March 25th, 2013 by Stinkhead
The Ringling Bros Circus was in DC this past weekend and is on it’s way to Baltimore. (You can still get tickets). This time around it’s the Dragons! tour, featuring Kung-fu and Shaolin warriors as well as your favorites such as jungle cats, elephants, trapeze, and motorcycle stunts. Click below for more pics!
The clowns kicked off the show right before the ringmaster appeared and led us in the National Anthem. And then things kicked right off with horses, followed by a highwire motorcycle stunt, and then on to the big cats. The line up is pretty tight, with clowns performing in between any necessary set or equipment changes. There was never a second where you wondered when the next thing was going to happen. I really liked how it’s like a well-oiled machine.
I love the big cats. I love how they’re playful, but you don’t forget for long that they’re still very dangerous. I also like how it was a different set of stunts. There’s the typical routine that shows you that the trainer in the cage has full control (most of the time) but then they start getting more and more complex with what they show off. It was a different set of stunts from last year’s circus, but equally entertaining. They also quickly mentioned that all of their performing cats are raised in captivity from birth, and are treated humanely. I have to say it was a relief that we didn’t see the PETA folks out front when we were leaving like in years past.
There was also the impressive up-in-the-air stunts. These ladies were in clamshell style bubbles that they’d hang out from and do artistic poses while suspended 40 feet off the ground. There was high-flying trapeze and the suspended motorcycle I mentioned. If it counts as high-flying, the acrobats near the end were standing on the ground, and then using a see-saw to catapult men and women onto stacks that became four and five people high. These aren’t illusions, but genuine feats of balance, skill, and lots of practice.
The part that I really enjoyed was the exhibition by the Shaolin-trained kung-fu masters. It was unclear if these were dedicated Shaolin performers that are just now touring with the circus for this Dragon tour, or if they did other things with Ringling Bros prior to this tour. Anyway, they did impressive feats such as cracking 2 inch thick poles over their heads and bending rebar around their neck. The big event however was when two of them jumped through the ring of swords, while it was spinning, while it was on fire, while they were blindfolded. Impressive.
We took my five year old and a friend of his and they had a blast. (The face painting was part of a pre-party event) This was our son’s third circus (he did just great when he was three years old) and he was still transfixed. He said his favorite part was the girls with the bubbles (I agree, son), but he really like most of the other acts. There didn’t seem to be any “stinker” moments where we were wishing it would be on to the next act. Nothing was too loud or startling, and the pacing was pretty much perfect. This event is also great for boys and girls equally, and we saw many couples there without kids, just enjoying the thrills. In true Feld-event fashion, the show started right on time, and there was an appropriate intermission to hit the restrooms and get a refill. (My trick would be hitting the snack stand right before the intermission, the lines get huge, quickly). These photos were from the performance in DC, but the whole train is heading up to Baltimore right now, so click here to snag tickets.
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Posted in 3&up, article, Boys, event, Girls, kids, review | Comments Off on The Circus!
