CIRCUS, WHATEVER you may wish to believe it means, to some it means the bloody gore of Circus Maximus, where Christians were fed to the lions and chariot races stormed around the hippodrome track.
TO OTHERS, CIRCUS IS, as so described in my Merriam Webster's dictionary, a show combining “feats of physical skill, wild animal acts, and performances by clowns” — the form invented by English horse rider Philip Astley over 250 years ago.
TO THAT, P.T. BARNUM, teaming up with James. A. Bailey, added his name and rings to call it the Greatest Show on Earth. One ring or three, it was clearly defined by the three essential elements, listed above.
SINCE THEN, ANIMAL PROTECTION societies and the creepy clown novels of Stephen King have driven animals and clowns from most of the rings in the U.S. and the UK. Russia would not bend, and China did not have to, rarely if ever presenting animals or clowns in its acrobatic shows. Let this put your fears to rest.
THUS WERE THE TENT FLAPS thrown wide open to people from ballet and theater, eager to save the old circus from itself – from its vulgar clowning and abused animals, as they would have you believe. To show circus artists how to bow with an overplayed humility that is false, like ballet gods at the start and end points of their acts. And on the highest level, to convey “character arcs” as in a play. Con Colleano of old knew how to dash in, twirl his cape and quickly take to the wire. How might his passion have been revised into stilted and pretentious through the cirque mills of Montreal? He and the best of his ilk knew how to shade their acts with choreography, and how not to become a slave to the shading They we re proud to be circus artists.
WHAT THIS LED TO is more ballet (or dance) on the ground, and in the air, more protection with safety wires. In-between the two intrusions, the edge of circus is being softened to the impotent elegance of a classroom practice session. How would you feel over the embarrassing spectacle of a group of pole climbing acrobats from China, all wired up? I saw this on one of the Monte Carlo You Tubes. Yes, Monte Carlo. Suddenly, mechanics are becoming a widely accepted part of the act.
SO ... IS THE CIRCUS ASTLEY created approaching its demise? I doubt this, there are too many reasons to enjoy the funny faces and the dancing dogs, etc. And the evidence out there of this is too overwhelming to believe otherwise. I am not pipe dreaming in a bubble. I have You Tube’s insatiable appetite for circus shows on my side.
RINGLING NO LONGER calls itself a circus, a shocking yet honest deletion. They are no longer a circus anymore than the Chinese Acrobats are alone a circus They are a show, like Five Fingers is a show. This is a story whose impact on the still standing real circuses will take time to play out. One thing is certain. Funny faces are not going away, and neither will performing dogs and seals and horses. They thrive in Russia and parts of Europe, and dare to soldier on over here, as witness the Zoppee Family Circus, which recently played a 80-show stand in Redwood City, CA. Life at its core has a way of going on.
NEXT: YOU TUBE REVELATIONS
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