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, ventriloquists, and unicyclists as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term "circus" also describes the field of performance, training, and community which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Although not the inventor of the medium, Newcastle-under-Lyme born Philip Astley is credited as the father of the modern circus.
Cirque du Soleil is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 June 1984 by former street performers Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix.
Circus clowns are a sub-genre of clowns. They typically perform at circuses and are meant to amuse, entertain and make guests laugh.
Paul Lewis Binder is the founder, founding artistic director, and former ringmaster of the Big Apple Circus.
Victoria Agnes Chaplin-Thierrée is a British-American circus performer. She is a daughter of film actor and comedian Charlie Chaplin from his fourth wife, Oona O'Neill, and a granddaughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill.
David Shiner is an American actor, clown, physical comedian, playwright and theater director.
Cirque Éloize is a contemporary circus company founded in Montreal in 1993 by Jeannot Painchaud, Daniel Cyr, Claudette Morin, and Julie Hamelin. Its productions combine circus arts with music, dance, technology, and theatre. "Éloize" means "heat lightning" in Acadian French, a dialect spoken in Acadia and the Magdalen Islands, where the group's founders are from.
Lawrence Ralph Van Gelder was an American journalist and instructor in journalism who worked at several different New York City-based newspapers in his long career. Until 2010, he was senior editor of the Arts and Leisure weekly section of The New York Times, as well as a film critic. Among the newspapers for which Van Gelder worked were the New York Daily Mirror, the New York Daily News, the New York World-Telegram and Sun and the World-Journal-Tribune.
Circus Flora is a one-ring circus based in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It is a non-profit organization. Circus Flora has become a touring show yet it performs annually in St. Louis, usually at the beginning of the month of June. It combines the venue of a one-ring circus with the performance trappings of theatre. Performances include aerialists, equestrian artists, acrobats, and trained animals. Each performance is accompanied by a live band. Live musicians allow the mood to be tailored to the live events happening in the ring — down to every crash of the cymbal or beat of the snare drum.
Dimitri Jakob Muller, known as Dimitri was a Swiss clown and mime artist. He later changed his name to Jakob Dimitri.
James Spencer Henry Edmond Marcel Thierrée is a Swiss-French circus performer, violinist, actor and director who is best known for his theatre performances which blend contemporary circus, mime, dance, and music. He is the son of circus performers Victoria Chaplin and Jean-Baptiste Thierrée, the grandson of filmmaker Charlie Chaplin and the great-grandson of playwright Eugene O'Neill.
Circus Knie is the largest circus of Switzerland, based in Rapperswil.
The Cyr wheel is an acrobatic apparatus that consists of a single large ring made of aluminum or steel with a diameter approximately 10 to 15 cm taller than the performer. The performer stands inside the Cyr wheel and grasps its rim, causing it to roll and spin gyroscopically while performing acrobatic moves in and around the rotating wheel. The apparatus and its movement vocabulary have some similarities with the German wheel, but while the German wheel consists of two large rings linked together by horizontal crossbars and has handles for the performer to hold onto, the modern Cyr wheel consists of a single ring and has no handles. The Cyr wheel takes its name from Daniel Cyr, who revived its popularity, utilising it as a circus apparatus at the end of the 20th century.
Barnum's Kaleidoscape was an American circus staged by Feld Entertainment, the owners of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, at a start-up cost of $10 million. It ran for one season, 1999–2000. Inspired by both European traditions and the contemporary circus movement, it was the first Ringling show to be held under a tent since 1956 and also its first one-ring presentation in more than a century. The tent was carpeted with wood flooring and amenities to create an intimate setting with seating for 1,800 on cushioned seats and sofas and no one further than 50 feet from the circus ring. Besides traditional circus fare like popcorn upscale items such as cappuccino and veggie wraps were offered. The show consisted of 62 performers, 54 crew members, 8 horses and 27 geese, with 50 trucks involved in moving it from site to site.
Martin Eli Segal was a Russian-born American businessman who co-founded the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1969 with two other Lincoln Center executives, William F. May and Schuyler G. Chapin. He also served as the Film Society's founding president and CEO until 1978. Segal was founding chair of the Commission for Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Assistance Center, and the New York International Festival of the Arts.
René Bazinet is a German-Canadian clown, mime, and stage and film actor. He is known for his work with Cirque du Soleil, first as a performing artist touring extensively with Saltimbanco, and later as the clown act creator and acting consultant for the show as well as for Cirque du Soleil's 2011 production Zarkana. He has also starred in shows at the Berlin Wintergarten and the Circus Roncalli.
Raffaele De Ritis is an Italian theatre director. He is known for having created and directed numerous circus productions that have been seen worldwide through his association with Cirque du Soleil, Big Apple Circus, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, and Franco Dragone, among others, He wrote and directed Barnum's Kaleidoscape for Feld Entertainment (1999), one of first one-ring under-canvas "boutique circuses" that toured the United States, and was the writer/director of two shows for Big Apple Circus. For Cirque du Soleil, he co-wrote the original circus dinner show concept "Pomp, Duck and Circumstance" (1997). Other directing credits include: Monte Carlo Magic Stars (1998–99); Wiesbaden Youth Circus Festival (1998); Tournai New Circus Festival ; and associate director for the first Moscow Circus Festival (1996) and variety shows in Italy. He also directed Italian clown David Larible's theatre show concept.
Raphaëlle Boitel is a French circus performer, contortionist, acrobat, actress, theatre director, and choreographer. She started as a contortionist street performer as a child, then appeared in internationally touring works by James Thiérrée and others, including La Symphonie du Hanneton . She founded her own company, Cie L'Oublié(e), in 2012, and began to produce and direct as well as perform, creating the internationally touring productions L'Oublié(e) and La Chute des Anges among other works. Boitel has also worked as a television and film actress, and as a choreographer for opera, including at La Scala.
Gypsy Snider is a Canadian–American director, choreographer, and former acrobat. She co-founded The 7 Fingers, an artist collective, and choreographed Pippin in 2013.
Amy Gordon is an American actress and singer based in Brooklyn.
