Yesterday, Richard Flint's classroom was a circus.

The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, to be exact.

After four weeks of learning about the history behind the hijinks, teetering tightrope walkers and airborne acrobatics, the students in Flint's adult-education class - "The Circus: Rings Around the World" - peeked behind the curtains of the "Greatest Show on Earth." The group, which had been taking the course through the Johns Hopkins University Odyssey program, mingled with performers and trainers, and toured parts of the arena before yesterday's shows.

For Flint, a museum administrator who has traveled with and worked concessions for the show, the class focused on a subject that has captivated him since childhood, when he read a biography of P.T. Barnum.

"I've been hooked ever since," said Flint, who has done lectures on circuses and served as president of the Circus Historical Society. "It really led to my career."

His class ranged from longtime enthusiasts like him to virtual novices.

Jim Williams, 65, of Guilford said the course gave him the opportunity to further explore the shows that have fascinated him for years.

"I really love the circus," said Williams, who recalled putting on his own circus as a child. And when the real big top came to the small Pennsylvania town where he grew up, "that was a big deal," Williams recalled.

Dennis Cochran, on the other hand, said he had never been to the circus before.

"It's been fun," Cochran, 68, of Columbia, said of the course, which he took at the urging of his partner, Kathryn Katz.

Katz said she was particularly drawn by the promise of meeting performers. She and her classmates spent yesterday morning meeting some of the show's trainers and stars, such as comic daredevil Bello Nock, human cannonball Tina Miser, and performer Nikolas Wallenda.

"When would you ever get the opportunity to do that?" Katz said. "I think it was worth the whole course."

At about 11 a.m., the dozen or so students and visitors indulged more of their curiosity, slipping through a side entrance of 1st Mariner Arena. They entered a wide passage lined with floats and wagons - some shaped like oversized shoes - where boss clown Leo Acton received them.

Acton, in his 10th year with the circus, described the more everyday aspects of circus life, including the full-time nursery and school. Education has become more important to what has traditionally been an insulated community, he said. Today, performers recognize that "there's a larger world out there," beyond nailing their acts.

"It's just like the rest of the world," Flint said. "It just moves every day."

Further down the passage, the group ventured into a room where two women were sewing portions of a large, glittering blanket covered with Swarovski crystals and gold and silver spangles - the same sort of blanket that circus elephants sport in front of cheering crowds.

"They're basically giant industrial tapestries," Acton said. Tapestries that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to create, he added. Those no longer in use go to a museum or are destroyed, he said, a circus tradition that guarantees that no other act gets its hands on them.

Flint's students eventually moved inside the arena, where clowns - including a newly made-up and costumed Acton - and several other performers interacted with audience members.

After Williams passed a wardrobe rack hung with old circus costumes, he doubled back, surveying the possibilities. After a few seconds, he pulled on a brightly shimmering gold robe, and turned for a friend to see his new look.

"I think it's me," Williams said.

arin.gencer@baltsun.com