A circus performer called LadyBEAST is free to practice aerial performances on the 20-foot-tall, trapeze-like, iron framework in her backyard in St. Roch, despite protests from her next-door neighbor.

Two ordinary-looking shotgun houses stand side by side in St. Roch. In one house lives a 37-year-old professional circus performer, who once escaped a straitjacket while hanging from her ankles from a ...