Edu365.cat

Magic, clown capers, acrobatics, mimes... all that and much more can be found at the circus, an entire world packed with surprises and laughter for the enjoyment of kids and adults too. Today we shall be discussing the circus, festivals and the well-known circus companies.

Before we begin, we should take a quick look at the history. Because the circus is no recent invention. In fact, it goes back to the second half of the 18th century, at least in its modern form, because although there were circuses already in Roman times, it was a very different thing to what we have today, as it was based on chariot races.

The inventor of the modern circus was the English horseman Philip Astley, who in 1770 built a circular open-air arena in London, where he exhibited his equestrian skills, interspersed with entertainment by tightrope-walkers, clowns and so on. In 1779 this arena became the first permanent circus: Astley's Royal Amphitheatre.

Needless to say, since those days, the circus has changed radically. At first, circus companies all used the same permanent venue and most of them were based on equestrian performances. But little by little, they began to incorporate animal taming, clowns, magic shows, mime and trapeze artists... and from the end of the 19th century, the first travelling circuses were to be found in the United States.