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| Courtesy
Photo |
Aerial
artist Mario Quina performs “The Silks,” a complex routine
using only silk ribbons to support himself. This spectacular
circus act is “part grace and part thrill,” according
to Ben Trumble, media relations coordinator of the circus,
and ends with a free fall which is stopped only by the
tension of the fabric.
(Click
picture to see larger image) |
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| Courtesy
Photo |
The
biggest stars of the Carson & Barnes circus are
the four Asian elephants, seen here hoisting an acrobat
on a swing. The elephants help raise the Big Top tent
on the morning the circus arrives in town.
(Click picture to see larger image) |
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| Courtesy
Photo |
| (Click
picture to see larger image) |
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Big
times under the ‘Biggest Top’
by Chris Moore
CAVE
CREEK – “The circus is still here,” exclaims Aaron Broderick,
Ringmaster of the Carson & Barnes Circus. “We’re not
going anywhere.”
Which
is not exactly true–in fact, they go everywhere. The Carson
& Barnes Circus has been roving from town to town, pitching
their tents, stringing their lights, painting their clowns
and entertaining roaring crowds across the country for 70
years.
“It’s
the only circus I know of that’s been owned by the same
family for so long,” Ringmaster Broderick says.
Indeed,
“this circus has been in the same family for four generations,”
says Ben Trumble, media relations coordinator for Carson
& Barnes, “since Obert Miller broke into the business
in the 1930s with his family pets. And we’re literally recreating
some of those early dog‑and‑pony shows for our
70th anniversary celebration.”
So,
step right up! There’ll be plenty more than that going on
under “The Biggest Top on Earth.”
From
the time the elephants push, pull and lift the 300‑foot
Big Top 40 feet into the air when the circus rolls into
the Cave Creek Memorial Rodeo Grounds in Cave Creek in the
early morning hours of May 16, until the lights go down
and the dust settles late that night–two separate audiences
will have marveled at elephants, jugglers, clowns, camels,
dogs, horses, acrobats, high‑wire performers, trapeze
artists, a daring motorcycle ride up a wire while a woman
performs on a bar suspended below, a large traveling zoo
featuring exotic and domestic animals, and a Grand Spectacular
Parade saluting the United States of America.
But
that, of course, is not the end of it–this is “The Biggest
Top on Earth,” after all. This year there are some stupendous
special events that Carson & Barnes is putting in the
lineup to honor its 70‑year journey from humble beginnings
of dog tricks and prancing ponies in Obert Miller’s backyard.
Looking
back, Trumble says, Carson & Barnes is including a “very
stylized 1950s hula hoop act to bring back an evocative
image of that time.” Going further back, comedy riding acts
will recall the 1930s when that sort of act was very popular.
“We haven’t had a bareback comedy riding act in I don’t
know how long,” Trumble says.
“Far
and away the most dangerous act in the circus,” says Trumble,
“The Seven‑Man Pyramid is also the most difficult
act on high‑wire. It was made famous by the Flying
Wallendas in the 1940s and 50s and was the best known thrill
act of the period.”
Ever
since January 30, 1962, when two men fell to their death
at the State Fair Coliseum in Detroit after the Wallendas’
pyramid collapsed, the popularity of the act has waned,
“and has not been seen much since,” Trumble says, but
Carson & Barnes’ performance of the feat last year
was “so great that we’re doing it again this year.”
But
the biggest stars of the circus will always be, pound
for pound, the elephants. This year, Carson & Barnes
has four female Asian elephants to entertain and astound
you, and don’t be surprised to find acrobats trampolining
over their huge domed backs to provide some extra pizzazz.
“We’ve been known for our fast‑paced elephant acts
since the 40s,” Trumble says.
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