Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey ® Presents Built To Amaze! SM , the 143rd edition of The Greatest Show On Earth®. Surprise and wonder delights audiences with over-the-top feats of strength, agility and courage. As the momentum builds so does the anticipation. Magnificent elephants, ferocious tigers, astonishing acrobats and awe-inspiring aerialists are engineered into one spectacular performance. Celebrate the tradition TODAY and experience its modern flair of twists and turns where excitement and suspense are so intense you’ll be tempted to cover your eyes.
From the blueprints to the band, the crates to the clowns, the hammer to the high wire, witness the spectacle as we measure out the perfect mix of marvel and majesty in an imagination equation where the impossible comes to life. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Presents Built To Amaze!
Here are a few fun facts:
Andre McClain – Ringmaster
Andre McClain is the 38th Ringmaster for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. He is an accomplished animal trainer, cowboy, rodeo star, country singer and songwriter. Andre is a descendant from a long, distinguished African American cowboy heritage that dates back to the early 1900’s. Built To Amaze marks Andre’s fifth tour with Ringling Bros® but his first as Ringmaster! King
Charles Troupe Basketball Unicyclists
The legendary King Charles Troupe performs theworld’s wittiest, wackiest game of basketball on unicycles! “Giraffe unicycles” are tall unicycles that can range in height from 3 feet to over 10 feet high. The King Charles Troupe’s unique performance combines precision, basketball on unicycles and comedy! The Troupe first appeared with
Ringling Bros in 1969 and was the first African American act in the history of the circus. The King Charles Troupe evolved from a visionary man named Jerry King, who when he was only eight years old was inspired by a performer perched upon a unicycle on the high wire in The Greatest Show On Earth® Troupe leader, Kim Anthony Jones (Kip),accomplished a record setting 164single jumps on a unicycle while double dutch jump roping. When riding a unicycle, keep your weight on the seat, not on the pedals
for better balance! Unicycling requires leg and core strength. Lean forward and keep your eyes focused ahead of you to help keep your balance. Lean in the direction you want to turn just like on a bicycle or motorcycle for a gradual turn. Turn to the right as the right pedal goes down or to the left as the left pedal goes down for a sharp turn.
Trampoline Tower Tumblers
Trampoline Acrobats
The Tower Tumblersfrom the Ukrainelaunch themselves from two trampolines to scale, repel and pass through a three story high translucent tower! Performing acrobatic art on a trampoline requires great concentration as it is very easy to lose your bearings and get hurt. A successful acrobat’s mind and body must be trained for many years to work together in perfect synchronization.
Alex & Irina Emelin
Animal Magic, Dog Act, Comedy Duo
Alex and Irina Emelin are a nine time international award winning comedic duo from Russia. The Emelins’ have spent years constructing unique acts full of comedy, animals, magic and dynamic athleticism. The Emelins love American culture so much that all of their 16 black and white poodles are named after famous American actors!
Stars of the Steel Vortex
Wheel of Steel Acrobats
The Wheel of Steel is powered by the strength of the performers who combine balance with acrobatic skills without a safety net. As the wheel approaches the floor, the performer experiences several times the force of gravity. The Steel Vortex moves side to side while it rotates making balancing for performers extremely challenging. Performers power up the 46 foot ap paratus to speeds of more than 25 miles per hour! At the top of the wheel’s rotation, a performer experiences zero gravity. As a performer moves forward in the wheel, he pulls the center of gravity away from the center, causing the wheel to rotate. In a performance, an acrobat walks both on the inside and outside of the wheel. While on the outside of the wheel, the performer must pass between the wheel struts called “the tunnel” without the use of a safety net or harness. The Wheel of Steel defies the forces of gravity as four outrageous daredevils including Flavia Costa, a 5’ll female acrobat, propel themselves with cat like ease
in and out the spinning double wheel. Flavia will demonstrate that there is no fear in this feminine feline as she undertakes an unfathomable human tower attempt on the Wheel of Steel balancing dangerously on her partner’s shoulders as they spin the wheel 30 feet in the air!
The Danguir Troupe
High Wire
Walking the high wire requires equal measures of talent, courage and concentration. The Danguir troupe had to learn to fall forward or backward while balancing on the high wire instead of the natural instinct to fall outward! Danguir troupe leader Mustafa jumps a car length’s distance over four troupe members on a high wire 25 feet in the air! High wire walkers wear very thin and flexible, leather soled shoes to protect their feet from abrasions and bruises. When preparing to jump, a high wire performer’s feet should be aligned with the wire toe to heel. When landing after a jump, a high wire performer’s feet should be
at an angle to the wire for better balance. A high wire rope with little sag makes quicker vibrations, whereas a loose rope
with a lot of sag makes larger back and forth swings. An optimal sag on a high wire is about 3 feet where balancing is easiest. Mustafa Danguir is the first person in the world to consistently jump over 4 people on a highwire successfully. The Danguir Family dazzle as they raise the roof, looming high above the arena floor, on a high wire as thin a pencil, as they execute difficult acrobatics and dangerous stunts. The Danguir’s construct two man pyramids and intricate jumps, including an incredible one man leap from one troupe member’s shoulder to another’s. The high wire is suspended 25 feet in the air. The high wire is only ½ inch wide . . . the same width as your thumb!
Kiev Aerialists
Spiral Lyras
The Kiev Aerialists perform their enchanting aerial artistry 30 feet in the air in custom built spiral lyras.
Dimitri Dolgikh and Nadejhda Tarasova
Iron Jaw Aerialists/Strap Act
Aerialists Dima and Nadja combine their amazing strength with ballet and gymnastics skills on the high aerial straps 35 feet in the air as they flex, flip and effortlessly float through the circus stratosphere. They also perform in an incredible Iron Jaw routine where Nadja is suspended in the air by nothing more than a mouth piece clinched behind Dima’s teeth and pure jaw strength. The Iron Jaw is an aerial performance in which an acrobat s wings and does tricks while suspended from leather and metal mouthpiece which fits into the performers mouth.
Francleib Rodrigues and Monica Neves
Upside Down Footlooping
To prepare for performing at The Greatest Show On Earth, “Flobson” had to practice being upside down for increasingly longer periods of time each day to allow his body to become more accustomed to the full routine without fainting. Francleib Rodrigues combines his flying trapeze skills with a set of asymmetrical trapeze bars for a shocking in flight finale. A first generation circus performer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Francleib Rodrigues start ed on the flying trapeze. Francleib Rodrigues (“Flobson”) and Monica Neves “walk” in foot loops inverted 25 feet high above the arena floor – without a net or harness! Flobson mixes his flying trapeze and asymmetrical trapeze bar skills to leap seven feet from one trapeze to another!
Menage
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey ® Asian Elephants
Ringling Bros has the largest sustainable herd of captive Asian elephants in the western hemisphere. So far, we’ve had 25 elephant calves born in to our breeding program! The Ringling Bros.® Asian elephants show off fresh and classic dance moves
reflecting each elephant’s unique talent and personality. Elephants learn by imitating and can respond to over 60 verbal cues. The tallest point of an elephant is its head. . . about the height of a basketball hoop! To stay healthy, an elephant drinks up to 800 glasses of water a day! Asian elephants have 150,000 muscles in their trunks! Their trunks are strong and flexible enough to pick up a large log or an object as frag ile as an egg. A full grown elephant tooth weighs about as much as a 9 pound bowling ball. When elephants feel hot, they flap their ears to cool down. Elephants eat up to 300 pounds of food a day. That’s more than people eat in two months!
Clown Alley
Clown Alley mixes soap bar shavings, tempura paint, and water with an industrial strength mixer to create the foam needed for their soap gag. Every movement and gesture is carefully choreographed and rehearsed so the clowns don’t get hurt – only soaked and soapy. The world famous Ringling Bros.® Clown Alley, are the foundation of Built To Amaze! and will fabricate the audiences’ funny bones with hysterical silly antics and clownish comedy.
The Negrey Troupe
FastTrack Acrobatics
The Negrey Troupe from Russia and the Ukraine, perform over 300 flips, jumps, rolls, and leaps down an 80 foot long custom built tumbling fast track. The 10 member Negrey Troupe display more than 151 years of astounding acrobatic expertise. Cartwheels, handsprings, back flips, and tucks are just a few areas of expertise that Negrey Troupe brings to Ringling Bros
Built To Amaze!
Duo Fusion and Duo Solys
Hand Balancing
Handbalancing emphasizes the strength, flexibility and body control of each performer. Using their bodies as building materials, they construct beautiful human pyramids, each one more complex than the last! The idea is to move slowly and make everything we do look effortless. The dynamic Duo Fusion and Duo Solys hand balancers, demonstrate powerful passion and insane flexibility! Duo Fusion and Duo Solys surprise audiences when the petite females, Virginia and Tatiana support their male partners, Giovanni and Hector. These very distinct yet captivating couples maintain perfect synchronization even as Duo Fusion’s Virginia attempts to balance Giovanni, upside down on her shoulders, poised in three inch heels and Duo Solys’ Tatiana attempts to elevate Hector with only one arm.
Elliana Grace
Human Cannonball
Just 20 years old, Elliana will amaze audiences as she slips down into the 24 foot long cannon with a diameter measuring just 30 inches! Landings are the most dangerous part of performing as a human cannonball! The moment of impact is always a shock to the body. A really bad landing can kill you. Inside the dark cannon barrel, Elliana will be elevated to a forty degree angle
where upon the Ringmaster’s command she instantly becomes the Human Cannon Ball. Elliana will rocket through the arena sky experiencing a G force of 7, the same force felt by NASA’s Apollo 16 upon reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, and land at an incredible distance of 100 feet!
Tabayara Maluenda
Tiger Trainer
Tabayara presents the largest display of big cats in the world, standing eye to eye with 18 ferocious exotic tigers. Taba’s fast paced Bengal tigers include the traditional Black/Orange, Black/White, Tabby, and all White variations. A tiger can eat 60 pounds of meat in a single night. That’s like eating 385 hamburgers! Tigers communicate their feelings through body language such as the position of their ears and tail. The average span of a tiger’s swipe is 5 feet. The total amount of pressure of a tiger’s jaw is 300 pounds. In Built To Amaze, Tabayara presents a remarkable new element as four tigers, each poised with just one razor sharp claw on a spindle and using their hind legs rotate in perfect unison. Tabayara and these mighty tigers jump, roar and dance, and have the audience on the edge of their seats. Like your fingerprint, no two tigers have the same pattern of stripes.
Lucenir Viera de Souza, Ashley Vargas and Robert Stipka
Liberty Carousel and Musical Rings
Liberty horses perform using only voice and visual commands. The horses performing in BUILT TO AMAZE are Arabians, Friesians, Paints and Norwegian Fjords. Robert Stipka, Jr. leads 4 exotic Arabian horses in a game of “musical rings” where the horses perform full waltzes in sync with musical cues. Horses can live from 25 to 25 years of age. Lucenir displays equine excellence as she presents the elegant and athletic white Arabian horses in a liberty display. A circus horse act is generally referred to as a “liberty” act; free from riders or tethers. In the liberty horse act, horses perform free, without riders, guided using only voice and visual commands. Ringling Bros. beloved animal presentations will delight all as Ringling Bros. constructs a mesmerizing living carousel uniting powerful yet elegant Friesian and Arab horses that are remarkably synchronized with beautiful aerialists suspended above the arena floor. Always be careful when in front or behind a horse because these are their blind spots. Horses have an upper prehensile lip that is very sensitive and can be used to pick things up. A horses brain is the size of a potato. Horses ears point where they are looking. A horse sees two different images from each eye. A horse cannot breathe from its mouth.
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey ® Presents Built To Amaze will be at Allstate Arena from November 1 – 11 and at United Center from November 20-December 1, 2013. Save 40% on all weekday shows and Save 20% on all weekend shows by using promo code: MOM.
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