Related Research Articles
The following outline provides an overview of and topical guide to entertainment and the entertainment industry:
In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction.
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, unicyclists, as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term circus also describes the performance which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Although not the inventor of the medium, Philip Astley is credited as the father of the modern circus. In 1768 Astley, a skilled equestrian, began performing exhibitions of trick horse riding in an open field called Ha'Penny Hatch on the south side of the Thames River. In 1770 he hired acrobats, tightrope walkers, jugglers and a clown to fill in the pauses between the equestrian demonstrations and thus chanced on the format which was later named a "circus". Performances developed significantly over the next fifty years, with large-scale theatrical battle reenactments becoming a significant feature. The traditional format, in which a ringmaster introduces a variety of choreographed acts set to music, developed in the latter part of the 19th century and remained the dominant format until the 1970s.
A flea circus is a circus sideshow attraction in which fleas are attached to miniature carts and other items, and encouraged to perform circus acts within a small housing.
Jane Barnell was an American bearded lady who worked in circus sideshows, dime museums and carnivals, who used various stage names including Princess Olga, Madame Olga and Lady Olga. In her only film role in Tod Browning's cult classic Freaks, using the sideshow stage name Olga Roderick, she was billed as the "Bearded Lady".
The Big Apple Circus is a circus based in New York City. Opened in 1977, later becoming a nonprofit organization, it became a tourist attraction. The circus has been known for its community outreach programs, including Clown Care, as well as its humane treatment of animals. Big Apple Circus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2016 and exited bankruptcy in February 2017 after its assets were bought by Compass Partners. The Circus was renewed in October 2017 for its 40th anniversary season and returned to start a new season in October 2018 at Lincoln Center, receiving generally positive reviews.
Josh Routh is a nationally recognized American circus performer, and a founding member of the comedic troop Brothers Kaputnik, Death By Tickle and Circus Kaput. Josh trained at the Circus Center in San Francisco, California and attended the Clown Conservatory where he graduated "Class Clown". The Conservatory is where Josh found his alter ego "Tchotchke Kaputnik". As Tchotchke, Josh has performed with The New Pickle Circus (formerly the Pickle Family Circus, The San Francisco Youth Circus, The Much Ado Shakespeare Circus and Velocity Circus.
Dixon Place is a theater organization located in New York City dedicated to the development of works-in-progress from a broad range of performers and artists. It exists to serve the creative needs of artists—emerging, mid-career and established—who are creating new work in theater, dance, music, literature, puppetry, performance, variety and visual arts.
Impalement arts are a type of performing art in which a performer plays the role of human target for a fellow performer who demonstrates accuracy skills in disciplines such as knife throwing and archery. Impalement is actually what the performers endeavor to avoid – the thrower or marksman aims near the target rather than at him or her. The objective is to land the throw or shot as close as possible to the assistant's body without causing injury.
Todd Robbins is an American magician, lecturer, actor, and author.
In 1995, the opening year of its publication, James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed! On & Off the Midway became the first journal to chronicle the history of sideshows, novelty and variety exhibition or “the show business” as it was called in the heyday of the dime museums. Focusing on circus and carnival sideshows and 19th Century dime museum entertainment, the journal also follows the history and characters of vaudeville and burlesque, wax museums and world's fairs, carnivals, circus spectacles, roadside attractions and everything in between. The journal features interviews with the business’ “golden age” performers as well as modern talent and has included original works by the likes of Teller (magician), John Strausbaugh and Frank DeFord and unique reprinted material available previously to only a few show business historians.
Koozå is a touring circus production by Cirque du Soleil which premiered in Montréal, Quebec, Canada, in 2007. The show was written and directed by David Shiner, who had previously worked as a clown in Cirque du Soleil's production of Nouvelle Expérience. His experience as a clown and his time with Switzerland's Circus Knie and Germany's Circus Roncalli informed his work on Koozå.
Michelle Nicole Matlock is a professional American clown and former "struggling actress", best known for playing the lead romantic role as the ladybug in OVO, the twenty-fifth annual traveling production of Cirque du Soleil.
Contemporary circus is a genre of performing arts developed in the late 20th century in which a story or theme is conveyed through traditional circus skills.
Wanderlust Circus is a theatrical circus troupe based in Portland, Oregon, founded in 2006 by creative partners Noah Mickens and Nick "The Creature" Harbar. Since 2006, Wanderlust Circus has grown from a small band of creatives to a full-fledged circus troupe, and non-profit organization. The organization presently comprises a team of acrobats, a 10-piece swing band, a trick-roping cowboy clown; and several aerialists, contortionists, hand balancers, jugglers, and dancers. Their most popular recurring shows have been The White Album Christmas, A Circus Carol, and the dance party series MegaBounce.
Jim Moore is an American photographer who has documented the variety arts since the 1970s. His photographs helped Philippe Petit plan his tightrope-walking stunt between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974 and were prominently featured in the Oscar-winning film Man on Wire.
The California Institute of Abnormalarts - also written as the California Institute of Abnormal Arts and abbreviated as CIA - is a nightclub and sideshow museum located in North Hollywood, California. Owned and operated by actor-screenwriter Carl Crew and Robert Ferguson, the venue primarily hosts underground musical groups, performance art, movie screenings and sideshow acts including burlesque and freak shows.
Scot Nery's Boobie Trap is a long-running weekly live performance variety arts show in Hollywood, California. Performances are every Wednesday, featuring an average of 15 acts each week, with much adult content. Performers include musicians, ventriloquists, comedians, knife throwers, dancers, Magic Castle magicians, jugglers, acrobats and contortionists, circus acts, and other variety entertainers. Nery founded the show in 2015, and it is co-produced by Meranda Carter.
Make*A*Circus was a professional, recreational, and educational circus that created free day-long events in which children observed a professional circus performance, took workshops in the circus skills of their choice, and finally performed their own circus. It took place outdoors in parks, in primarily underserved neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area, and all over the state of California, with 400 to 700 children per show. It lasted for 25 years, from 1975 to 2002.
References
- ↑ Kamenetz, Anya. "Fire, Fire, Burning Bright", The Village Voice , Neighborhoods, New York, New York, 4 June 2002.
- 1 2 Smithsonian Institution. "Profiles: Bindlestiff Family Cirkus", Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Circus Arts, Washington, DC, United States, 2017, as referenced on 18 February 2020.
- ↑ Lemons, Stephen. "Step Right Up: It’s the Strangest Show on Earth", Los Angeles Times , Los Angeles, California, 19 September 1999.
- ↑ Albrecht, Ernest / Editor. "Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Has Been Defying All Odds for Twenty Five Years", Spectacle (an online journal of the circus arts), Vol. VIII, No. 5, East Brunswick, New Jersey, date of publication undetermined, as referenced on 18 February 2020.
- 1 2 Juggle Magazine, International Jugglers' Association, Kissimmee, Florida, May/June 2004.
- ↑ Ferguson, Sarah. "Tricky Bohos", The Village Voice , Theater, New York, New York, 8 February 2000.
- ↑ Bellafante, Ginia. "A Funny Kind of Love", The New York Times , Style, New York, New York, 21 August 2005.
- ↑ Berger, Arion. "Q&A: Bindlestiff Family Cirkus", The Washington Post , Express, Washington, DC, United States, 28 June 2006.
- ↑ Graeber, Laurel. "Events for Children in NYC this week: A Cardboard and Duct Tape Spectacular", The New York Times , Arts, New York, New York, 4 May 2017.
- ↑ Martin, Douglas. "Old-Time Vaudeville Looks Young Again", The New York Times , Theater, New York, New York, 24 November 2002.
- ↑ Baldwin, Michelle. "Burlesque and the New Bump-n-Grind", Speck Press, Denver, Colorado, pgs. 107-108, as referenced in the Open Library.
