Barltrop: "If we were a theatre, we would need a licence every 12 months, and pay one fee.

"Because the circus is on tour, we would have to get a licence every week. Say the fee were £500 we'd have to pay that over and over again."

The circus would also have to predict where it would be two months ahead, an impossible task because of practical problems suffered by circuses.

Mr Barltrop said: "This would force us into planning. We need to be able to change site at the drop of a hat. Land conditions and weather conditions make it impossible to plan ahead.

"We are being discriminated against because we're travelling entertainment and do not have a fixed address.

"It is the end of the circus unless they adapt the new law. We just want to protect our way of life."