We joined the circus!

Wait, no, that's not right. We went to the circus! Yeah, that's it.

Last night, as an addendum to my birthday present, K took me to Circus Flora! Did you know that St. Louis is one of only three cities in the country which has its own circus? I also learned that the "Flora" of Circus Flora is an elephant. She performed with the circus until 2000, and now lives at an elephant sanctuary (yes, they exist) in Tennessee.

We started out our circus fun with a must-have: cotton candy! How can you be at a circus without it?

This year's theme is Don Quixote, so the circus acts were set to the story of the Knight of the Mournful Countenance, and his intrepid sidekick Sancho Panza.

Let me tell you, if you've never been to the circus before, you should go. Because it's crazy. It's a circus, in fact. There were horses, lots of horses. The booklet gives some info: an American Saddlebred, an Overo Paint and a Mustang-Overo Paint cross, a Belgian Quarter-Cross, an Arabian stallion, and a Percheron-Morgan cross. On these horses, people did tricks. There was lots of swinging around and spinning, jumping on and off while the horses were running around the ring, standing on the back of one horse, or the backs of two horses, while they trot around...you get the idea.

There were also dogs. Doing tricks. And a Shire horse, a Miniature Donkey, and a dozen White Welsh Ponies. Doing tricks. And three Pygmy Goats. Doing tricks. While riding on the ponies. It was a festivus animalia. Oh, and there were roosters too.

And that's just the animals. There were also lots of people doing tricks. There was a tightrope walker doing backflips (yes, on the tightrope). There was a group of 6 Trapezoids (K and I decided this is what trapeze artists should really be called). There were tricks with whips and lassos. There was gymnastics. And cheerleading. And there were jugglers. And the cheerleaders juggled. And they gymnasts cheerled (now a word). And the jugglers did gymnastics. All at the same time. It was hard to keep straight who was who and what was what.

And on top of it all, there were Cirque du Soleil-style acrobats flipping around in the air while supporting themselves by holding on to giant cloths hanging from the ceiling. Oh, and two girls doing a bunch of crazy acrobatics on a 4-foot diameter hoop suspended high above the ground and spinning around!

Quite a display of skill and strength. It was impressive. I think I spent most of the evening with my mouth hanging open. In fact, there were a number of times when I was so enthralled by the acts that I forgot to clap for them. Oops. I hope they know that silence = "I am impressed."

And on top of it all, the circus really was a technical marvel. Every act needed different equipment. And it was all hanging from the ceiling, suspended somehow, but pulled up the side until it was needed. And some of these acts required a lot of equipment, like the trapezoids. They had two swinging trapezes, plus two other platforms for standing, plus the net to catch them (which they didn't need, except to dismount), plus ladders to get up to it all. And somehow, the Ring Crew of 6 managed to put on the whole show without anyone falling to their death (bonus!), and without any equipment hang-ups, lines crossed, etc. And this whole thing happens is a totally impermanent circus tent! Incredible!

There was a little hiccup at the beginning, though, where some guys try to pull Don Quixote down from his horse, and his armor got caught on the saddle. The horse put up with it for a minute, then was like "wtf, mates?" and tried back away. Thankfully, he realized that there was still someone attached to him, and stopped before disaster ensued. And the Don got his armor unstuck.

The circus tent is great, not just for the ambiance, but because it's not very big. There weren't more than probably 15 rows of seats, so even in the back, you're not too far away. K got us good seats, though, row 4. Just don't use your cell phone, or you'll get thrown out - they are strict about photography. Probably because people might die if you flash in their eyes at the wrong moment. (However, there are some photos on their website, which are totally worth checking out.) Anyway, the whole thing has a very up-close-and-personal feel about it, which was lovely. There was even an audience participation portion of the evening (K was terrified).

And at the end, the performers all wait outside the doors of the tent to greet you (K and I were totally checked out by (1) an usher, and (2) one of the guys who did tricks on horses - awesome!). And as you exit to the parking lot, Sancho Panza wishes you well.
(K apologizes sincerely for her lack of skill with the Blackberry camera.)