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besson3c · May 23, 2009, 09:44 PM

How do circuses work? Are there any remaining traveling ciruses other than Cirque Du Soleil?

How on Earth do they get those bears into tutus? How do those crazy stunt clown cars work? How do they get those seals to do those things, and the flaming hoops and all of that? How do they find clowns with such big feet? How come circuses don't seem to be that popular anymore?

turtle777 · May 23, 2009, 11:47 PM

I don't know about the US, but there are plenty traveling circuses in Europe.

E.g. Circus Krone, Europe's largest circus goes on tour on a regular basis.

I don't know if they have bears, they only list the following animals on their website:

Elephants
Horses
Lions
Tiger
Hippo
Camels
Llamas
Boar
Zebras

I used to go their as a kid, but haven't been in years.

-t

besson3c · May 23, 2009, 11:57 PM

What do all of those animals do in the circus on stage?

shifuimam · May 24, 2009, 03:22 AM

Cirque du Soleil isn't so much of a circus as it is a fancy acrobatic production.

I saw Cirque du Symphonie in Indianapolis when it was in town...pretty awesome stuff. Also saw one of the offshoots from Cirque in Chicago, as well as an acrobatics/theatrical thing in San Francisco a few years ago.

I'm not sure how active the Barnum & Bailey Bros. circuit is anymore - circuses are pretty politically incorrect these days. Animal rights and all that.

Spheric Harlot · May 24, 2009, 05:06 AM

Circus Roncalli is my favorite circus.

They don't go for "bigger is better", but try to capture the magic and wonder, but while being a real circus, rather than an entertainment franchise like Soleil.

They only use animals that are commonly held in captivity: Goats, geese, dogs, cats, horses, etc., but do no less fascinating things with them.

One of the best skits I've ever seen in any circus was a Roncalli show where a female member of the audience was asked into the ring and was presented with a gorgeous fur coat. As she walked back to her seat wearing the coat, a small piece of string was loosened and the entire coat came alive as forty or so minks jumped off her body and ran across the ring to their trainer.

What a great way to just plain entertain, or should you wish, make you go "hmm" without offensively making a statement or rubbing activism in your face.

I also really really love that they make a point of working only from historic refurbished circus cars, and - extremely important IMO:

THEY HAVE A REAL BAND. Circus Krone was entirely playback when I saw them a few years back, and it bugged the HELL out of me.

Circus Roncalli - Circus Zelte Modelle Impressionen

turtle777 · May 24, 2009, 10:07 AM

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot

THEY HAVE A REAL BAND. Circus Krone was entirely playback when I saw them a few years back, and it bugged the HELL out of me.

Yes, Krone used to have a band when I was a kid.

-t

Andrew Stephens · May 24, 2009, 04:05 PM

We go to Giffords Circus each year. It tours the cotswolds

home

They have a couple of horses but it's really just a few people and a great band.

residentEvil · May 26, 2009, 11:13 AM

i go to Barnum's every 3 years. i assume you are just being a typical ass and a google would answer your questions.

Welcome to Ringling Bros. Circus!

besson3c · May 26, 2009, 01:51 PM

No, I was trying to be an atypical ass, but I actually enjoyed checking out that site... Thanks residentevil!

andi*pandi · May 26, 2009, 06:11 PM

while once in a while we get to a big apple/ringling bros type circus, every year we go to circus smirkus.

moonmonkey · May 29, 2009, 05:30 AM

The Chinese state circus is still touring Europe, they are pretty cool.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_State_Circus

The BBC produced a critical report revealing that the members of the circus are poorly paid and have been euthanised like animals when injured, which kind of adds to the mystique.

mattyb · May 29, 2009, 07:55 AM

I went with my daughter to see the Pinder Circus in Feb. All the typical things of a small to medium sized circus.

What struck me this year (I went last year but the acts were a bit different) was the hola-hoop girl. There was near silence when she started. A sort of gypsy rags outfit that didn't hide much. The number was a cross between pole-dancing, belly-dancing and hola-hoops. The number of flashes going off during the performance was incredible. They should have classified it 'M'.

My daughter was impressed that the elephants could perform, piss and take a dump at the same time.

angelmb · May 29, 2009, 08:03 AM

Circus Charlie was really cool

osiris · May 29, 2009, 11:55 AM

I used to love the circus (Ringling Brothers), but I guess I lost interest at some point. Maybe if the now taboo Freak Show was revived.

It's cool when the circus comes to town - the train yards in Long Island City fill up with Ringling's colorful trains.

As for the clown's extraordinarily large feet - they have surgery - I think it's called podiatric augmentation.