The circus

When we came back to Ukraine a month ago I promised you a list of cool things you can see in Ukraine- I've been trying to get some input from the boys on this (they had to write a speech for English and I assigned the topic.) The one thing that is near the top of their lists is the circus. The first fall we were in Ukraine we went to the circus in Dnepropetroesk twice- once for Jonah's birthday, and twice in the spring - once with the building team from Steinbach. We never managed to get there this fall- not even for Jonah's birthday as we'd hoped, so yesterday we were off to the city for the circus- the early show at 12:30. We saw a different circus every time, they tour around the country (maybe other countries- they like to claim being the Moscow circus on their posters.) Dnepro has a circus building near the river downtown- it's circular and has a tent-shaped roof. Every circus is a little different, but you can count on dancing girls, comedy, animal acts and acrobats for sure. We've seen magic acts- with disappearing girls, stacking chairs- twelve high with guys doing handstands on top, lions, bears riding bikes (and chimps riding bikes), trained house cats and dogs- and porcupines. Girls twisting up and down ribbons, tightrope walkers, and flying trapeze acts- and troupes of earthbound acrobats that stand on each other's shoulders- three guys high.

Lots of sequins and glitter, spotlights and a real band playing (although some acts have recorded music.) The crowd is normally younger kids and parents or grandparents -not many teens, but the boys love it- easy to understand even when you don't know the language- you can figure out what the clown's doing when he heads into the audience after a reluctant adult "volunteer." Plus you don't see anything like it at home. After we saw the trained house cat act Jonah was trying to get Moosha to climb around things for treats. There are a variety of things to buy- balloon animals and flowers, light up swords and whirring things, pink wigs seemed very popular with little girls yesterday, plus popcorn and cotton candy to eat. Last year the parents were paying for the the kids to have a "flying trapeze ride" in a seat across the ring before the show and during intermission.


Yesterday there were three different activities- camel rides around the ring- with photo on the camel, parachute ride- in the background of the photo you can see the colorful parachute- they would strap the child in, pull them up maybe twenty feet and then they would glide down to the starting position- or you could have your picture taken with a snake around your neck, or with an alligator from the show in front of you (or the whole family)in front of the curtain the acts enter the ring through.
We discovered an upgraded lighting system (we'll have to go back next month for the Tibetian circus to see if it was for this circus or the circus building) with a laser-looking light show to start things off- before the dancing girls and the snake act. Then we had acrobat clowns jumping rope, followed by the camel act- two two-hump camels.





There was an American cowboy horse riding act- lots of sidestepping and rearing with the girl, the guy performed more tricks- like the horse lying down with him on it during the second act. Between acts the clown was out doing his thing, interacting with the audience while the guys changed sets. He had a big act with a female partner- with a lot of costume changes and dancing before intermission- they were in Inuit, Spanish, Japanese plus three other outfits and the final instant costume change- to a wedding-like dress for her was done in a cloud of tinsel glitter. After intermission- we got some cotton candy and watched kids fly up and down on the parachute, and another lazer light show, the featured on the posters- alligator act was up.



First the dancing girls- in harem outfits- danced among some little crocs or gators- not sure which- then the alligator guy came out and pulled them around and wrestled them- with the big finale being putting his face in one's mouth as seen in the photo. There was a monkey act with the usual ring tossing, handwalking, comedy- the monkey got the kisses- not the guy from the beautiful assistant- and then a trained white cat- black dog act- the cat jumped three dogs- one at a time in a line for the finale. Then we had the bear act which got the biggest applause when introduced- the bears looked shiney and walked up the steps to do rollovers on the bars, or walk on a ball, one rode a scooter, another walked on a rolling drum. The inbetween-act clown was all over the crowd- even got the section next to us wet while having a waterfight with the crew. Then he gave fake flowers away and the ushers got the kids to return them when he was going off sad with no flowers.





Then came my favorite act- after the dancing girls and "smoke" intro you see in the photo- the flying girl and guy acrobats- (look carefully- or click to make it bigger-you can see them up in the smoke)I know what gymnasts do when they retire- they join the circus- he looked like he was working the rings, and then hung her- doing the spilts- from a strap around his neck while flying thorough the air. Then they did some crazy bungee moves, separately and together. They got huge applause.
The four guy acrobatic clowns were back with the fat one dressed as a girl, riding a "bike" with huge tires- looked like they were made from monster truck intertubes- and bounced off the tires, chased each other, ran each other over, got a guy from the audience on the bike- afterwards the "girl" kissed him- they even did flips off the tires and hung by their feet off the handlebars- the boys thought it was hilarious. After the cowboy it was the grand finale...and we headed home to the vllage.