American Circus wows Cebu crowd

CEBU, Philippines - In this day of the iPad, Imax cinema and other entertainment advancements, do people still want to watch a circus?

Yes, apparently they still do! Because while the 4:30 pm show of The Great American Circus at the Cebu Coliseum last Jan.11 had few occupied ringside seats (the bulk of warm bodies had bleacher and general admission tickets), a huge crowd waiting for their turn to enter was gathered outside the venue for the next 7:30 pm performance. The eager spectators, made up mostly of adults with kids in tow, caused a traffic standstill outside E-mall.

Before their Cebu shows at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel from Jan. 8-9 and at Cebu Coliseum Jan. 11-12, Manila was the traveling troupe’s first stop in an on-going Southeast Asian tour.

Ringmaster Cornell “Tuffy” Nicholas, co-owner and producer of The Great American Circus, was in charge of introducing each act. Staged in a specially-built single, central ring, the set-up allowed all seats in the house to be of good vantage point.

The first half of the 90-minute spectacle had yawn-inducing moments what with the standard hula hoops, skipping rope numbers, fire-eaters, plus a so-so Michael Jackson tribute by Michael Kiss. They boasted in an earlier press con how their MJ tribute artist was the closest thing to the legendary King of Pop. Kiss appeared in two segments, singing “Billie Jean” and “Man in the Mirror” accompanied by aerial ballet dancers that included a Fil-Am aerialist named Marina Salonga.

But we’ve seen and heard famous MJ tribute artist Kenny Wizz in a Cebu concert last year, and Kiss does not hold a candle.

Crosssbow duo masters, Ross and Elisa Hartzell, had everyone on edge in a William Tell act where they took turns shooting arrows at apples atop their heads. The married couple displayed unparalleled archery skill, as Ross hit the bull’s-eye even with his back turned at the target. He had no choice but to be precise, or the speeding arrow would slice through his dear wife’s face.

Sixth-generation circus artist Nathaniel Valencia who balanced on ever-increasing layers of rolling metal objects and cylinders while standing on a flat board in the act named Balancing Rolla Bolla.

During a 15-minute break, the audience was treated to clown face painting and picture-taking with the circus artists (the photo-op came with a hefty fee), while a saber-like toy device for sale was a hit among kids.

Then came the much more exciting second half.

The Classic Flying Trapeze was one of the well-applauded as acrobats were launched off a catapult onto one another’s shoulders, or backflipping onto a high-rest armchair 20 feet above the ground.

To the tune of Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful”, the bone-bending aerial ballet dancers known as the Flying Silks came back on stage to perform a dance on ribbons of flowing silk fabric. A male acrobat dubbed as the Tower Power stacked up to five wooden chairs on top of a table then did handstands on the wobbling furniture.

Also a crowd favorite was the trapeze wonder named Princess Rebecca. With Journey’s “Faithfully” playing in the background, she seemed a flying fairytale character, suspended high above the crowd while twisting, turning and bending her body in the most graceful way. The blonde performer from Las Vegas, Nevada ended her act by hanging from the trapeze, turning rapidly with only her teeth biting the rope preventing her falling.

The last act, and probably the much-anticipated, was the Wheel of Death by the Argentinian Valencia brothers. Nathaniel and Enrique turned a 30-foot high human-powered wheel by running both inside and outside of it — at times flipping, skipping rope with one leg, and even with a blindfold.

It was certainly a nice break from the modern entertainment fare we’ve been used to, proof that in these seen-it-all times, we can still gape in awe and rivet at human acts that took years of training (not computer-generated effects or movie stunts) to perfect.

The Great American Circus’ next stops: Hawaii; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (FREEMAN)