News for January 18, 2006
Circus elephants given vodka [01-16-2006]
Indian elephants performing for a circus in Mongolia are being given vodka each day to ward off the cold.
The elephants are working for the Moscow State Circus which is holding its first show in Mongolia in 25 years, reports UB Post
Local circus officials are giving elephants two litres of vodka each daily to help them survive freezing temperatures as low as -28C, during the week-long show.
Coney Island School Keeps Carnival Skills Alive [01-16-2006]
NEW YORK — Todd Robbins stands on a wooden stage in a drafty old building in Coney Island, nonchalantly hammering a nail up his nose.
“It’s called the human blockhead,” he says, as the nail slowly disappears, “because you have to be a complete blockhead to do something this dangerous. The nail is real. The hammer is real. Only the head is fake.”
Jokes are no extra charge at the Coney Island Circus Sideshow School, the only one of its kind in the country. Classes are held in the fall, spring and summer in a building that doubles as the Coney Island Museum. Lurid sideshow banners advertise Madame Twisto, Serpentina, Insectavora and other performers of sideshows past.
Robbins — part carny, part comedian, all showman — is the instructor. There are no textbooks save for a 24-page handout. The school is all show and tell, with Robbins demonstrating the literal ins and outs of fire-eating and sword-swallowing, plus other un-MBA-like skills.
Licensing Act variations ‘killing’ touring circus [01-17-2006]
Circuses could find themselves paying up to six times more than originally expected for permits under the new Licensing Act, because of varying interpretations of the law by local authorities.
In some areas, circuses are being charged increased rates for premises licences if they are on land shared with other facilities, such as air strips or leisure centres, while those who have opted for temporary event licences have found themselves limited to opening for just four days a week.
Leading figures from the circus industry are set to meet licensing minister James Purnell at the end of the month to urge him to tackle the anomalies, which they say present “great difficulties” for the industry.
It’s a Winn win for Nokomis circus family [01-18-2006]
Members of the famous circus family of aerialists came down to Earth to pick up the biggest award of the Circus Celebrity Committee of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and its Circus Museum — The Circus Celebrity Award.
Following in the footsteps of such famous stars as the late Gunther Gebel-Williams of Venice, Dolly Jacobs of Sarasota and the late Karl Wallenda, the Winns were honored for the thrills and chills they have provided to circus fans all over the world for seven generations.
Thrill and daring have been and continue to be the hallmark of Winn performances, which have included such daredevil stunts as the slide for life, double skywalks, double sway poles, the giant wheel with fireworks somersaulting, and their trademark inclined wire with its roaring, rotating motorcycle.
As if that were not enough, the motorcycle rider does it while performing a headstand as he is wheeling back to Earth.
New circus school opens in Cardiff [01-18-2006]
Cardiff people are to be given the chance to be a high flying trapeze artist, balance on a tightwire or try their hand at juggling when new circus school is launched today.
Internationally renowned NoFit State Circus have just opened the school in Central Cardiff to train the local community to walk, hop and swing on the wild side. Their exciting new premises at Ebeneser AnneXe, Charles Street is a dedicated training space for circus arts – the only one in Wales.
Classes include trapeze and aerial, acrobalance and circus skills. A Youth Circus will run for 8 – 16 year olds, and the space will also be available for circus parties where you and you friends can try out all the skills above plus knife throwing, whips, lassos, unicycling and stilts.]
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