Circus

A circus is most commonly a traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, hula hoopers and other novelty acts and the word also describes the performance that they give. A circus is held in an oval or circular arena with tiered seating around its circumference; in the case of traveling circuses this location is most often a large tent.

The circus is thought to have had its origin in Ancient Rome, where the circus was an open-air stadium where chariot and horse races and other public exhibitions were held. Briton Philip Astley is thought of as the father of the modern circus, establishing permanent and travelling circuses in Britain and Europe in the late 18th century.

History of the circus

Circus in the ancient world

In Ancient Rome the circus was a building for the exhibition of horse and chariot races, equestrian shows, staged battles, displays featuring trained exotic animals, jugglers and acrobats and other amusements. The circus of Rome is thought to have been influenced by the Egyptians and Greeks where chariot racing and the exhibition of exotic animals were popular events. The Roman circus consisted of tiers of seats running parallel with the sides of the course, and forming a crescent round one of the ends. The lower seats were reserved for persons of rank; there were also various state boxes, eg. for the giver of the games and his friends. In Ancient Rome the circus was the only public spectacle at which men and women were not separated.

The first circus in Rome was the Circus Maximus, in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills. Next in importance to the Circus Maximus in Rome was the Circus Flaminius, the Circus Neronis, from the notoriety which it obtained through the Circensian pleasures of Nero. A fourth, the Circus of Maxentius, was constructed by Maxentius; the ruins of this circus have enabled archaeologists to reconstruct the Roman circus.

Following the fall of Rome, Europe lacked a large and organized circus. Itinerant showmen traveled the fair grounds of Europe. Animal trainers and performers are thought to have exploited the nostalgia for the Roman circus, traveling between towns and performing at local fairs. Another possible link between the Roman and modern circus could have been bands of Gypsies who appeared in Europe in the 14th century and in Britain from the 15th century bringing with them circus skills and trained animals.

Development of the circus

The modern concept of a circus as a circular arena surrounded by tiers of seats, for the exhibition of equestrian, acrobatic, and other performances seems to have existed since the late 18th century.^[1] The popularity of the circus in England may be traced to that held by Philip Astley in London, the first performance of his circus is said to have been held on January 9, 1768. One of Astley's major contributions to the circus was bringing trick horse riding into the ring, and in doing so he set the diameter of the circus ring at 42 feet, which is the size ring needed for horses to circle comfortably at full gallop. Astley was followed by Andrew Ducrow, whose feats of horsemanship had much to do with establishing the traditions of the circus, which were perpetuated by Henglers and Sangers celebrated shows in a later generation. In England circuses were often held in purpose built buildings in large cities, such as the London Hippodrome, which was built as a combination of the circus, the menagerie and the variety theatre, where wild animals such as lions and elephants from time to time appeared in the ring, and where convulsions of nature such as floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have been produced with an extraordinary wealth of realistic display.

Antonio Franconi, the founder of the French circus, is credited by many to be a co-creator of the modern circus, along with Philip Astley.

In the first two decades of the 19th century The Circus of Pepin and Breschard toured from Montreal to Havana, building circus theatres in many of the cities they visited. Later the establishments of Purdy, Welch & Co., and of van Amburgh gave a wider popularity to the circus in the United States. In 1825 Joshuah Purdy Brown was the first circus owner to use a large canvas tent for the circus performance. Circus pioneer Dan Rice was probably the most famous circus and clown pre-Civil War, popularizing such expressions as "The One-Horse Show" and "Hey, Rube!". The American circus was revolutionized by P. T. Barnum and William Cameron Coup, who launched P. T. Barnum's Museum, Menagerie & Circus, a travelling combination animal and human oddities, the exhibition of humans as a freakshow or sideshow was thus an American invention. Coup was also the first circus entrepreneur to use circus trains to transport the circus from town to town; a practice that continues today and introduced the first multiple ringed circuses.

In 1840 the equestrian Thomas Cooke returned to England from the United States, bringing with him a circus tent. Three important circus innovators were Italian Giuseppe Chiarini, and Frenchmen Louis Soullier and Jacques Tourniaire, whose early travelling circuses introduced the circus to Latin America, Australia, South East Asia, China, India, South Africa and Russia. Soullier was the first circus owner to introduce Chinese acrobatics to the European circus when he returned from his travels in 1866 and Tourniaire was the first to introduce the performing art to Russia where it became extremely popular. Following Barnum's death his circus merged with that of James Anthony Bailey, and travelled to Europe as Barnum & Bailey "Greatest Show On Earth" where it toured from 1897 to 1902, impressing other circus owners with its large scale, its touring techniques including the tent and circus train and the combination of circus acts, zoological exhibition and the freak-show. This format was adopted by European circuses at the turn of the 20th century.

The influence of the American circus brought about a considerable change in the character of the modern circus. In arenas too large for speech to be easily audible, the traditional comic dialog of the clown assumed a less prominent place than formerly, while the vastly increased wealth of stage properties relegated to the background the old-fashioned equestrian feats, which were replaced by more ambitious acrobatic performances, and by exhibitions of skill, strength and daring, requiring the employment of immense numbers of performers and often of complicated and expensive machinery.

The Russian circus underwent an interesting development in 1919 when Vladimir Lenin nationalised the circus and in 1927 the State University of Circus and Variety Arts, better known as the Moscow Circus School was established where performers were trained using methods developed from the Soviet gymnastics program. When the Russian companies began touring in the 1950s, their performances were impressive and had a significant impact on the way contemporary circus developed as a performing art.

Contemporary circus

In the 1960s and 1970s, the circus began to lose popularity as people became more interested in animal rights and alternative forms of entertainment. Some circuses have stayed afloat by merging with other circus companies. There are numerous circuses that maintain a mix of animal and human performers, these include Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, the Moscow State Circus, Circus Krone from Munich, Circus Royale from Australia and the Big Apple Circus. Circus Circus is a Las Vegas circus themed casino and the largest permanent big top in the world also presents human and animal performances.

Cirque Nouveau/New Circus is a performing arts movement that developed in the 1970s, simultaneously in France, Australia the West Coast of the U.S. and the U.K . There are typically no animals used in this type of circus and influences are drawn as much from contemporary culture as from Circus History. Examples include Circus Oz forged in Australia in 1977 from SoapBox Circus and New Circus, both founded in the early 70's, The Pickle Family Circus founded in San Francisco in 1975, and more recently Circus Burlesque from the U.K in 1980 and Nofitstate circus in 1984 from wales, Cirque du Soleil founded Quebec, Canada in 1984, Archaos in 1986, Club Swing in 1994 through to more recent examples such as Quebec's Cirque Eloize, Les Sept Doigts de la Main (Seven Fingers on the Hand), and the West African Circus Baobab in the late 90's. The form includes other circus troupes such as the Cirque Invisible, and Cirque Imaginaire, directed by Victoria Chaplin, granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin the punk Tiger Lillies Circus, Circus Monoxide, acrobat, Dislocate, Rock'n'Roll Circus (now CIRCA), and Throwdown, while The Jim Rose Circus and The Happy Sideshow are both interesting takes on the sideshow.

Circuses from China, drawing on Chinese tradtions of acrobatics, like the Chinese State Circus are also popular touring acts.

The International Circus Festival has been held in Monte Carlo since 1974 and was the first of many international awards for circus performers.

The circus performance

A traditional circus performance is led by a ringmaster who has a role similar to a Master of Ceremonies, the ringmaster presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the show moving. The activity of the circus takes place within a ring; large circuses may have multiple rings, like the six ringed Moscow State Circus. A circus traditionally has its own band.

Circus acts

Main article: Circus skills

The scope and variety of human performance in circus is immense. Common acts include a variety of acrobatics and gymnastics including tightrope walking, aerial acts such as trapeze and cradle, and a variety of floor routines. Juggling is also a common act in circuses; the combination of juggling and gymnastics is called equilibristics and include acts like plate spinning or the rolling globe.

Clowns are common to most circuses and are typically skilled in many circus acts; "clowns getting into the act" is a very familiar theme in any circus. Famous circus clowns have included Austin Miles, the Fratellini Family, Emmett Kelly, Grock and Bill Irwin.

Daredevil stunt acts and sideshow acts are also parts of some circus acts, these activities may include human cannonball, chapeaugraphy, fire eating, breathing and dancing, knife throwing, magic shows, sword swallowing or strongman. Famous sideshow performers include Zip the Pinhead and The Doll Family. A popular sideshow attraction from the early 19th century was the flea circus, where fleas were attached to props and viewed through a Fresnel lens.

Animals acts

A variety of animals have historically been used in circus acts. While the types of animals used varies from circus to circus, big cats, elephants, horses, birds, sea lions and domestic animals are the most common.

The earliest involvement in animals in circus was just the display of exotic creatures. As far back as the early eighteenth century, exotic animals were transported to North America for display, and menageries were a popular form of entertainment.^[2] The first true animals acts in the circus were equestrian acts. Soon elephants and big cats were displayed as well. Isaac A. Van Amburgh entered a cage with several big cats in 1833, and is generally considered to be the first wild animal trainer in circus history.^[3] Mabel Stark was a famous female tiger-tamer.

Recently the use of animals in the circus has been a matter for controversy, as animal welfare groups have documented several instances of animal cruelty, used in the training of performing animals. Sweden, Austria, Costa Rica, India, Finland, and Singapore have restricted the use of animals in entertainment. The UK and Scottish Parliaments have committed to ban certain wild animals in travelling circuses. In response to a growing unease from the public about the use of animals in entertainment the formation of animal free circuses have begun cropping up around the globe.^[4]

Circus music, films and plays

See also: Circus music

The atmosphere of the circus has served as a dramatic setting for many musicians and writers. The famous circus theme song is actually called "Entrance of the Gladiators", and was composed in 1904 by Julius Fučík. Other circus music includes "El Caballero", "Quality Plus", "Sunnyland Waltzes", "The Storming of El Caney", "Pahjamah", "Bull Trombone", "Big Time Boogie", "Royal Bridesmaid March", "The Baby Elephant Walk", "Liberty Bell March", "Java", and "Pageant of Progress".

Plays set in a circus include the 1896 musical The Circus Girl by Lionel Monckton, Polly of the Circus written in 1907 by Margaret Mayo, He Who Gets Slapped written by Russian Leonid Andreyev 1916 and later adapted into on of the first circus films, Caravan written in 1932 by Carl Zuckmayer, the revue Big Top written by Herbert Farjeon in 1942, Top of the Ladder written by Tyrone Gutheris in 1950, Stop the World, I Want to Get Off written by Anthony Newley in 1961, and Barnum with music by Cy Coleman and lyrics and book by Mark Bramble.

Following the First World War circus films became popular, in 1924 He Who Gets Slapped was the first film released by MGM, in 1925 Sally Sawdust (remade 1930), Variety, and Vaudeville were produced, followed by The Devil's Circus in 1926 and The Circus starring Charlie Chaplin, Circus Rookies, Four Devils, Laugh Clown Laugh in 1928. German film Salto Mortale about trapeze artists was released in 1930 and remade in the United States and released as Trapeze starring Burt Lancaster in 1956; in 1932 Freaks was released, Charlie Chan at the Circus, Circus (USSR) and The Three Maxiums were released in 1936 and At the Circus starring the Marx Brothers and You Can't Cheat an Honest Man in 1939. Circus films continued to be popular during the Second World War, The Great Profile starring John Barrymore was released in 1940, the animated Disney film Dumbo, Road Show and The Wagons Roll and Night in 1941 and Captive Wild Woman in 1943.

The film Tromba, about a tiger trainer was released in 1948 and in 1952 Cecil B. de Mille's Oscar winning film The Greatest Show on Earth was first shown. Released in 1953 were Man on a Tightrope and Ingmar Bergman's Gycklarnas afton released as Sawdust and Tinsel in the United States, Life is a Circus, Ring of Fear, Three-Ring Circus and La Strada an Oscar winning film by Federico Fellini about a girl who was sold to a circus wrestler; Fellini made a second film set in the circus called The Clowns in 1970. Films about the circus made since 1959 include B-movie Circus of Horrors, musical Billy Rose's Jumbo, A Tiger Walks a Disney film about a tiger that escapes from the circus and Circus World starring John Wayne.

Circus Buildings

In some towns, there are circus buildings. The best known are

• Circus Krone Building in Munich
• Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow
• Shanghai Circus World in Shanghai
• Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, Nevada

See also

• List of famous circuses and circus owners
• Hartford Circus Fire
• Animal training
• Acrobatics
• Spanish Web
• German wheel

Notes

References

• Big Apple Circus. Classical Circus Throughout the Ages
• Croft-Cooke, Rupert and Cotes, Peter. 1976. Circus: A World History. Elek. London ISBN 0-236-40051-7
• Johnson, William M. 1990. The Rose-Tinted Menagerie. Iridescent Publishing
• National Museum of Performing Arts, Theatre Museum. Circus Guided Tour

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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