Category: Circus arts

The Courrier of St Petersburg: an Equestrian Tradition

14 February 2024 / the-big-top

_{By Pierre Ayel and Sylvie}

Scène de cirque
Croquis d’homme tenant un cheval
Serge Choubine (1900-1931)

Dear readers,

Have you recently seen, in the Théâtre de la cité, the new show of the circus company Baro d’Evel? If you saw it, you may have been, like me, surprised by the apparition of a horse on the stage. But, after having read this article, you will see that horses and circus have been linked since the end of the eighteenth century.

At that time in England, the royal law, with the 1737 Licensing Act, allowed only three venues to perform “legitimate theater”. So, these royal venues and the king’s theater companies who had the license had a monopoly on real drama, which was spoken theater. All the others had only the possibility to perform “public dancing and music” and “other public entrainements of the like kind”.

To pass off the prohibition and perform real drama, one man, Philip Astley, an equestrian, following the success of trick-riding displays, started to organize equestrian shows. He adapted common stories and plays in a way where trained horses performed the leading roles of a drama, carrying out the plot. The first show on the legitimate stage of London was performed in February 1811. Hippodrama was born. This new kind of pantomime had a great international success: Astley had his own circus in London, as did some of his rivals, and cities around the world like New-York, Philadelphia, Sydney or St Petersburg.

During this creative and successful period for hippodrama, some other equestrians became famous. One of them, Andrew Ducrow named “the colossus of equestrian performers” created an equestrian performance which became so famous that it’s still performed today. This performance named ‘The Courier of St.Petersburg” tells the story of a courier who crosses Europe country by country to reach their goal. The horses have flags that represent the countries crossed by the courier during this imaginary itinerary. The equestrian stands on two galloping horses, one foot on each of them forming a human bridge. The horses gallop under her/his legs and she/he has to grab long reins on their back.

At first, Ducrow did this equestrian feat with five horses, but others developed it up to thirteen galloping horses. At that point the whole circus ring is full of galloping horses forming a spiral in motion for a few seconds. Then, the horses disappear, leaving the spectators with this last impression.

So dear readers, next time you see horses on a stage, don’t be surprised!

Sources:

A History of the French Circus

https://www.artcena.fr/sites/default/files/medias/pdf/Magazine/Portraits/art.ap20-07.pdf

https://www.artcena.fr/magazine/reperes/cirque/focus-cirque/et-lhomme-cheval-crea-le-cirque-moderne

https://www.britannica.com/art/circus-theatrical-entertainment/General-characteristics#ref888055

https://journals.openedition.org/insitu/11906?lang=en

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/library/special-collections-heritage-and-archives/national-fairground-and-circus-archive

http://www.wakingthedead.org/andrew-ducrow.html

http://expositions.bnf.fr/cnac/grand/cir_2416.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ducrow

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippodrama

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey_Theatre

Philip Astley

20 April 2023 / the-big-top

The Father of Modern Circus

by Fiona Labbé

In this article, I would like to speak about a man considered as the father of modern circus: Philip Astley. In the 1750s in England, the first equestrian exhibitions appeared. Jacob Bates was the first man who showcased equestrian exhibitions in a circular space. A few years later, in 1768 (a date that marks the beginning of the modern circus), Philip Astley created his own equestrian show: he made his first parade and his first show in London. He was a former military equestrian who gave riding lessons during the day, and proposed equestrian shows during the night. He is considered as the father of modern circus because, on top of equestrian exhibitions, he added small clown shows with young men amusing the audience by failing to ride horses.

Then, in 1770, Philip Astley created the first wooden riding hall he called Amphitheatre Riding House. Furthermore, he had the idea of putting sawdust on the ground to avoid mud and to outline the track in the riding hall with a rope and pegs and he rethought its structure to make it transportable. Finally, with this structure, he toured France where he imported the concept.

Philip Astley’s students did important things for the circus as well. For example, Charles Hugues was the first man to use the word « circus » which had not been used since the Middle Ages when he created the Royal Circus Academy in 1782. Then, there is John Bill Ricketts who opened the first American circus in 1792 in Philadephia.

The Art of Hair Hanging

9 December 2022 / the-big-top

By Anna Marcadet

The art of hair hanging uses ancestral techniques of suspension by the hair. Its history seems to be unclear and it’s hard to find information. Although most circus performers believe that this art comes from Asia – from China more precisely – and appeared in the 90s, others describe it as an old discipline or a fairground attraction. I have even heard that these performances came from imaginary legends and freaks shows.

We can argue that hair hanging is a rare discipline and that few people practice it nowadays. Indeed, the discipline flourished by being showed many times, especially by Chinese men, at the beginning of the Twentieth century. Ayala’s family has been a circus family for 3 decades. They made this type of art more visible by performing the craziest attractions in the circus Barnum & Bailey. Although Ayala’s family has continued to perform this art, it had become almost totally forgotten until about 5 years ago. A few people continue to practice it. Sometimes described as a weird and scary show, this traditional act became popular again thanks to two performances: in 2020, Lindsey Sterling released the music video Crystalize as part of the video series Home for the Holidays. Also, the show Capilotractées by the Galapiat Circus, was very much publicised, debated and covered in the media.

«It’s a practice that is transmitted, not learned at school. » The transmission is done within families, from mothers to daughters. Nowadays, it is possible to find some workshops (Ingrid Esperanza) but they are still very rare. Some people think that this art can only be transmitted and cannot be learned whereas others are afraid of the dangers of transmission because of the possible lack of useful information: for example hair hanging can be dangerous for health and hurt your neck or spine.

It is an intriguing and interesting practice even if it is very painful. In a unique way, it leaves a completely free body contrary to other aerials practices. When you are watching this type of aerial act, it really seems to be easy to practice. In fact, this act requires a lot of strength and skills especially when the entertainer shows a whirling.

Hair itself represents femininity and power. It is a “complex material that we can consider as dead or alive” (Sanga Kosonen, circus artist of the Galapiat circus). We also need to know that, technically, a single strand of hair is able to carry 100 g, that we’ve got approximately 150 000 hairs on our skull so that we can lift about 15 tons with our hair.

The steps necessary to prepare oneself for this kind of entertainment are interesting. Indeed, before anything else, artists need to take care of their hair and scalp and have a special diet. When performing they need to have their hair wet before braiding it to have more elasticity and to reduce the pain. Also, they braid their hair in a specific way which needs to be adapted to the apparatus: a ring or a hook.

Finally, the art of the hair hang is a well-guarded world in which there are lots of secrets and lies. Indeed, there are secrets surrounding the way to learn how to practice this art and also about hairstyling according to the type of braiding.

Some artists who perform this art are: Phenix Circus (Eva Szwarcer), Circus Galapiat (Sanja Kosonen, Elice Abonce Muhonen), Erin Blaire, Pamela Pantoja or Collectif Merken, Cabaret 2000, Plaisir Circus, Erin Blaire, Marion Crampe, Ingrid Esperanza, Ramiro Erburu, Lindsey Sterling, Cirque du Soleil (Danila Bim).

Check out for yourself! Watch this video about the art of hair hanging: Passion extrême : l’art de se suspendre par les cheveux – Vidéo Dailymotion

Sources and useful links:

De l’art du cirque carrément tiré par les cheveux ! (ouest-france.fr)

Interview de Stéphane Ricordel – Théatre du Châtelet (chatelet.com)

« Bien sûr que ça fait mal » | BIKINI MAG

Capilotractées – Manège de Reims (manege-reims.eu)

Ingrid Esperanza – CAPILOTRACTÉE WORKSHOPS

Science de la suspension des cheveux: Comment certains artistes pendent-ils par les cheveux? (scienceabc.com)

Comment fonctionne la pendaison des cheveux | HowStuffWorks

Passion extrême : l’art de se suspendre par les cheveux – Vidéo Dailymotion

Lindsey Sterling, Crystalize, Home for Holidays. URL: Lindsey Stirling – Crystallize (from Home For The Holidays) – YouTube