NO NET

America’s first family of acrobats and aerialists, The Flying Wallendas, joins Circus Flora every June. The act included both a generation older and younger than what we see here. Rough estimate is that these three were +/- 30 feet / 10 meters off the floor, with nothing but their skill to protect them.

I need to do at least one more day of circus images. There are No Kings rallies planned in every city in the U.S. on Saturday, and I plan to cover the one in downtown St. Louis.                   

FREE DIVER

That’s what the image makes me think of, someone floating through the deep blue without a mask and tank. She performed a ballet in three dimensions, emphasizing the vertical.                    

ARC SEGMENTS

The circle, gentle arc and lines in this picture make me think of high school geometry class. Of course, this is a bit more interesting and, by definition, there weren’t any girls in my boy’s Catholic school.                           

AT THE CIRCUS

One of the nice things about St. Louis is that we have our own resident circus company, Circus Flora. Flora was a beloved elephant when the group started but, of course, circuses in this country don't do the elephant-lion-tiger thing any more.

 

But they sure do horses. We were seated in the front row and I stretched my camera's limits with fast burst mode and tracking auto-focus. I can't imagine how someone could do this on a racing steed.               

THEY FLOAT THROUGH THE AIR WITH THE GREATEST OF EASE

Our scaled down circus performance  this weekend had all local performers. Shooting this was quite a photographic challenge, with movement and extreme dynamic range. For the techies out there, this was shot at ISO 6400, 1/240, f 2.0, on a Fujifilm XS-10 with in-body image stabilization and a 35 mm prime lens with a 1.5 crop factor. Go ahead and use that for an icebreaker at a cocktail party. Fine with me.     

Note that the man is supporting the woman with one bare foot under her neck and another under her thigh. I can't imagine rehearsing this. 

UNDER THE BIG TOP

One of the nice things about this town is that we have a permanent circus company, Circus Flora, https://circusflora.org/, with a permanent big top tent for a home. It has been dark for a long time but it returned this weekend with a limited production. There was a reduced, well spaced audience and the sides of the tent were open for ventilation. The traditional ring was replaced by two smaller stages.

If you look carefully, you can see that this performer is hanging by her hair, or seems to be. Ellie couldn't believe it and I, too, find it hard to understand.             

FLYING DRAGONS

There is a show of Chinese acrobats every year at the festival. Usually they are spectacular (see about the first third of the pictures here). This year I think they sent the AA or AAA league team. (American baseball reference. Let me know if you are unfamiliar with this.)  The show didn't raise anyone's blood pressure.

Still. there were some cool visuals. This young man was playing with a couple of those large Chinese yo yos. (I've seen way better displays.) But then he attached a long paper dragon to one end of the string. Not complex but tasty eye candy.        

I'D SMILE, TOO

More from the Circus Flora mini-performance at the City Museum. This young man hurled himself backward through what is the middle ring in this shot, hard enough. Then he added the top ring, making the stack taller than he was. He never touched the edge of the ring and deserved an ovation.

Sorry for no post yesterday.Too much work.          

Under The Little Top

 

The City Museum contains rehearsal space for Circus Harmony, an organization that trains young people in the skills of that performing tradition. Kids who might otherwise be on the street work vary hard and learn to do amazing things. Some of the members show their stuff at the museum on weekends.

I don't understand how anybody can do this stuff since, for starters,I am not well coordinated and have zero athletic talent. But he sure has it. Four balls in the air (and another in his right hand)? Amazing.           

Out Of The Question

I sat for a long time on the ground in front of the amphitheater in the botanical garden watching and shooting Chinese acrobats. Some of them, particularly this woman, were mind boggling. They must learn this from early childhood and look like they could put many a yoga master to shame. Not that I know anything about yoga. I'm about as flexible as a match stick.