Ringling Brothers Circus – A Review

By Kiran Jayasinghe and Simran Jayasinghe

The Three Sisters At the Circus
At the circus! (Image by the Jayasinghe family)

Imagine a place where you can see dogs, elephants, tigers, and people perform tricks. The one place you would be able to see all of these is at the Ringling Brothers Circus.

The Ringling Brothers is a traveling circus. The circus was in Orange County a couple of months ago, and we went to see it! It is most definitely the best show that we have seen (The website also says it is the greatest show on Earth!). The show we went to watch was at the Honda Center in Anaheim. In the show, there were horses with riders that stood up on the horses’ backs, two humped camels with riders that did the splits while riding the camels, poodles, elephants, snakes, and tigers.

Elephants at the ringing brothers circus
Elephants at the Circus (Image by the Jayasinghe family)

The elephants each got fed a whole loaf of bread for a snack! The elephants were amazing, and they were so friendly looking in their purple coats and headdresses that said “The Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey. The Greatest Show on Earth” in sparkling white letters. They performed an act where an elephant placed its two front legs on the back of the elephant that was in front of it, while walking on its hind legs.

The tigers performed one act where they all laid down in a row and when their master whipped the floor, they all stood up on their hind legs and roared. The  tigers looked like they wanted to eat the man directing them right up! Although the tiger show was exciting, we think the tigers were a little mistreated.

TigerMovie

First of all, about 15 tigers had to perform in one, small, arena. The man directing them cracked a whip when a tiger did not listen. The tigers looked scared, and would not have obeyed the master if not for the whip. The tigers were also caged up in pretty compact cages.

The poodles were adorable and funny. After a poodle performed a trick, it sped off the stage at a run, and at the same time another poodle, who was hiding behind the curtain, came speeding out! There was a cute little white poodle that kept jumping into a fake trash can and then jumping out! Though sometimes it would get stuck, and then the clowns had to go pull it out.

There were marvelous acrobats. One  tight rope performer did the splits on the tight rope while balancing two people on her shoulders. That must have taken a lot of practicing! The people sitting in the front rows were moved so that if a tight rope walker fell, they wouldn’t fall on top of the audience. Luckily, that did NOT happen.

There were people that performed tricks on bikes. One person gathered speed, and did a somersault on his bike. There was also an act where people jumped from towers, fell on a trampoline, bounced back up, and landed all the way up on the tower again. There was one girl that got blasted out of a fake cannon, who landed on a inflatable cushion, perfectly fine. There were a couple of stilt walkers too. There were also people that hung from structures that were attached to the high ceiling.

If you go to this show you will want to go back, and see it again. It is hypnotizing how they transform regular tricks into a spectacular, dazzling show. This is one show you just should not miss!