Arlette Gruss

It turns out that we weren't the only circus in town when performing in Strasbourg. We shared the city with famed French circus, Arlette Gruss. It was pretty funny, actually. At the tram stop directly across from our Big Top was a poster for their show... oops. As luck would have it, we were dark one of the nights they were performing and so D and I went out to see the show. This was a little over a month ago, so bear with me if this seems a little jumpy.

Now I don't have too much experience with traditional shows, so in a lot of ways, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Would it be like the show in Hungary, or would it be full out trad?

The answer was in the first act.

There was netting all around the ring before the show even started so you could kind of tell the first act would involve the big cats. So I found it pretty strange when the lights started flashing and the show was announced only to immediately go to black to do the final installation for the cat act that was already obviously the first act. Weird.

As an artist that has only done more contemporary shows, I was amazed at how indiscreet the technicians were. No effort was made to hide any of the manipulations. Not even the poop sweeps. Though I suppose what they lose in discretion they make up for in speed. Also, poop sweeps?

All in all, the acts were quite good. There were far too many animal acts for my taste, though. Tigers, elephants, liberty horses, another horse act, a dog act, probably some more that I'm forgetting. While I do enjoy some animal acts, I must admit, I prefer seeing people do incredible feats.

The swinging trapezist was particularly good. He opened his act with full twist catch heels. Full twist catch heels! Outstanding! The handbalancer was also lovely. And there was a duo straps act, but not like the kind in Varekai. This was actually more of a static hand-to-hand act performed really high in the air. You know this move? Okay, imagine that, but the porter is holding himself in splits in the straps. And the two of them are a good 25m off the ground. They were awesome.

And who can resist the wheel of death?

And for the first time in my entire life, I saw a motorcycle cage! It was insane. Insane! They started off as
three and when two more cyclists came out you just had to ask "How will they all fit?" And that's when three more cyclists showed up! Now that's edge of your seat entertainment. But I really must ask, how do you even start doing that? Let alone find seven other guys to do it with you? And I cant' even begin to imagine the level of trust and concentration that you must have to perform such an act. Hats off, boys!

Definitely a fun and interesting experience, but once all was said and done, the show was far too long (almost three hours!) and a bit lacking in human performers.