Over the long weekend, my wife and I took L to see the Shrine Circus at the Centre Point Mall in North York.
Looking at the kids on the back of this elephant was a trip down the memory lane:
Despite all the controversy around the use of animals – a Twitter search for that event will return at least as many protests as praises – I have to admit that one of my earliest and fondest memories as a kid is playing with a lion cub in some anonymous circus, duly recorded in a badly preserved picture (I’m the one on my father’s lap):
The last time I’ve been to a traditional circus – i.e., excluding the Cirque du Soleil – I was a 9-year-old living in the same city I was born at. I vividly recall my friend Drausio petting a camel and getting sprayed with drool all over his face – no picture of that, unfortunately 😛 , and no relationship with the delicious camel drool Portuguese dessert, or “baba de camelo”.
Back then, having a circus coming to our city was a big deal, as the only other mass entertainment available for kids was to watch old movies on Sunday’s matinées. Old is an understatement: I actually remember going to a black-and-white Tarzan movie featuring Johnny Weissmuller. Most Disney cartoons didn’t get distributed beyond the large cities, but you don’t miss what you never had, so I have no complaints there. The pluses of growing up on the countryside outweigh by far the constraints – in my naturally biased view, of course.
Cirque expanded rapidly through the 1990s and 2000s, going from one show to approximately 3,500 employees from over 40 countries producing 15 shows over every continent except Africa and Antarctica, with an estimated annual revenue exceeding US$ 600 million. The multiple permanent Las Vegas shows alone play to more than 9,000 people a night, 5% of the city’s visitors, adding to the 70+ million people who have experienced Cirque. In 2000, Laliberté bought out Gauthier, and with 95% ownership, has continued to expand the brand. Several more shows are in development around the world, along with a television deal, women’s clothing line and the possible venture into other mediums such as spas, restaurants and nightclubs.
I used “amateur”, but the precise word is “mambembe” – no idea on how to translate that from Brazilian Portuguese. So, in the mambembe spirit, I’d like to conclude this post with this very amateurish video with my favourite circus song:
The bamboo raft 
I’ve been to the shriners circus with my kids when we lived in Ajax, ON and I remember the amazement of my wife and daughter when they saw a family of elephants preparing for the show walk right in front of us. That was 7 years ago.
More recently, I attended the Shriners circus again in Montreal with both of my kids and they were as amazed as anything, and they’ve seen their fair share of wonders, so I think that the magic still operates when it comes to ‘old school’ circuses.
I loved those old circuses as well. I was astounded by them when I was a kid. I think that was a universal experience, regardless of where one lived in the world.
As an aside, I agree with your critique of Solomon: some technologies get displaced, but some just die.
JFA, good to see you here 🙂 My son was awed for an hour or so, but after that he’s attention was all over the place but in the show. That was likely because we went for the 12 noon show, and his lunch time was disrupted.
Bernie, some die, but Zoho and MindMeister will live forever!!!
I love circuses. There’s something fascinating about people who spend years and years mastering those skills–acrobatics, balance, contortion, magic, whatever–or building those relationships with animals. =) I like watching buskers, too!