Before we get into the acts that have made the circus a hit for C ( and some might contend millennia ) , permit ’s first doff our caps to the real paladin of the ring : cotton confect .
We ca n’t on the dot arrogate cotton candy was invented in , say , ancient Rome and was enjoyed by folks ascertain lions shoot down the great unwashed apart in the Colosseum . ( Big events harbour in amphitheaters were calledcircuses , but " carnival " simply meant " lap " in Latin [ informant : Parkinson et al ] . ) But the steamy , sweet stuff was sold at the 1904 St. Louis World ’s Fair and presently became a genus Circus staple fiber [ source : Historic Hudson Valley ] . It ’s easy to tease its inventor , William Morrison , since he ironically was a dentist and initially called the candy " Fairy Floss . "
But rent ’s take on cotton candy shares the characteristic of so many circus acts that have stand the trial of time : A little marketing goes a long way to excite the public . And speak of rousing intrigue , our first entry does just that .
10: Sideshows
Since the nineteenth 100 , thesideshow — which featured hoi polloi with strange appearances or talents and sometimes promenade offensive stereotype — has been a part of circus acculturation [ source : Victoria and Albert Museum ] . And lest you recall it ’s an human action of the past , be assured that there are still numerous traveling show that exhibit performers . The message has truly exchange : A lot of the show these days are progressive acts of empowerment . The performers might be entertaining , but education and adoption is a muscular tool in contemporary sideshow .
That being said , sideshows of the past times were often debatable , to say the least . For one , they might be as wide-eyed as showing off a extremity of an ethnic or racial radical seen in the westerly earthly concern as " alien " or " bizarre . " People born with disabilities or strong-arm condition were also presented as oddness , and to get away with presenting these folks as specimen , circuses might couch verbal description of the performance with pseudo - scientific language .
9: Equestrian Stunts
Since a stack of us equate the circus with lion tamer and acrobats ( and do n’t you concern , we ’ll get to those ) , it might surprise you to learn that the cavalry originally made thecircusa striking . Phillip Astley was a former cavalry rider who open a riding shoal in London in 1768 [ source : Jando ] . The big instauration at the place was the " circus , " or ring , which allow spectators to watch the passenger execute trick from every potential advantage point . It ’s not gentle , after all , to have enough quad for a straightaway where audience members can see . Astley ’s 42 - foot ( 12.8 - meter ) diameter ring is still used as the stock cadence for circuses [ root : Jando ] .
Astley begin putting on show of equestrian stunts , drawing mass to the anchor ring with his animals ' feats . By 1782 he had started a alike equestrian genus Circus in Paris , and competitors began popping up [ source : Jando ] . However , the genus Circus was n’t just a horse and pony show by now . To add a lilliputian excitement to the proceedings , Astley started adding in small little sketches between horse expo .
8: Acrobats
acrobat were one of the resume between acts at Astley’scircus , although their original skills were a blend of a couple of other Acts of the Apostles we see today . While athletic carrying into action has evolve into several unlike field , it ’s worth noting that athletic or acrobatics skills were a genus Circus backbone from the beginning .
Because British circuses were equestrian - focused , the first acrobats in the ring used their horses as props . In fact , in 1846 an acrobat named John H. Glenroy made circus history by performing the first somerset on horseback [ source : Jando ] . ( If you want an entertaining explanation of a 7 - year - old connect the carnival , do look upGlenroy ’s autobiography . )
The other gymnastic arm of early circus acts was the floor acrobat who did tumbling or reconciliation acts . These early trading floor acrobat began incorporating humor into their performance by creating whacky and singular theatrical role . Comedy became a pretty lucrative draw once the circus introduced — you guessed it — clowns .
7: Clowns
Ah , yes . No circus would be complete without paint performer satiate into too - small cable car or remove each other over the pass with rubber chicken . ( Is that even aclownact ? If it is , let ’s hope there ’s more to it than that . ) As we said , some trading floor acrobats from the earliest circus days begin to incorporate clown into their acts , and voila — the genus Circus had its new star topology .
Now we ca n’t pretend the circus invented clowns . Although Philip Astley did do a kind of vaudeville act with a clown knight " Mister Merryman , " and the talks was middling much as silly as you ’d expect , clown and pantomimes survive long before Astley throw off his hat in the ring [ source : Angelo ] .
Today merry andrew are closely associated with the circus . But do n’t remember that all goofball are likewise : The true " snowy - face goofball " might be the ingenious half of a duo who play a trick on the Auguste ( the more naive and uncaring merry andrew ) into worry or mishap .
6: Elephants
Elephants have long been display in westerly culture as exotic creatures for local anaesthetic to gape at . Sure , they did n’t always do fancy deception or act as a performing lodgings for acrobats , but even in 1623 there were report of elephants journey England in menagerie tours [ informant : Speaight ] .
It was n’t until 1820 that performing elephants lead off to take over the genus Circus scene , where a pachyderm would pick up coins from the floor or doff its steward ’s hat [ rootage : Speaight ] . In the 1870s elephants begin performing in choreographed group and became a hit [ seed : Victoria and Albert Museum ] . While there ’s concern about the living and workings conditions of elephants in the genus Circus , the trainers also led a high-risk life back in the twenty-four hour period . One celebrated flight simulator was killed trying to get one of his charges into a power train [ reservoir : Speaight ] . Because of the controversy surrounding the treatment of genus Circus elephants , Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Baileyannounced it will pull away the human activity by 2018 [ informant : Wallace ] .
We ’ll derive back to more genus Circus - staple animals , but first let ’s venture to an even more precarious event .
5: Rope Walking
First example of the tightrope : Back in the daylight , it was referred to as " rope trip the light fantastic toe " not " circle walk . " While that might seem like nothing more than a semantic difference , rest assured there ’s a reason family desire to portray the act as a more sensual experience . turn out that lady walking on ropes could be a shade titillating to former audiences . Some of the rope walker of the seventeenth and 18th centuries made a show of take out petticoats for performances [ germ : Speaight ] . Oh my !
Rope acts started much earlier than the carnival but apace became a prominent part of the show . While we typically think of rope acts as the high telegram , where performing artist equilibrize on a taut wire high above the ground , there were actually two other kind . In the slack rope act , comic perform on a loose rope string between two poles . The incline wire , another rope act , curved from a celestial pole to the floor , adding an ramp for even more derring - do .
Speaking of daring , how about working with wild cats ?
4: Big Cat Acts
As with elephants , cats — whether they be lions , World Tamil Movement or some other grownup felid — were often paraded around in menagerie - like troops for fairs or locomote shows throughout chronicle . In ancient time , however , animals were demo for eventual slaughter — they were n’t necessarily performing great tricks for audiences . But by the time the circus became popular in the 19th hundred , big cats were being " tamed " [ author : Speaight ] .
Around 1825 a British zoo started showing some of the traditional trick that we still affiliate with circusbig CT act . A custodian would put his head word in a king of beasts ’s mouth and require a Panthera tigris and Panthera leo to jumpstart through hoops — the usual poppycock [ source : Speaight ] . But some circuses go for more luxuriant theatrical role plays , where a steward acted as Hercules and beat out a lion .
Although enceinte qat in the ring make us " ooh " and " aah " these days , some very patient souls tried their hand at using household cats in their acts during the nineteenth C [ source : Speaight ] . ( It did n’t last long . ) But if crowd cat sound hard , let ’s test a simpler diversion for our next circus deed .
3: Juggling
Some of us might associatejugglingwith clowning , but juggle is an old understudy at the genus Circus . In 1820 an Indian juggler named Ramo Samee became quite far-famed for his performance , and he only had four balls in the air [ source : Speaight ] . As the genus Circus became more popular , more nut were add to acts , but audiences were ungratified for another form of inflammation .
Enter the idea of juggling flakey objective . Jugglers commence throwing up whatever they could , from chocolate cups to tongue . And juggling now might necessitate a piece more athletic prowess , as jugglers perform on a unicycle or tightrope to levy the wager of an act .
In Chinese genus Circus acts , just juggling was n’t nearly good enough — not when you could have performing artist juggle while suspended by their haircloth . This act , call hair hanging , is making a bit of a comeback in modernistic circus , but it might involve more aerobatics than juggling [ source : Winship ] .
2: Aerial Acts
Where would we be without the flying trapeze ? We ’ve already discussed conducting wire walkers and other above - ground enactment , but the aerialists deserve their own mention . While we think of the flying trapeze as a circus staple fiber , it was actually part of a longer evolution of aerial human activity in thecircus . In the last one-half of the 19th C , the Roman Rings ( the rings used in gymnastics competitions ) were linked with a bar to create the trapeze [ source : Speaight ] . Performers ascertain all sort of fun uses for it , include the Iron Jaw enactment , in which they curb the bar with their dentition .
But it was Jules Leotard who added another trapeze to the human action , which allowed performers to wing through the zephyr from one apparatus to another . The first recorded performance was in 1859 , and it proved to be such a sensation that a commemorative plaque pock the result at the Cirque Napoleon where it took place [ source : Jando ] . Of naturally , Leotard also gave us another circus tradition : the leotard costume .
1: Ringmaster
No ego - respecting genus Circus is stark without a nattily dressed man or charwoman stepping into the ring to shout the programme and keep the crowd arouse . The ringmaster , formerly scream the tease master from the circus ' equestrian account , was an of import part of the early circus . While not technically an routine , it ’s a tradition that has continued throughout the forward-looking circus .
While ringmaster often interact with the clowns in present - day circuses , they ’re really there to give the Acts of the Apostles to the audience . Early ringmaster took on the job of master of ceremonies , but they were also responsible for maintain the knight at a steady gait while performer did acrobatics on the horses ' backs . Hence we often see the ringmaster assume the cerise coat , blanched pants and high kick of an equestrian captain . Ringmasters in early circuses strike their party whip on the earth to propel the horses . The clown , on the other hand , might get a more direct hit .
Lots More Information
While circuses leave some people a little dainty ( the treatment of animals and performing artist top dog among the reasons ) , the history of the carnival can fascinate even the most consecrate genus Circus - cynic . From sideshows to stunt , George Speaight ’s howling book " A History of the Circus " is a great read for learning about how the mod genus Circus took off in Britain and America .
