At the World Circus Festival in Monte Carlo, the Chinese State Circus won the gold medal when 17 female acrobats balanced on one moving bicycle. In Booterstown, Co Dublin yesterday in a circus tent erected in the muck, we got 13 - a good try.
And that was the overall feeling: talented young acrobats trying their best at hoop diving, bungee trapeze and skipping/ juggling, sometimes performing incredible feats. "This is disaster night at the circus," said Sienna (9), as almost every act was marred by a fluff, with the performers usually trying until they got it right. But whether it was "disaster night" depends on how you define the term.
Yes, there were mistakes - spinning plates falling; a girl tumbling through the air and crashing down on her male partner's upturned feet; a man throwing hats in the air and making seven tries before he managed to catch them all on his head. But somehow the sense of impending human error made it all the more thrilling.
Why go see it? When your children have been reared on the spectacular special effects of video and Nintendo, there is something educational about seeing real people pushing human endurance in the continuation of a 2,000-year-old tradition. The Chinese State Circus isn't just low-tech, it's no-tech - unless you count the bicycles and the smoke machine.
By the time we had seen men tumbling seven feet through hoops in the air, Sienna declared: "I don't know whether to say this is `great' or `excellent'."
Chinese State Circus will be performing until January 21st. For details call 087 994 0994