Coney Island "Boom A Ring" Cicus!

If you read my prior blog post I asked if you could guess what my husband and I went to see under this tent at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York over the July 4th weekend......

....it was The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey "Boom A Ring" circus!

For the first time since 1954 the famous Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is being presented under a tent, and this is the very first time it's played in Coney Island! Their "Greatest Show On Earth" circus has played for the last 139 years in Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, so this was a historic step for the organization to take. The "Boom A Ring" production is a two hour show held in one ring inside an air conditioned tent. Seating feels close up and personal to the circus action.

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My favorite circus act has always been the wonderful Aisan elephants and this trio were very entertaining!

Ringling Brothers now advertises its special "Center for Elephant Conservation." which is part of its efforts to ensure the endangered Asian elephant population is guaranteed a long and safe future.

Information about the center from the web site:

"In the interest of the species’ present and future well-being, the
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation® was
established in 1995. Located in central Florida, this 200-acre, $5-million,
state-of-the-art facility is dedicated to the conservation, breeding and
understanding of these amazing animals. "

You can watch a short movie about the center at the above link.

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Another favorite part of the show were the beautiful six white-striped Bengal tigers named Spirit, Fiona, Cia, Mikayla, Mohan and Taurus -- four females and two males ranging in age from three through seven years old. What wonderful big cats! Their trainer is Vicenta Pages.

Born into a circus family, she is only 22 years old! She has raised and trained the tigers since they were young cubs and says each tiger’s stunts are based upon their individual tendencies and behaviors, which Vicenta observes closely during play and interaction.

Above is Diana Vedyashkina and her trained dachshunds! Diana brought her act from her native Russia, and is also studying journalism at St. Petersburg State University in Russia. They were the cutest little dogs and the children in the audience loved this act.

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This collage is made of photos of many of the other acts that we saw -- the crossbow archer act in the upper right is the Finnish duo Martti & Liina, he was quite skilled.

The motorcyclists who ride at 65 miles per hour inside the metal globe in the upper left corner are the Urias Family -- the steel orb has been in their family for more than 80 years and this was the forth generation of the family performing in it!

The clown in the middle right is Justin Case who entertained us during many appearances throughout the two hour show by riding impossibly small bicycles, or flaming bicycles, or bicycles he took apart and rearranged while riding them!
The lower left group are tumblers and acrobats, the Russian Negrey Troupe. They did expert Cartwheels, handsprings, back flips, and if you look at the photo in the lower middle you can see two of the men appearing upside down as the picture captured them in the middle of a somersault!

In the bottom second from the left photo are Bulgarians Bobby & Valio performing a perch act where Valio balances Bobby on his forehead while she is riding a bicycle! Hard to believe he can hold up so much weight this way and keep her balanced at the same time.

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Karl Winn is the eighth generation to continue the family lineage to ride "The Wheel Of Steel." As it spins around he balances and runs around both the outside and inside!

The rope climbing acrobat was unfortunately not named on the web site, but she appeared a few times during the show performing many dangerous rope tricks high up near the top of the tent. The only group I did not get a good photo of was the juggling act Vas and Stas as they were also comedic and so fast moving that all my photos of them were blurred. If you'd like to read more about each performer you can click on their highlighted name.

To see a short video about the Boom A Ring, with snippets of the acts, click here.

" Coney Island's Boom A Ring" circus proved to us that it can be enjoyed by "children of all ages" as we certainly had a wonderful time watching this circus held by the ocean!

It was a wonderful way to celebrate the holiday weekend! Happy Birthday to the USA!