Death defying acts at Aussie Circus

Shouts of horror and delight were common during the opening night of the Australian Circus Spectacular, also known as the Aussie Circus at Mall of the North on Friday night.
The show kicked off with the graceful high flying hula hoop stunts by Americus, who later in the show amazed with her skills when she had multicoloured, neon, glow in the dark world, launched at her, catching and spinning each one until she’s bathed in a sea of hoops that dwarfs her petit frame.

Yuriy the Clown had the audience in a frenzy with his antics, forcing two sides of the spectators to compete against each other to see who can shout louder. Val de Fun, a harlequin with a difference made the timing and acrobatics needed in slapstick jokes seem easy and had the audience holding their sides with laughter.
Queen of the silks, Kiarnna has been gracing the circus theatre stage from a very young age as she was born into circus royalty from a long line of performers and directors. She used two long pieces of silk fabric to do her acrobatic act that stunned as she climbed up to the roof of the tent.
The quick change duo, Renata and Ricardo, 13-year old trapeze artist Kaleah, and Gizelle and Edison’s pole act were also crowd favourites.
The stars of the show were definitely the human cannonball, Luis Daza and the Aussie FMX Stars.

While Daza prepared to be launched over the heads of the audience the whole tent fell into complete silence. The cannon boomed and Daza flew through the air, landing on a
giant airbag to the raucous applause and cheers of the audience.
The FMX riders ended the show with their truly amazing stunts. Their first act was to ride in unison around a metal globe, missing each other by millimetres as their paths crossed in the confined space.
One by one more riders joined in until there were five riders zooming around the globe. Then they took their stunt one step further by asking Renata to stand inside the globe while they zipped past her at incredible speeds.
They ended the night by racing up a ramp and launching over the heads of the entire audience, hitting another ramp back stage and exiting the big top.
Producer Sebastian Cassey said his team works very hard on their acts every day as they want to bring the magic and excitement of the circus back to South African audiences.
While the smell of popcorn, hotdogs and candy floss hung in the air, the show ended with an opportunity for audience members to meet the artists and have their photos taken with the talented cast of the Aussie Circus.

Story: MARKI FRANKEN
>>marki.observer@gmail.com
Photos: Marki Franken / Yolande Nel

Featured photo: Gizelle and Edison show grace and strength in their pole act.