Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Baileys Circus. April 1st 2009

This year I got to go to the circus for my birthday! My friend Veronica took me because she knows it is one of the only things that I ever really want for my birthday and, as it happens, my birthday falls smack dab in the middle of circus season. The circus is not a show that many people I know are willing to go to any more. I love the circus and going to the circus is something that I love to do. For many years I went every year on or around my birthday to either Ringling Brothers or to the Cirque du Soleil [when it was within reach]. I've visited the Ringling Meuseum in Baraboo Wisconsin and have also been to Ringling's summer home in Sarasota Florida. I've seen the Bindlestiff Family circus several times as well as Circus Amuck, Circus Contraption, The Jim Rose Circus Side show, The 999 Eyes Freak Show and a variety of other circus type performances and sideshows over the years. It has become increasingly more difficult over time to find friends who are willing to go with me to the big shows like Ringling Brothers. The circus is politically incorrect, at least the ones containing animal acts are. I no longer go every year but it's something I all ways try to do.

Ringling's theme this year was "Zing Zang Zoom". There was more magic in the show this year than I have seen in any other, and good magic to boot. At one point in the show a plexiglass box roughly the size of a large dumpster was lowered from the cieling of the arena to the floor. This years star clown, "Gravity", was chased into the box by his fellow clowns. The box was sealed up by the ringmaster just before it began to rise up again to the cieling. Part way between the cieling and the floor a curtain fell down around all four of its sides. A moment later the curtains dropped and Gravity the clown was gone and a white tiger stood in the box in his place. I've seen dissapearing acts similar to it before, but never in person and never in a context where there was not someone popping up after the trick to reveal to me how it was done. The illusion was spectacular and I have no Idea how it was done.

Another memorable moment came along about two thirds of the way into the show. A pair of performers appeared suspended upside down from the lighting grid. There was a small set suspended upside down with them consisting of a small room with a curtained window and a table. The upside down people strolled around, danced and played badminton. Badminton! Upside Down! When they danced, their feet left the ceiling [floor] one at at time as they normally would if they were dancing on a normal [right side up] floor. Whatever was suspending them was totally invisible to the audience and was attached in such a way as to allow them [more or less] natural movement. It was a simple enough concept but I had never seen anything like it performed before live and the effect was totally convincing. Over all, I'd say that this year's circus was a pretty damn good one.