Regardless of its peculiarities, it is usual to suppose that the circus is an art like theatre or contemporary dance. Through this consideration, a temptation of using the image of art in order to understand what occurs in the traditional circus in Chile rises. In this article this temptation is addressed into question through a description of some features related to the members of the traditional circus form of life. My objective it is not questioning the practical use of the affinity between the art and circus, but to show the limits of the image of art to make an epistemic approach of the traditional circus. Hence, that discussion it is held that a better way to understand the dynamics related to the traditional circus is the image of the professional associations.