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 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, England. 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.
Clowns have always been an integral part of the circus, offering a source of amusement for patrons and providing relief from the array of animal acts and performances by acrobats and novelty artistes.
Franco Dragone was an Italian-born Belgian theatre director. He was the founder and artistic director of Dragone, a creative company specializing in the creation of large-scale theatre shows. He was also known for his work with Cirque du Soleil and Celine Dion.
Corteo is a Cirque du Soleil touring production that premiered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on April 21, 2005.
David Shiner is an American actor, clown,, physical comedian, playwright and theater director.
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.
David Dimitri is an internationally acclaimed tightrope acrobat who has been praised for his unique style.
Karyne and Sarah Steben, also known as the Steben Twins, are Canadian twin trapeze artists. The pair were the first female innovators of the feet-to-feet catching technique.
Gianluca (John) Attanasio is a British-Italian singer-songwriter, composer, record producer, screenwriter, film director, photographer and journalist.
Daniele Scattina is an actor, director and writer. Graduate at "Il Mulino di Flora" theater school in Bologna directed by Perla Peragallo and Leo de Berardinis.
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.
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. This recognisable genre could arguably be more akin to Variety as animals are rarely used in this type of performance, and traditional circus skills are blended with a more choreographic or character-driven approach. Compared with the traditional circuses of the past, the contemporary approach tends to focus more attention on the overall aesthetic impact, sometimes on character and story development, and on the use of lighting design, original music, and costume design to convey thematic or narrative content.
David Larible is an Italian clown.
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.
Vladimir Olshansky is a performing artist, director, composer, sculptor, graduate of the Moscow State Circus School, together with clown Slava Polunin, he is the founder of the clown theatre company Litsedei (Лицедеи). He creates numerous one man shows and performs at the Leningrad's State Variety Theatre, In parallel he studies directing at the Leningrad's State Theatre and Cinema Institute (ЛГИТМИК)
Alessandro Kokocinski was an Italian-Argentine painter, sculptor and set designer, of Polish-Russian origin.
Erika Lemay is a Canadian artist, aerial dancer, actress, and author. She is a show director specialized in luxury events, and creator of Physical Poetry.
Le Cirque World's Top Performers is a contemporary circus company based in Italy.
Antonio Giarola born in 1957, is an Italian poet, circus and theater director and circus historian.
