The Circus – Fri 6th Nov 2015
By Jeannette | November 6, 2015
It’s not often that we can all go out, to something that will be within an SN-friendly atmosphere, tonight we did.
Circus Starr came to town, as it does every year and this was our third visit. I have to say it was the best yet.
Circus Starr is a very SN-friendly company with relaxed performances. They don’t charge for their tickets and rely on donations from the local businesses. There’s always tickets donated to D’s school and we were very lucky to get an allocation for us to go along, laugh, clap and cheer at the performances.
This might be the last year that we drag (that word wasn’t used lightly) T along, he didn’t seem to enjoy it at all – as you’ll probably see from this picture I took whilst we were waiting for the show to start:
This year’s show saw a slight variance in the artists and they were very well received.
The chaps above and below are amazing, just incredible. They go up the trapeze or ropes using just their brute strength. No safety nets, no harnesses, no wire, just them. The ropes you can see are holding the tent up!
Just after I took this picture, he dropped down and I always gasp because it’s so fast and you think “urgh, potential headache” – they come down head first – but they stop just before the bottom.
I have a very wobbly fear of heights and D was sitting next to me saying “why are you scared? It’s not you up there”. Bless her.
And then there was another act that made D smile so much, I had tears in my eyes watching her joy, it was an acrobatic routine set inside a globe suspended from the ceiling and the song was “Let It Go”:
In that last picture, she is doing the splits, inside that globe, high above the ground.
And then, D smiled even more because:
Olaf joined them! Again, one extremely happy D.
Above is a bit of slapstick with slo-mo “boxing” inside a human ring with the clown. It wasn’t violent or scary, just very, very funny. I laughed until my face hurt – and then carried on giggling.
The picture above of artists going extremely fast through rings reminds me of how one of our cats goes through the cat flap – at speed and very gracefully.
And the the Madagascar animals came out, dancing to “(I like to) Move It!”. Again, extremely popular with D and the rest of the audience.
I was too much in awe to take pictures of the female artist who spun up high in the show ring, just relying on her strength to stay up there.
The above was one of the final acts, two sisters who balance on huge inflatable globes, they negotiated up an ascending platform and then down, backwards. Amazing skill, balance and trust.
I always leave their performances feeling quite privileged that we had a chance to go, grateful for the tickets and astounded at how the artists use their strength and agility to their best potential. They aren’t a huge organisation, you’ll see the other artists assembling props etc for the others and there must be so much trust and appreciation between them.
Circus Starr also have a free app which can be used as a social story for autistic children in advance of their visit and is very easy to add in photos and customise.
We used it last year for D and this year she had so many happy memories from previously that she just couldn’t wait to go. Tonight will also provide some get prompts for talking about it with her too.
Have a look at their website, see if they’re “coming to a town near you”, it’s well worth seeing.
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