http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006612150417
Nashville loses its human cannonball
Duina Zacchini Norman, 'queen of the circus,' was 82
By JENNIFER A. BROOKS
Staff Writer
They called her the ballerina of the air. For years, she soared above delighted crowds at the Ringling Brothers circus.
When she came down to earth, it was to settle in Nashville.
Duina Zacchini Norman, trapeze artist and human cannonball, died Wednesday, at 82.
She was the daughter of a storied circus family. Her father, Edmundo Zacchini, invented the human cannonball act and went on to perform it across three continents with his brothers and their sons.
When the boys left to enlist in World War II, he trained his daughters to be human projectiles.
[[Totally honest when I say it’s an absolute fluke that i was planning to post this collage today—it bears an uncanny resemblance to a human cannonball-type lady (freaky!!)]]
