The millions who watched Bello perform so winningly on America’s Got Talent would not have known of his world-acclaimed status.. I have a feeling that the show actively recruits circus acts — the better the act, the better to give the programs more variety and thrills.
A few weeks ago during semi-finals, I finally got to catch Bella’s act on the Wheel of Death. Indeed, to watch the best of Bello (I imagine) for the first time. For, you see, I am now after all these years a fan of Bello’s unique gifts. Call it a belated discovery.
.
On the big wheel, he ingeniously combined acrobatic dexterity, bravado and comedy to win me over in a big way. What I liked was how he built his routine, first inside the wheels, and then on the outer rims, cleverly escalating the danger.
The prop itself is one of the best props ever to give the circus an almost guaranteed thrill. One need only ride it and stay aloft to keep any crowd awake and tuned in, cell phones ignored.
And so I had my breakthrough moment with this Bello fellow, whose relatives I remember on Ringling in 1955, atop their tall lean "sway poles," but not really doing much. Made for great ad copy --- mid air exchanges! Nothing like what you might be imagining, folks.
I remembered Bello’s early days on Ringling when I could never know where to place him — goofy kid clown? Lazy daredevil? I could not find a compelling focus.
On the AGT stage, the judges were wowed. And scared to the pits of their stomachs. So was the audience. Indeed, what won them over was true danger -- the stark clarity of Bello working with no safety aids. This will only deepen their respect for the genuine and artistic risk-taking performer.
Alas, the Monte Carlo Gold Clown winner ended up, as eliminations proceeded, being pitted against a roller skating act. One would stay on. The other would go home.
What an odd pairing. The judges had expressed possibly more enthusiasm over the skaters. And so I grew anxious. Could he really lose out to ... the unthinkable ???
I cast my silent vote for Bello.
The judges cast theirs for the skaters A roller skating act!?! Bello lost out to a roller skating act! What a humiliation. Okay, to its credit, the skaters did more than I usually see in these types of acts.
I have seen so many of the same sort over the years, that I have grown jaded.
I felt such a sadness for Bello, who had to take it, and take it, graciously he did..
Really, what Bello achieved encompassed many more skills. In my book, there can be no comparison.
What next for this open-minded television show that is helping to keep alive the ageless lure of ring wizards? And before not thousands or hundreds – or dozens – but millions. Doesn't that make you feel good? It does me. So what next? Jenny Vidbel's bohemian barnyard? A young fiery flyer attempting the quad?
Why not?
Best of all, these judges appear totally free of a tainted bias for the precious Cirque du Soleil school of circus. It is so satisfying just to watch them react with almost a child like wonder to what passes before their eyes. They are the perfect panel for circus performers of all stripes. I say, bring more big top on!
The circus has three very good friends in America’s Got Talent. And in this we can take heart.
6 comments:
It was a Wheel of Death that most impressed me on my first adult visit to a circus - the start, really, of my interest in big top daredevilry. I remember those heart-stopping jumps that seemed perpetually one step away from peril. It's a truly edge-of-the-seat act to see for the first time. The other act that probably made the biggest impact on me was Russian swing. The flyers just went so high and spent so long in the air that it got my attention a lot more than flying trapeze where everything happens so quickly that you maybe have to be a bit of a connoisseur and know what you're looking for to truly appreciate it.
Totally agree. This display by Bella gave me renewed respect for the double wheel, whomever invented the wonderful thrill prop.
Standard flying trapeze return has become a bit worn. In recent yes, beginning with the Russians as far back as 1979 when I saw them in Moscow, ambitious flyers have added multiple swings and riggings to the act, and the effects can be sensational, with multiple flyers continuously in motion going in a number of directions.
I first saw the Russian Swing when John Ringling North imported an act from the old Soviet Union in the 1960s. It was a big immediate hit with audiences. Cirque du Soleil in the key of true circus took it even further, with two swings facing each other. Imagine gymnasts on each leaping simultaneously in each other's direction, to cross each other in space and land on the other's swing! Now that is about as thrilling as it gets.
I saw the Sensational Leighs doing the wheel in the sixties. Could they be the creators of this act?
Jim,
I have often wondered who invented the double wheel and when. I've thought 1970s. So it goes back at least to the 1960s.
I just did a little light digging. In an LA Times story, about the Ringling shows then in town, dated 8/12/86, Marco Peters, who with his brother Phillip did the act, claimed to have designed it. There is another fleeting reference on a google search, in one of links that come up but go nowhere, stating that the Peter Brothers (Dutch-born) invented the act.
Who knows???
For what it is worth, right or wrong,Johnny Luxum whom I worked with in 1975(wow, I was only a 19 year old tiger and elephant groom at the time) told me the Leighs invented the wheel then instructed him. It may have been their wheel that he was using at the time.
Wade Burck
Thank you, Wade
So we have two votes for the Leighs, and a sighing of the act in the sixties, long before, I am only assuming, the Peter Bros. came the scene.
Post a Comment