{"id":714,"date":"2019-12-24T07:41:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-24T07:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=714"},"modified":"2019-12-24T07:41:36","modified_gmt":"2019-12-24T07:41:36","slug":"circus-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2019\/12\/24\/circus-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"CIRCUS CHANGES"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FROM MR. KITE TO\nCIRCUBA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elegant tents were pegged\non the Rambla Medular in Arrecife with posters plastered all over the city\ncentre announcing that, for almost a month, Cuba\u00b4s National Circus was in town.\nWhatever the old romantic tales might have us believe, becoming a circus artist\nis not as simple as running away from home to star as a daring young man on a\nflying trapeze. Nor can any starry-eyed girl simply flee domestic drudgery to\njoin a touring circus company as a ring-rider of silver stallions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Cuba, at least, all\nmembers of the island\u00b4s National Circus have first to complete the academic\ncourse work compulsory to all students. Only then will they be considered for a\nrigorous four year training programme as a circus artist. Under its title of\nCircuba, the National Circus of Cuba currently employs around twenty qualified\nartists aged between nineteen and thirty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Circuba offers \u00b4an\ninvitation to joy and a remedy against darkness and daily stress.\u00b4 In fact, the\nadvertising as we entered the tent promised us that we were about to be\n\u00b4transported directly to the wonderful and radiant island of Cuba.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was certainly true\nthat what we saw tonight was a million miles away from the Chipperfields\u00b4 or\nBilly Smart\u00b4s circus of our own childhood days. As Dave Davis of The Kinks said\nin his first, and only solo hit, The Death Of A Clown, \u00b4nobody wants lions\ntamed anymore.\u00b4 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, this was not a circus\nof wild animals or prancing horses but was instead a more modern circus of\naerial work, rope work and trapeze work and of gymnastics and human pyramids as\nhigh as those in Egypt. There was a footballer demonstrating Ronaldo\u00b4s\nstep-overs and tricks at the speed of light using his digit finger on each hand\nto spin balls at different speeds. Not a ball was dropped, not a hoop missed as\nevery practitioner in each discipline showed themselves to be so well rehearsed\nthat it all seemed spontaneous. Everything was performed against a live musical\nand vocal accompaniment, all to those irresistible Cuban beats,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is too simplistic to\nbemoan any loss of tradition when those traditions have been replaced by\nimprovements that render the whole show a safer, but still far from risk-free,\naffair. The big top was still a billowing, striped tent that dominated the\nskyline, with a bright and colourful entrance way with vendors of candy floss,\npop-corn and ice cream there close at hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, the ticket-taker\nphotographed on his mobile phone the tickets we had printed out at home after\nordering them by plastic card at some anonymous on line site, and although I\u00b4m\nnot sure in what way, I am prepared to concede this must signal progress of\nsome kind. These tickets were purchased at an advance discounted price of only\nnine euros, and would prove to be incredible value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Circuba tent in Arrecife
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As we followed a tented\ntunnel into the arena (a bit like walking down the players entrance on to the\npitch at the pitifully named University Of Bolton Stadium where that town\u00b4s\ngrand old  Bolton Wanderers play), we\nnoticed that this three ring circus was actually a one ring circus. Tonight\nthere would be no smell of greasepaint either, as clowns do not make-up\nanymore, but there was likely to be a roar of the crowd as hundreds of people\nwere streaming in alongside us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A radio announcer told us the show was about to start, and our fellow circus fans burst into a round of applause that was immediately drowned out by one of the loudest blasts of music I have ever heard. The show was staged against this music throughout the ninety minutes duration apart from whenever the strange, child-like, clownish\u00a0 central character took charge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had no words,\ncommunicating with audience and fellow circus artists alike, through a weird\nwhistle, so rhythmic that we could almost tell what he was saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with me\ngiving you clues as to who he reminded me of is that those clues would be so\nculturally specific. Who apart from those from the UK would know what a Krankie\nwas? There was only really the UK and Albania would have any idea of what I\nmean by Norman Wisdom style humour. Maybe even only those who remember Sunday\nNight At the London Palladium in black and white would know is meant by having\na Max Wall walk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, he was an\nabsolute dead ringer for Cockney comedian Lee Nelson who starred a couple of\ntimes on Live From The Apollo which means you\u2019ll be able to catch him\nthroughout the year on repeats on Dave !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Circus lights<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This guy, part clown,\npart narrator (without words) was all those and more. This was a comedy genius\nworth the price of the ticket on his own. Picking \u00b4volunteers\u00b4 (who weren\u00b4t)\nfrom the audience he cajoled them into making fools of themselves whilst\nexcelling their own expectations, and ours, at the same time. He led them\nthrough skipping rope routines that defied gravity and belief and had them\ndoing the moonwalk and Fred Astaire steps as if they had been doing so all\ntheir lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout this whole\ncircus performance, though, he engaged with their circus artists in their own\nacts and so he pole-danced, he juggled, he gave a gymnastic routine, was an\nintegral part of the human pyramids and held them together in the same way as\nhe held together the entire evening: with a sure footedness and lightness of\ntouch bellied by his arrogant, cocky, cheeky and seemingly couldn\u00b4t care less\nmanner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact he was a\nconsummate professional, as were all his colleagues, ensuring that in the\naudience candy floss became entangled, popcorn spilled and ice cream melted\nwhilst people sat open mouthed unable to believe what they were seeing on\nstage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Tim Rice and Andrew\nLloyd Webber once said, and David Essex sang, \u00b4Oh What A Circus, Oh What A\nShow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FROM MR. KITE TO CIRCUBA Elegant tents were pegged on the Rambla Medular in Arrecife with posters plastered all over the city centre announcing that, for almost a month, Cuba\u00b4s National Circus was in town. Whatever the old romantic tales might have us believe, becoming a circus artist is not as simple as running away […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aata","category-circus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}