Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey presents Fully Charged Giveaway!

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey presents Fully Charged is coming our way!  Now, my kids and I love a good circus.  I went to the circus as a kid, so I’m glad to take my kids.  Last time Ringling Bros. was in town, Madison got to part of the pre-show!  They pulled her out of the crowd to help the clowns!  I know she wants to go back this year, and hopefully she’ll get to be a part of the show again!

Here are a few highlights of this extraordinary production from Feld Entertainment:

1. California native Ringmaster Brian Crawford Scott leads this high energy production in his debut performance with Ringling Bros. flanked by the hilarious hi-jinxes and electrifying escapades of his Russian-born comedic sidekicks, Stas and Vas!
2. The charismatic Taba (Tabayara Maluenda) is back!…..this time with a full aggregate of exquisite equines, a dozen fantastic felines, and a whole herd of pachyderms in multiple animal displays throughout the show.
3. His fast-paced Bengal tigers include a bevy of beautiful looks – from the traditional Black/Orange, to Black/White, Tabby, and all White variations.
4. Arriving ringside atop a beautiful black Friesian horse, Taba displays equine excellence as he presents the elegant and athletic white Arabian horses in a liberty display; he is flanked by a ring of Paint and Norwegian Fjord liberty horses presented by Lucenir Viera de Souza on one side, and liberty zebras presented by Karin Houcke on the other side.
5. He returns again….. in full command of 90,000 pounds of ponderous pachyderms in the magnificent and traditional exhibition of Asian elephants.
6. Brian Miser – The Human Fuse – takes flight a-flame with the thrust of 7-Gs on a 3 second aerial voyage traveling 130 feet through the apex of the arena, launched from a super-sized human crossbow. Don’t blink for this one!
7. The courageous 5-member Danguir high-wire troupe, from Russia, Spain and Morocco, showcase amazing balance as they dance, leapfrog, perform a walking pyramid, and jump from shoulder to shoulder high above the arena floor – all without any safety cables!
8. The Brothers of Brawn, Ruslan Gilmulin and Dmitriy Nadolinskiy, are called Strongmen for good reason: these musclemen lift huge logs and twirl utility poles with seeming ease in an astounding maneuver of agility, might and muscle!
9. The fast-footed Fernandez Brothers, from Mexico, jump, leap, skip rope, and flip atop the revolving Twin Turbines of Terror in a daring exhibition of athletic agility, talent and trust.
10. The 9-member Negrey Troupe, from Russia and Ukraine, display a total of 149 years of astounding acrobatic expertise as they perform over 300 flips, jumps, rolls, leaps and bounds back and forth down the entire length of the 80 foot long custom built tumbling fast track.
11. The juggling Fusco Brothers, identical twins, are 5th generation circus performers from Argentina, who showcase their amazing manipulative skills as they combine balancing with juggling multiple balls, hoops, rings, and, simultaneously, juggle nine flaming fire clubs back-to-back in the dark.
12. The Red Unit has a total of 340 members – including performers, cast, staff, train crew, pie car crew, animal crew, backstage departments and concessionaires.
13. While some live and travel by trailer, the majority lives and travels on the circus train (about 270).
14.  There are 118 performers, including a nine-member live band.
15. This international cast and crew originate from four continents, and include individuals from 17 different countries:  Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mexico, Morocco, Russia, Ukraine, Spain, Trinidad, United States of America, Uzbekistan, and Trinidad.
16. The eleven major languages spoken backstage include Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, English, Hungarian, Kazakh, Moroccan, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian.
17. Collectively, the cast of Fully Charged represents several thousand years of performing experience.
18. There is a fully staffed nursery, day care and traveling school on tour with each Ringling Bros.® touring unit to accommodate the many families who compose the circus cast and crew.
19. It takes about 16 hours to set up the entire show for the first performance in each city.
20. It takes about 6-8 hours to tear down the show and load the circus train for each trip.
21. The 56 animals on tour with Fully Charged include:  Asian elephants (9) (Names: Asia, Assan, Baby, Banko, Luna, Sarah, Siam II, Toby, and Tonka.), Bengal Tigers (18) (12 appear in show, while other 6 in training. Includes Black/Orange, Black/White, Tabby, and all White variations.), Zebras (5), Horses (24) (Friesian Horse (1), Paint Horse (4), Norwegian Fjord Horses (4), Arabian Horses (13), Miniature Horse (2)
22. All animals are groomed and exercised daily, either in the arena or in practice areas set up in the animal enclosures.
23. The Red Unit Pie Car, or dining car, boasts a custom built kitchen and dining area to serve hot meals to circus cast and crew each day
24. The Pie Car is located in the center of the living coaches so circus artists and staff have access to it whether the train is moving on the rails, or parked in a city.
25. Whenever the train is moving, the Pie Car is open 24/7 and serves as a social center as well as a restaurant.
26. Combined, the Pie Car on the train and the Pie Car Jr., which serves meals at the arenas, prepares approximately 109,000 meals each year.
27. On certain days, the Pie Car menu features special meals representing the many foreign countries that the performers, staff and crew come from.
28. Over 1000 pounds of popcorn are consumed in each city that Ringling Bros. visits.
29. At each performance, 4,000 pounds (2 tons) of ice are used to make snow cones.
30. More than 750 pounds of sugar are used to spin cotton candy in each city.
31. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus train that brings Fully Charged to each city on tour has a total of 59 cars, and has a total length over a mile long.
32. The 59 cars on the Blue Unit Train include: 4 animal stock cars, 30 coaches for living, 2 concession storage cars, 19 flat bed equipment cars, 1 pie car (diner), 1 generator car, 1 shop car, and 1 auxiliary generator/shop car.
33. The state-of-the-art generator car produces enough electricity to power the entire train, making it completely self sufficient 24/7/365.
34. Periodic water stops are scheduled during train trips to refill water tanks for animals and people.
35. Special stops are arranged on longer trips so the animals can get out for exercise.
36. Each year an average of 1000 hours is spent traveling by train from city to city.
37. The average distance the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey train travels between cities is 350 miles.
38. The red unit train will travel an average of 16,000 miles in one year going coast to coast.
39. The Ringling Bros. red unit train will bring Fully Charged to 78 cities on its two year tour.
40. The train master walks a minimum of 3 miles per day in taking care of every aspect of the Ringling Bros. train.
41. Each train car is custom built for a specific purpose at Feld Entertainment Rail Recycling Center in Palmetto, FL
42. It takes the Ringling Bros. rail recycling team 9000 man-hours to build one train car for The Greatest Show On Earth.
43. More than 100 costume technicians, milliners, cutters, drapers, tailors, finishers, and assistants spent a total of 48,000 hours to create and build all the costumes for the Fully Charged production. This does not include the many hours dedicated to the design process for each costume.
44. The costumes were all built in about 12 weeks.
45. There are over 550 costumes in the production, with more than 100 hats, and nearly 1,000  shoes.
46. And to bring on the bling, more than 3,140,000 rhinestones and sequins were applied to the costumes for this year’s production.
47. The Ringling Bros. production Fully Charged tours with a live band of 9 musicians, who play an amazing 23 different instruments throughout the show. Their collective experience in the live music business is over 200 years.
48. There are 175 pages in the musical score: If the pages were laid down end to end, the score would be over 160 feet long, or the length of 11 cars parked bumper to bumper.
49. There are 180 uniquely different pieces of music used in the show, which are custom composed for this production, and include more than 30 different musical styles.
50. More than 300 different sound effects are used in the show
51. In one year, the saxophone player goes through 500 reeds, and the drummer uses over 300 drum sticks!
52. Nearly 100,000 pounds of equipment hang from 100 electric chain hoists
53. It takes almost a mile of cable to run electricity to all the lamps and computer boards for the show
54. 150 moving lights are remotely controlled to accomplish every light cue in the show
55. The suspended trussing on which the lights are mounted is made of aluminum… at an approximate cost of $1.75 oz of AL per can, you could make about 250,000 soda cans out of the Red Unit trussing.  (Estimating 25,000 lbs of trussing)
56. An additional 10-12 spotlight operators are hired locally in each city. They rehearse lighting the show one time before the audience sees it
57. Hundreds of Pyrotechnics effects are used to add pop and excitement to the show, adding electronic exclamation points which punctuate the total performance. Highly trained pyrotechnicians travel with all Feld Entertainment touring productions to ensure safety in the use of flames and pyrotechnic effects.
58. Confetti Canons – 8 confetti Canons are use in the finale number of each performance of FULLY CHARGED. Over a one year tour, more than 2000 pounds (one ton) of confetti will be used.
59. The four person sound crew takes 8 hours to set up the sound equipment in each new location on tour with Fully Charged.
60. The show uses 8000 feet or 1 1/2 miles of microphone cable; 5000 feet (almost a mile) of power cable; and has a capacity of 150,000 watts of power
61. The show’s two Digico D5 mix consoles each have a capacity of up to 96 channels of audio input.
62. There are 12 channels for Wireless Microphones, and 11 channels for wireless In-Ear Monitors
63. 5 microphones are used during rehearsals for foreign translators to make sure cast members hear the director’s requests. Languages spoken are Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, English, and Spanish
64. 62 Speakers totaling 11850 pounds, or 5 ½ tons, are suspended from the aerial trusses