Embouchure or lipping is the use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument. This includes shaping the lips to the mouthpiece of a woodwind instrument or the mouthpiece of a brass instrument. The word is of French origin and is related to the root bouche, 'mouth'. Proper embouchure allows instrumentalists to play their instrument at its full range with a full, clear tone and without strain or damage to their muscles.
Contortion is a performance art in which performers called contortionists showcase their skills of extreme physical flexibility. Contortion acts often accompany acrobatics, circus acts, street performers and other live performing arts. Contortion acts are typically performed in front of a live audience. An act will showcase one or more artists performing a choreographed set of moves or poses, often to music, which require extreme flexibility. The physical flexibility required to perform such acts greatly exceeds that of the general population. It is the dramatic feats of seemingly inhuman flexibility that captivate audiences.
Acrobatics is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro dance, circus, gymnastics, and freerunning and to a lesser extent in other athletic activities including ballet, slacklining and diving. Although acrobatics is most commonly associated with human body performance, the term is used to describe other types of performance, such as aerobatics.
A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning, swinging or flying, and may be performed solo, double, triple or as a group act.
A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry. The dentist's supporting team aids in providing oral health services. The dental team includes dental assistants, dental hygienists, dental technicians, and sometimes dental therapists.
The Jim Rose Circus is a modern-day version of a circus sideshow. It was founded in Seattle in 1991 by Jim Rose and his wife BeBe Aschard Rose. The sideshow came to prominence to an American audience as a second stage show at the 1992 Lollapalooza festival, then called the "Jim Rose Circus Sideshow", although they had toured the Northwest and Canada and had several US TV appearances before this time. Rolling Stone magazine called the show an "absolute must-see act" and USA Today termed Rose's troupe "Lollapalooza's word-of-mouth hit attraction".
Deciduous teeth or primary teeth, also informally known as baby teeth, milk teeth, or temporary teeth, are the first set of teeth in the growth and development of humans and other diphyodonts, which include most mammals but not elephants, kangaroos, or manatees, which are polyphyodonts. Deciduous teeth develop during the embryonic stage of development and erupt during infancy. They are usually lost and replaced by permanent teeth, but in the absence of their permanent replacements, they can remain functional for many years into adulthood.
The Flying Wallendas is a circus act and group of daredevil stunt performers who perform highwire acts without a safety net. They were first known as The Great Wallendas, but the current name was coined by the press in the 1940s and has stayed since.
Siegmund Breitbart, also known popularly as Zishe or Sische Breitbart, was a Polish-born circus performer, vaudeville strongman and Jewish folklore hero. He was known as the "Strongest Man in the World" and Eisenkönig ("Ironking") during the 1920s.
The hair hang is an aerial circus act where performers are suspended by their hair, performing acrobatic poses and/or manipulation. Some believe the act originated in South America; others claim the act hails from China. Performers hang suspended by their hair, which is tied into a hairhang rig; the techniques used to tie the performer's hair, and the acrobatic techniques involved in the act are key.
The cloud swing is an aerial act that usually combines static and swinging trapeze skills, drops, holds and rebound lifts.
The Drill of Death is a large-scale stage illusion in which a performer appears to be impaled on a giant drill. It was created by magician André Kole and illusion designer Ken Whitaker for magician Melinda Saxe. It was one of Saxe's signature tricks and featured as a highlight in her various First Lady of Magic shows.
Leona Dare was an American trapeze artist and aerial acrobat, billed often as the "Queen of the Antilles" or the "Pride of Madrid". She was famous for her stunts on trapezes suspended from ascending balloons.
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.
Tiny Kline was a Hungarian-born circus performer. She performed with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey and as Tinker Bell at Disneyland. Kline's most well-known act was the "slide for life," a variation of traditional iron jaw performance in which she slid down a wire from tall buildings or other structures by her teeth.
Laxman Das was a wrestler, weight lifter, circus performer and the founder of Royal Pakistan Circus. In the genocide during the Bangladesh Liberation War, he was killed by the Pakistan Army.
Rieffenach Family Equestrian Act
Ella Bradna was a Bohemian-born equestrian circus performer in the United States.
The Macarte Sisters were a trapeze and high wire act of the late 19th and early 20th-centuries noted for their feats of strength during their performance.
Thomas Duffy was an Irish circus performer and ringmaster of Tom Duffy's Circus.
