The Circus!

On Saturday, June 9, we went to the Kyiv National Circus.  This is the permanent building.  Circuses have been an important entertainment in Europe and though sometimes traveling groups perform in tents, many cities have such buildings.  Wikipedia gave this interesting information:
In 1919, Lenin, head of the USSR, expressed a wish for the circus to become 'the people's art-form', given facilities and status on a par with theatre, opera and ballet. The USSR nationalized the Soviet circuses. In 1927 the State University of Circus and Variety Arts, better known as the Moscow Circus School was established where performers were trained using methods developed from the Soviet gymnastics program. 

Inside the building looking opposite our seats.  The area for the Band is in the upper left of the photo.

The Poddubny family went with us.  One needs kids to appreciate the circus.  Price of the tickets were too expensive for most families so they had never come!

I took photos of each of the acts.  Since house lights were often dim and flash wasn't too effective, the photos are often blurry but it will give you a "list" of the performances.  First, of course, were the trampoline gymnasts:

An acrobat twirling rings

Next were ponies

And spinning roller skaters

These pigs were pushing balls---soccer, of course, with Euro 2012 championships in progress.

Juggling on a swing

The unicyclist also rode these wheels with pedals and no seat.  Here he is jumping from one to another!

 Folk dancers and a singer

This act included many different kinds of animals doing different things.  Most of us would not want to train and handle porcupines!

At intermission there was time to erect a performance enclosure for lions and tigers

Here the Poddubny children are looking at the animals being brought in 

With the proper fanfare from the band, 10 animals were brought into the arena and each performed.

There were 2 male and 4 female lions plus 4 tigers.

This was a long act and I don't want to bore you with many photos.

Always between acts for stage changes a troupe of clowns kept us entertained.

Zorro and his assistant performed with knives and whip...and horses

The last act featured these acrobats with bouncy inflated inner-tube type apparatus which they used to do flips, on and off them and with them.  They even did a cross double dutch jumping chain ropes---a new trick for our jump rope enthusiasts!

The final bow for all performers.  We had a great time