Who wouldn't want to run away and join the circus?

Last week my friends and I went to the circus. Not the typical thing to do on a Friday night, I know, but an activity with its own brand of romantic allure.

The event was put on by the Arts Umbrella Teen and Adult Circus School. A circus school!? That sounded almost as delicious as a circus "academy". It was in one of the PNE buildings....the Winter Garden building I think. When we took our seats, the performance area was set up with various long, silken doohickies, I now know are called "tissu". These were the first things that caught my attention. I've seen Cirque du Soleil after all....well, on the television anyway. Then I noticed the trapezes, two that looked like they were not meant for swinging (a single and a double), and one set up in the centre of the ring, which looked like it was definitely set up for some high-flyin' fun. Everywhere those blue gym mats ensured the safety of the brave acrobats, bringing me back to my days as a gymnast, days when the death-defying feats that I performed made me long for the simple and relatively safe life of the humble acrobat.

The show ran about an hour and a half long. There was a very loose Christmasy, or at least wintery theme and plot, but all that was very secondary to the performances themselves. As I expected the performers were teens and adults, far more adults than teens though. Seriously, what's wrong with the youth of today? Don't any kids dream about running away and joining the circus? I did when I was young (back when it was actually possible). Hell, I still do. After the show I picked up an application form. I plan to fill it out any day now.

Each acrobat performed to a different piece of music. My favourite was a small, Asian woman working the tissu to the seductive tunes of Santa Baby. She really made shimmying up a long piece of fabric look naughty. But although the tissu work looks beautiful and fun, my favourite event was the single, high trapeze. I remember when I use to watch this real reality show ( as opposed to the pseudo-reality shows) called Circus. I just followed a real circus around as it made it's way back and fourth across this great land of ours. It showed the circus being composed of mainly families, the children usually following in the footsteps of their parents. I remember this one episode when this young girl, maybe thirteen years old, started the single high trapeze for the first time, and the comment that it was the single hardest event to master. It doesn't look dangerous, not as dangerous as the flying trapeze, cause it just sits there. But the amount of strength and control that goes into manipulating your body around this stationary object while making your motions appear fluid and effortless is mind-boggling. It's like the uneven bars....without the swinging.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. However, even if had been crap I would have thoroughly enjoyed myself. I mean, if anyone had asked me what I was doing that night I could have said in a very haughty tone, "I'm going to the circus! What are you doing?" As I said, there is something very romantic about the circus. Maybe it's the allure of traveling the open road in a gypsy caravan. Or maybe it's because it's such an old art. Personally, I think it's because deep down inside we all like the look of a bum in spandex.