Wanna Come to the Circus?

Last Sunday´s street circus at the Regent Street Festival was one of the activities designed to involve Londoners and tourists in the Cultural Olympiad. It was part of the secret performances taking place in iconic London landmarks, also part of the London 2012 Festival. I have uploaded a video at the end.

I thought we were quite lucky to have available that type of shows for free. Five pedestrian and very busy roads were closed for this event. There were 12 stages, where artists from different countries performed shows such as tightropes, hula hop and aerial dance, etc. The audience would never know what they were going to see until the performance started.

The artists belonged or had previously belonged to reknowned groups. Priceless! Seeing similar shows, such as Cirque du Soleil, can cost at least £45.

I am absolutely amazed by the circus artists´ abilities. The same happens with both the Olympians and Paralympians. They are able to overcome difficulties that usually go beyond most of us. Hats off to anyone who can do this:

Or this (he danced, jumped and moved as if he was on the ground):

Some more:

  

Most of them included some comedy and music within their routines. Music was rather varied. It ranged from the Stones to salsa (The Pink Panther version).

 

 

There was room for some classic ballet movements too – on air!

 

These guys were really funny:

 

All of the shows were different. But, this one was way different from the others. It was called Osadía (Spanish for boldness). Two psychedelic hairdressers dressed in Japanese clothes tranformed the hair of members of the audience. Then, they would walk down the street towards the second stage with their victims, so that people would see them and take pictures. It was absolutely hilarious.

                        

Look at their shoes! 

The end of the ceremony was designed to wow the audience even further. It was an aerial show with artists dressed as angels flying from the tall buildings in Piccadilly Circus. At the end, we were all covered in feathers! It was a magical show all the way.

There was also a big balloon ghost, which reminded me of the end of Ghost Busters, when the character has to try and not think about anything, but cannot help picturing a promotional character.

Thanks for reading! See you next at the Paralympics.