One-Ring Circus

This past Tuesday I went to the Shrine Circus. I went with my Little Brother and his older brother, thanks to tickets that I received from my Little's mother. This circus tours southern Ontario every summer and this past Tuesday was their only scheduled stop in London, I think.

They started out with the trained poodles and went on to some amazing balancing and gymnastic acts. The ony guy got onto a small platform that was eight feet in the air, placed a cylinder sideways on top and then balanced on top of a board on top of that. He would then jump up and throw down new boards on top of the previous one without falling off the cylinder, until he had five boards stacked up underneath him. That's better than any skate boarding trick I've seen.

In another act, one man came out and balanced a twenty foot pole on either his shoulder or his forehead. Someone else would scurry up his back and then up the pole, performing various tricks at the top.

There was a woman who spun multiple hoola hoops around various limbs while being swung through the air on a line, with the act culminating in spinning a ring of fire. There was an intermission after one hour and there was the requisite clowning around between acts. The show lasted just under two hours, finishing off with three adult elephants performing various tricks.

I don't remember having gone to a circus before and my Little hadn't gone before. For the low cost of ten bucks it was well worth it. The next time y'all have a chance to see a circus, I recommend that you go out of your way to do so.

Additional note: I took digital photos but hardly any of them showed anything so I can't blow your mind with the great shots that I thought I took. And yes, there was someone outside the arena holding up a sign saying, "The Cruelest Show on Earth." Heh.