by Jenny Novitzky
I love going to the circus – the fantastic make-up and costumes; the scarily pink candyfloss; the hyped up audience and the strange, lingering smell of hay, not to mention the performers themselves. Is any form of entertainment as varied and diverse as the circus? From trapeze artists to clowns; the circus has something for everyone. I think it’s a really exciting display of human talent and has interesting roots. A lot of people think the circus is just for young children but I’m here to change your minds…
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If you’re looking for a thrilling stunt display then you don’t always have to turn to your James Bond box set. Why not (shock-horror) venture into the outside world and go to the circus? The acts are equally as impressive as special effects – more so because of the fear factor of watching it live. From flying through the air with the greatest of ease to miming to fitting into a thimble every act wows you. My investigations showed that different people like a wide range of performances, and there is no clear winner. All the people I asked found conventional clowns either boring or down-right scary, yet they really liked modern mime-artisty type clowns. But it ain’t all clowning around y’know. Most of the acts require intense training, skill and strength. |
There are lots of careers available in the circus – it’s not all about the performers. It takes a lot of people to keep a circus running. Here are a few ringmasters, artistic directors, administration, engineering, catering, medicalas well as the performers themselves. For more information about these jobs look them up on the web or pop into your local careers advice centre. Here’s a little information about becoming a circus performer:
• Salaries range from around £10,000 - £25,000 a year. 
• Most are freelance.
• No formal academic requirements are needed.
• Need to have a very high level of fitness.
• Need to be agile, healthy energetic and enthusiastic.
• Must want to perform and entertain.
Circuses now are an entirely different matter to the circuses of yesteryear. Early circuses toured the country (a bit like fairgrounds now) with animals, acrobats and the all important freak shows. If a bearded woman or the smallest man in the world tickled your fancy then you’d be in the right place. Today, most don’t even feature animal acts and “freak shows” are completely out. Animal rights activists want to completely ban animal shows in the circus because they believe it is cruel and barbaric to make animals perform acts that don’t come to them naturally. They have also found that sometimes the animals are trained using punishment instead of reward methods. The circuses that use animals insist that they are keeping the traditionalism of the circus and always ensure their animals are well looked after. Some people argue that the animals enjoy learning new tricks. Personally, I tend to go to circuses without animals in, although this is kinda because I prefer the acrobatics to the animal acts.
As an ex-gymnast and a performer myself, the circus has always interested me and I’d really love for everyone to get the chance to be a part of the magic that is the circus. Is the circus just for kids? Why not pop along to one or go to a workshop at Greentop and see for yourself.
For information on workshops available to people at all levels of ability, check out: www.greentop.org or call greentop on: 0114 244 8828.
By Jenny Novitzky