The circus is a company of performers who present diverse entertainment that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoop performers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, unicyclists and other object-manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term also describes the field of performance, training and community that has followed various formats across its 250-year modern history.
Facts
MediumLive performance combining acrobatics, equestrian and aerial acts, animal training, clowning and other stunt-based skills, traditionally staged in a ring. 1 Signature TechniquePerforming in a circular ring, standardized by Philip Astley at 42 feet (about 13 meters) in diameter, the minimum size that lets a rider stand upright on a cantering horse. 1 Place of OriginLambeth, London, England, where Philip Astley opened the first modern amphitheatre for trick horse riding on 4 April 1768. 1 Notable ExampleP. T. Barnum's Museum, Menagerie & Circus, which revolutionized the American circus in the 1870s. 1 Connections
Associated With
Circus arts and performance art both center on live, embodied physical performance, and contemporary circus increasingly draws on performance-art staging and concept.
Theatre, Art Forms Circus arts have historically been staged and toured alongside theatrical and variety performance traditions.
Sources
1. Circus (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationlead section, first paragraph
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclists as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists.
History, Modern format, Astley and early British circus
He became a cavalry officer who set up the first modern amphitheatre for the display of horse riding tricks in Lambeth, London, on 4 April 1768.
History, Modern format, Expansion of the American format
The American circus was revolutionised by P. T. Barnum and William Cameron Coup, who launched the travelling P. T. Barnum's Museum, Menagerie & Circus, the first freak show, in the 1870s.
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