IT was 4 p.m., Easter Saturday, in Clondalkin and the atmosphere in the Old Mill Centre was tense. Amid a group of onlookers two names were placed in separate envelopes and a draw was made. This was to decide which of two traditional circuses would put up its big top in the Co Dublin venue. By an innocent mistake, both Duffy's and Courtney's circuses had been booked for the same date and venue.

Neither side could afford to pull out, and days of negotiations had failed to find a solution. A way out had to be found, and the trial by sealed envelope was the only way to do it.

That episode, says Jennifer Johnson, a Canadian born anthropologist who has worked with Duffy's Circus for many years, epitomises the culture of circus people. They are positive minded, flexible, creative in overcoming difficulties and like to settle problems by negotiation. But they are no pushovers.

As it happened, Duffy's Circus won the draw and went ahead to stage its show. "But it was a bittersweet thing," says Jennifer. "It could have gone the other way and we might have been the ones to lose."

Jennifer has lived and worked with circuses in America and Europe for more than 10 years. Her first contact came in 1981 when she and her new husband, Bill, left Canada and put academic life on hold while they honeymooned in Florida in a camper van. She had been studying for an MA in anthropology in McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

"I liked anthropology because I enjoy exploring other people's creativity and the way they live." In Florida they made contact with John and Mabel Ringling, of the famous circus family, who had made their winter quarters in Florida. Then they spotted a small classified ad in a Sarasota newspaper which said "Free to travel, join the Roberts Brothers circus". And they did.

"Our first job was to arrow the show. The circus route is always a very well kept secret. In any circus you cannot afford to let too many people, the competition, know where you are going. Our job was to go ahead and put up arrows pointing the way for the circus performers to go.

From there she moved to Gatti Productions in Canada and a number of small family circuses in the United States and Britain. There is little circus culture in Canada because the population is too small and too concentrated near the US border. In the US there are about 50 tented circuses, many of them smaller than Duffy's.

While Jennifer and Bill were travelling, the academic world of anthropology was changing too. Instead of travelling to faraway locations to study exotic cultures, it was becoming acceptable to study cultural groups at home in America. "It grew out of the work of the American Indian Movement. It became academically acceptable for people who are part of a culture to write about it, rather than someone objective on the outside studying it."

Having returned after several years of circus work in America and Europe to complete her MA, Jennifer started fieldwork for her doctorate in 1990. She had been planning to go to Spain but then she met Tommy Chipperfield, who invited her to Duffy's Circus where he trains the big cats.

"Once I got here it made sense to stay. The language was easy, Duffy's is the oldest family circus in Ireland and they were willing to let me work with them. They are very interesting, tremendous people."

Jennifer and Bill handle all the advance bookings and publicity for the circus. But she has never performed in the ring. "I have driven trucks, pulled stakes, spun cotton candy but Duffy's are very conscious of the quality of their acts," she says by way of explanation of this failure.

Duffy's circus in Ireland has been on the road for more than 150 years. Its present ringmaster, David Duffy, is the seventh generation of his family in the ring. His own children, one of whom was born on St Patrick's Day, will carry on the tradition.

Though they are all on the road, circus people are a distinct culture apart from Travellers or travelling carnivals, says Jennifer. In academic terms she defines a circus as a "multi species nomadic community which lives and works together, motivated by a genuine desire for cooperation and harmony".

In layman's language: "The most important underlying value in circus culture is co operation. Circus people have a lot of the qualities of high achievers, they are very positive and have a lot of self esteem. They are always flexible, always looking for alternatives for solving things. They don't lie down under difficulties, they like to get along by using compromise but they don't give in easily either. The work ethic is very strong." And in Ireland particularly, they are popular in the wider community.

"People have a very positive view of circuses. They always smile when they are telling you about their memories of the circus. Nobody has bad memories of the circus.

"They see it as a good, clean form of entertainment, something they like to take their children to." Far from being cruel to animals, she argues that circus life is a stimulating and caring environment for animals which are constantly travelling, working and learning complex behaviour patterns which they would not get ink the wild.

BUT there are pressures on the traditional way of life. Bureaucracy and paperwork have grown enormously. With the increasing enclosure or development of open spaces around the country, it's becoming harder for circuses to pitch their tents.

"The days of going to an area and just pitching the tent are over," says Jennifer. "Lots of the old Tobars (the traditional circus word for a camp ground) are gone."

Jennifer argues that local authorities, far from closing off ground, should improve facilities for the circus. "Let's have better places not worse with water, light, heat, not just for circuses but all travelling shows. It would make the shows better and the community would benefit from better entertainment.

As for herself and Bill, while she is still working on her doctorate, there is little sign that she will go back to academia.

"Though I never planned to run away to the circus when I was a child, I am very fortunate that I fell into the circus. The circus ring is a place of honesty and sincerity. There is nothing fake in it."