Alternative Magic

Every child I know loves things like the zoo or the circus. But as an adult I now know that either can have good and bad parts!

Like the folks at the North Carolina Zoo that make it a great place for a animal in captivity to be, I am sure there are circuses out there that have and deserve a good reputation.

But one of humanity's worst trades is greed!

Greed and its big brother Capitalism turn anything into a bad thing! Yes, Capitalism may have its good moments, but with some of the weak characters that are sadly considered 'humans', it has a lot of bad moments!

I read a lot of things about some of the small circuses and remember them begging with their animals on Frankfurt's Hauptwache and other places. Reading up on some of the horror stories about some circuses... it makes me sick!

Stories about inadequate housing, withholding of food and torture with various tools to 'train' them and one of the saddest stories I can imagine: 'Captured in the Wild'!

Elephants were often captured in the wild! A baby elephant, heavily depending on his FAMILY (herd), is ripped away from it and often cruelly treated to 'tame' it! I am a firm believer in breeding programs in such cases and that one should at least consider a little about the emotional damage a animal captured in the wild suffers!

Yes! They do FEEL things too!

So when I thought about all the beautiful memories a naive child has and how to produce those for my children without helping cause some of the cruelty and neglect out there, I found a AWESOME solution!

Cirque du Solei for me is the Magic of my childhood Circus memories, the Wonders of Las Vegas and all the Siegfried & Roy's, the movie Avatar, Just for Laughs, and Lord of the Rings together.... ON STEROIDS!

The Canadian entertainment company describes themselves as "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Like the famous comedy festival 'Just for Laughs' they are based in Montreal, Canada; also the birth place (Canada that is) of such great TV shows as 'The Border' and ' Flashpoint'. They came into existence in 1984 and were the creative masterpieces of two former street performers named Daniel Gauthier and Guy Laliberte.

They started out as 'Les Echassiers' as a performing troupe and survived many challenges. Eventually, and with the help of Guy Caron of the National Circus School, they became what we stare at with open mouth and eyes: The total complete explosion of Magic!

Cirque du Soleil can't be explained with words! No TV camera can successfully capture the 'high' no single or combination of illegal drugs can recreate; a feeling of drowning happily in a deep 'Loch' of Magic and Fantasy and Fun and Art and Skills and...!

I have had friends laugh about my lacking descriptions of what I saw even on a big screen TV.

NOT EVEN CLOSE, they said!

They are so successfully delivering the Dreams we thought would never come true that they went from one show to 19 shows in 271 cities and on every continent except Antarctica! Over 40 countries are represented by 4,000 people and their estimated annual revenue is over $810.000.000!

That is 810 -M-I-L-L-I-O-N-!

Over 9,000 people saw a Cirque du Soleil show in one single night in Las Vegas! That's 5% of the city's visitors! 90 MILLION VISITORS WORLD-WIDE!

Some of the most distinctive awards presented to Cirque du Soleil are the Bambi in 1997, the Rose d'Or in 1989, Drama Desk in 1991/1998, THREE Gemini, FOUR Primetime Emmy and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!

We all love watching animals; or most of us. But let it be a clean fun for both sides. A bear beaten into dancing for bystanders has nothing to do with my type of fun!
There are alternatives for many of the things that put too many animals into neglective and abusive situations. Our fun does not need to be at the cost of them!

And on a positive side: The amount of magic and beauty and art you can see in one of their shows just can't be described in words! Their creativity has no limits, the skills, motivation and dedication of their artists is the dream of any employer. This is modern art in a way that about anybody can enjoy. And for the kids its like bringing the fantasy world of Avatar to them; about as real as it can get!

My children will get to see the circus; they will get to see Cirque du Soleil and those like them. And when day when they are older I hope they appreciate it and look back to a beautiful and clean childhood memory!