Like many others, you may feel the need for some sort of attitude transition from the bacchanalia that was Tubestock to the somewhat more sedate time approaching -- Parents' weekend. What better way to make this shift to wholesome family fun than by taking a trip to see the circus?
Even if you did miss your opportunity to go this weekend, there are still six shows between now and Wednesday night.
The Big Apple Circus is passing through Hanover for its 25th Anniversary production -- "Dreams of a City." The show recreates the New York City scene at the turn of the 20th century -- a time of diversity and multiculturalism due to the huge volume of immigration.
Prior to attending the Big Apple, I had not been to the circus for about 12 years. I didn't remember it very well, either. When I think of the circus, I think of Dumbo and of other movies in which crazy circus folk and gypsies travel from town to town in Conestoga wagons hauling their lions and elephants behind them.
I was still recalling the days when people who joined the circus were midgets and runaways, and discovered that this was no longer the case, if it ever even was.
The performers are clearly too amazing to be random runaway children, three-headed side show creatures, or animals stolen from the zoo. My first response was to think that these people were former ballet dancers or gymnasts who could not hack it at the Olympic level.
But they are even more impressive that that. Most of them, like Chinese slack-wire balancer Cong Tian, have attended specialized schools for their talents. Cong Tian began attending acrobatic school beginning at age 10.
The show opened up with several acts involving horses and ballet dancers. These were performed by Carlos and Susanne Svenson, equestrian ballerinas from Sweden atop beautiful Arabian horses. The ability of the dancers to balance on top of horses trotting in a circle was pretty amazing in itself, as was the discipline of the horses who appeared not to make even one unrehearsed or spontaneous movement.
Next was the clown, Grandma, who much to the adults' dismay, would be making many more appearances throughout the show in between acts. Grandma, however, was a big hit with the children. It was the sort of thing where anyone over the age of 6 could very easily predict what Grandma was going to do, whereas the younger crowd would howl with laughter as Grandma would sneak up behind someone and pour water on their heads.
There was a man who could walk, balance, and juggle on top of an enormous ladder. At the end of his act, he even dove off the top of the ladder, landing in a perfect somersault right onto a pillow that had placed on the ground earlier.
The circus also did not cater specifically to children, but instead kept in mind the interests of parents and slightly more detached and harder to please audience members. There was one dance routine that went from the children's song "By the Sea" into a strip tease of Nelly's "Hot in Herre."
The first of the acrobatic, tumbling-type routines featured people dressed like they were going to a casino. There was a giant billiard table, which was actually a trampoline, and the casino-goers did flip routines on the trampoline that were pretty impressive.
This was followed by other acts like human balancers and a high-speed juggler from Switzerland. By this point, my friends and I were becoming painfully aware of the circus music, which was starting to scare us and make us crazy all at the same time.
During the intermission we asked one of the technicians if there were elephants. "No," she told us. "Just dogs and horses." Upon hearing this, we were very upset and questioned what kind of a circus has no tigers or elephants. As the next act would show us, the dogs can just about do the trick.
This act, was, in my opinion, one of the two best acts of the show. It featured the Russian animal trainer, Irina Markova, and her dogs and cat. This was also without a doubt, the most frightening and disturbing thing I have ever seen in my life.
The act featured about three or four little poodles that were trained so well that they were nearly humanlike. They wore dresses and scurried around on their hind legs and carried hoops and other obstacles in their front paws. They would then set-up their own courses of hoops to jump through!
Every few minutes I had to close my eyes and remind myself that these were dogs and not small, hairy humans. Towards the end of their act, Markova and one of the poodles spun a jump rope for one of the other poodles that jumped it on its hind legs. It was really very spectacular.
Keeping in the animal vein, the next act featured another very well trained animal -- but a horse, not a poodle. The horse and the performer managed to carry out this five to 10 minute act in which horse would basically torment the trainer. It was very Mr. Ed-like.
Next was Cong Tian's slack-wire act. He did everything from walking the wire on his feet and hands, to riding a unicycle on the wire. He juggled standing on top of the unicycle on one foot, and even pedaled the unicycle with his hands while he supported himself on one shoulder on the seat of the unicycle.
The other best act of the show was one by the Aniskin Troupe from Russia. They performed routines on the trapezes and also on the trampoline. It was incredible. Acrobats were hurtled through the air and would catch a trapeze released from the other direction in mid-air. Their timing, physical strength, and fearlessness was unparalleled. The end of the act featured the "daredevil" as they referred to him who dropped head-first from the peak of the tent (which is very high above the ground) and somersaulted into the net below him.
Eleanor Green, age 7 (daughter of Dick Green '75) told The Dartmouth that her favorite acts of the show were a water fight between Grandma and another performer, and the trapeze artists.
The Big Apple Circus was founded by Dartmouth alum Paul Binder in 1977.
