Tirana Circus

Last updated
Tirana Circus
Origin
Circus name Cirku i Tiranës
CountryFlag of Albania.svg  Albania
Founder(s) Telat Agolli
Bajram Kurti
Xhuzepina Prendi
Bardhyl Jareci
Abdyl Karakashi
Year founded 1952
Information
Operator(s) 1952-1973: Estrada of Tirana
1973 - present: Tirana Circus

The Tirana Circus (Albanian : Cirku i Tiranës) is a circus in Albania founded in 1952 and still fully active. The circus had its most successful years during the Communist Albania era and had difficulties in the 1990-2010 period when its personnel was reduced. The circus has been known to list famous Albanian athletes among its workers.

Albanian language Indo-European language

Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and the Albanian diaspora in the Americas, Europe and Oceania. It comprises an independent branch within the Indo-European languages and is not closely related to any other language in Europe.

Circus commonly a travelling company of performers

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. Philip Astley is credited with being the father of the modern circus when he opened the first circus in 1768 in England. A skilled equestrian, Astley demonstrated trick riding, riding in a circle rather than a straight line as his rivals did, and thus chanced on the format which was later named a "circus". In 1770 he hired acrobats, tightrope walkers, jugglers and a clown to fill in the pauses between acts. Performances developed significantly through the next fifty years, with large-scale theatrical battle reenactments becoming a significant feature. The traditional format, whereby a ringmaster introduces a varied selection of acts that mostly perform choreographed acts to traditional music, developed in the latter part of the 19th century and continued almost universally to be the main style of circus up until the 1970s.

Contents

History

The circus was founded in 1952 in Tirana, Albania, by Telat Agolli, Bajram Kurti, Xhuzepina Prendi (Shkurti), Bardhyl Jareci, and Abdyl Karakashi. [1]

Tirana Capital of Albania

Tirana is the capital city of the Republic of Albania.

The circus' first performance, Shkopi Magjik, (English: Magic Wand) was staged in 1959. [1] In 1964 the circus started to maintain much higher standards of performance with the premiere of Fluturime akrobatike (English: Acrobatic Flights). [1] From 1952 to 1973 the circus operated as part of the Estrada of Tirana; in 1973, the circus split off to become its own company. [1] In 1975 the circus started using a canvas tent for the first time and began to perform in other parts of Albania besides Tirana. [1] In 1977 the Drejt lartësive (English: Toward the Heights) show premiered in Tirana; in that same year a studio started to work full-time on the preparation of new artists by the circus masters. [1] This brought the number of the people working for the circus to more than a hundred. [1]

In the 1990s, after the fall of communism and with Albania's transitional problems, the circus' staff shrank to almost half of what it had been in the prior decade. [1] The canvas tent started to have problems and it was not repaired until 2000. A United Nations Development Programme project financed some of the circus' activities and by 2010, the Tirana Circus was doing much better than in the 1990s, still being the major circus in the country. [2] However, after the serious financial problems of 1990-2010, the Tirana Circus has been placed under the administration of Albania's Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports. [3]

United Nations Development Programme global network for development of United Nations

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the United Nations' global development network.

Athletes' nest

Many Albanian athletes have emerged from the Tirana Circus, the best known of which are former World Champion weightlifter Ymer Pampuri [4] and Olympic weightlifter Romela Begaj. [5] Weightlifter Ymer Pampuri (born in 1944) started his circus career when he was only 7, the same year the circus was founded, and grew up as an acrobat. [4] Later on he started to practice weightlifting. [4] He stopped competing in 1981 when he was 37, and he returned to circus where he was again an acrobat until 1994, when he retired at the age of 50. [4]

Ymer Pampuri Albanian weightlifter

Ymer Pampuri was an Albanian weightlifter who in the 1972 Summer Olympic Games became the first Albanian to break an Olympic record, the first Albanian to become a World Champion and the last World Champion in military press, since the discipline was no longer allowed to be practiced internationally after 1972.

Romela Aleksandër Begaj is an Albanian female weightlifter. On 11 November 2014 in Almaty she became world champion in the Snatch style for the category up to 63 kg. Previously Begaj represented Albania at the 2008 European Weightlifting Championships where she took home the silver medal. She also represented Albania at 2008 Olympic Games in China where she finished 6th in the under 58 kg category.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Shtëpani, Luan (2 May 2008). "Cirku i Tiranës pa "Status Kombëtar"". Gazeta Albania (in Albanian). Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  2. UNDP (2004). "Promoting MDGs and Volunteerism among children through the" (PDF). UNDP. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  3. TV Klan (2010). "Cirku i Tiranës, menaxhim nga Ministria e Kulturës". TV Klan (in Albanian). Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Bakillari, Florenc. "Pampuri i rikthehet peshëngritjes pas 25 vjetësh". Panorama (in Albanian). Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  5. Frasheri, Dash (19 October 2009). "Ymer Pampuri, kampioni i parë botëror". Albania sport (in Albanian). Retrieved 5 September 2010.