JANAICAN CIRCUS

Circus delights, disappoints
from:  jamaica-0gleaner.com
by Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter
July 15, 2013


A clown on stilts talks to little Ethan during his performance at the Circus In The City show. - photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Many patrons who attended Circus In The City over the weekend may have felt short-changed, as the event was more of a light show than an actual circus.
When The Gleaner arrived at the National Arena for the 3:30 p.m. show on Saturday, there were lines of people waiting to enter the venue that eventually filled up with a lot of children.
Shortly before 4 p.m., the show eventually got under way with a clown interacting with the audience before going on stilts. He then asked a young volunteer, Ethan, to help him put his hat and jacket on. There were also some graphics in the mix, as well as lights and special effects on a big screen in the background.
However, what was to follow did not include the traditional acts found in a circus. There were a few acrobats, but there were no musicians, tightrope walkers, unicyclists, fire breathers or daredevil stunts. The absence of animals was also very notable, except for a couple birds in the magic show.

 

An act performs during the fireworks
Nonetheless, another character later took the stage, also on stilts. He entered with horns, a tail, and painted abs, resembling a Jamaican Jonkanoo dancer. For a few minutes, a very flexible woman showed off her acrobatic skills by climbing on to him in various ways. She continued to show her flexibility while hanging from a two-ring trapeze that hung from the roof.
She later returned to do an aerial dance that was done with two long pieces of cloth hanging from the roof. But one of the most entertaining segments of the show came from a Jamaican magician, Wizard. He had birds appearing out of nowhere, an egg dropping out of a volunteer's mouth and another volunteer balancing horizontally on nothing but a single chair.
A lengthy intermission came and many patrons ventured outside into what was now a very cramped space. There were a few circus games, as well as food such as ice cream, cotton candy, popcorn, hot dogs, Holiday snacks and patties from Tastee.
Eventually the show resumed with a group called Light Works. They got a few cheers, but had some mishaps with the items they were juggling, as they were falling at intervals. Lights filled the stage for most of their show, but the biggest applause for the night came when there was a display of the Jamaican flag, the word Kingston, and the logos of sponsors, Tastee and Tropicana.
Tons of fire came from another group, Fuse, that lit up the stage with nothing but fire. One female started this segment by spinning a hula hoop with fire all over her body. There were cheers at intervals, but one of the biggest applauses in this segment came towards the end of the show when many patrons were already exiting. It came when a woman swung from a rope attached to the ceiling, while there was a fiery display that completely filled the stage.
from:  http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130715/ent/ent1.html