The circus is in town!!

Yes, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus is in town! Since the last time I went to a circus was when I was a very small lad (and Australian circus' are a bit "small town"), Dani wanted to take me to see the Ringling Bros. circus - and it made a pretty good 'joint' Valentines Day present!

I've got to say that these guys really know how to put on a show! A full three ring circus, with action everywhere! The crew was very good at setting up for the next act right under our noses without the audience (ie: me!) being aware that it was happening - we were too busy watching a different area of the floor!

Enough prattle, Ken - on with the pictures! Let me just say first that our digital camera isn't the best: it hates low light, has no zoom, no anti-shake gizmo... in fact, as digital camera's go, it's pretty poor all 'round. However, it works and it's all we have, so no complaints, okay people?! :) And to keep things tidy, I'll keep the pix small - just click on them to see them in greater detail.

The circus was being held indoors, inside the Philips arena. The arena joins onto the CNN building - and this is an interior shot from the floor of the food court inside the CNN building. I really needed a fish-eye lens and low-light amplification to do this shot justice - the place is HUGE! We bought some Taco Bell for dinner (think McDonalds meets mexican food, and you'll get the idea) and then did battle with the other 50,000 people who were there for the circus. Needless to say, tables and chairs were scarce.... you kinda cruised around til you saw someone who was close to finishing their meal, then hovered nearby till they stood up - and then pounced!!

Those who arrived early were allowed to go down onto the floor and participate in the 'pre-show entertainment'. There were photo opportunities with some of the circus folk (including some quick costumes that you could wear for the pic), audience participation with the clowns, etc. Dani wanted to get a pic with me and a clown, but the crowd was sooo thick, I didn't like our chances of getting one.

Once the national anthem was out of the way (no offence intended to my American readers) the show got going, starting with a kind of 'introduction' to the performers. One feature of the show (which really came in handy at times for us people in the upper levels) was the big tv screen - you can see it in the upper-right corner of this pic. The fellow on it at the moment is "Bello the clown" - the star of the show. I may not be a big fan of clowns, but as you'll see later, this guy is very talented!

Of course, what is a circus without performing animals?! First cab off the rank was the equine section... three rings of horses (that is, if you call trained zebras "horses" - they were in the ring at the top of the pic to the right).

This was followed by a quick tight-rope act. I don't know if you can tell, but this fellow was set-up right next to the audience to our right. We were all watching this fellow closely (there was no net - if he fell, it was going to be into the first row!). Meanwhile....

The crew were setting up the enclosure for the tigers! We didn't even notice the wire-mesh 'cage' being set up right under our noses! And these cats were magnificent! I don't know about you, but the idea of getting into an enclosure with 9 massive cats isn't something I'd like to do every day! But, when watching these huge beasts lightly jump from one seat to the next, it was easy to forget that they were dangerous....until you heard them growl!

As you can tell from the number of photos, I found them rather fascinating!

The tiger handler knew what he was doing - he had those big cats jumping over each other, sitting on each other, and standing up (left). And, as you can see, some of them weren't happy about being ordered around (look at the big screen in the righthand picture)!

You'd think the tigers would be pretty hard to beat, huh? Well.... how about we combine precarious heights with a beautiful girl? And just for the hell of it, we'll throw in that clown too.

This young lady clambered up this pole like a monkey, then sat up there while the pole waved around like bamboo in a strong wind! Of course, the clown (who keeps acting like he wants to get to know this lady a whole lot better!!) jumps up the other pole and ...well... starts clowning around!

So there they both are, swaying from side to side (my butt was seriously trying to hold onto my seat in empathy!). But that's not enough - oh no! Now... they change poles (center pic, below)- while still at the top of them!! Then they drop - face first - down the poles! (right pic, below)

I'd love to show you pictures of the contortionists that followed - but our camera didn't do them justice. However, even our camera could capture the next act - Asian elephants! Apparently, Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey are actively involved in the preservation of asian elephants. And, like all the animal acts at the show, the handlers always treated their animals very gently.

Again, I'd love to show you the trained dogs (which were very clever!!), but our camera let us down. But here's the last act: tumbling inside a large rotating disc! Of course, Bello the clown was in on the act - I told you, this guy is very talented! This structure was lowered from the roof, and halfway through the act, it splits into two and starts rotating in opposite directions - with these guys clambering inside and out!

Of course, everything has to end sometime, and so it was with our trip to the circus. It was a very entertaining show, and even though it's more for the little 'uns, I'd go again! Ok, so I'm a big kid at heart - no news to anyone there!

I hope you enjoyed the pics!

cheers

Ken