BRATTLEBORO — To say twin sisters Serenity Smith Forchion and Elsie Smith once “ran away to join the circus” may be a bit hackneyed, but it’s close to the truth.

Serenity likes to tell the story of how two high school “nerds” went to the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1988, but dropped out after becoming enamored with all things circus — thanks to an upstate New York children’s camp where they worked for a summer. The camp had circus arts as an activity.