The Universoul Circus is in town through the weekend. My daughter Mabel went yesterday morning on a field trip with her fourth grade class.
Here’s her report:
They were giving elephant rides for money; I’m not sure if it was for two dollars or ten dollars. I couldn’t hear.
Right before anything, a guy came out in a clown costume. He wanted to get us to stamp our feet. He had a giant tie and a big nose. Whenever he clapped, powder came out. He was really funny.
Two clowns came out. One guy was trying to throw a hat on a pole while the other guy was holding a pole. They finally got it on, but then they couldn’t get it down. They tried and they tore it and it fell down the pole. The guy took a bow with a torn hat.
What was another thing? Yes, yes, yes! There were girls on bicycles. First there was a girl in the middle with a spotlight on her, and she was wearing a pink leotard. She started getting on her bicycle. Then everyone went out and started getting on her bicycles. Two of them were on the bicycles and they put their heads down. There was another girl who did leapfrog over them. They tried it twice and only one time it worked.
Another thing that happened was that they did tightrope walkers. First, a man just walked across with a big pole. Then he did it with a person on top of him. Then a guy went across on a bicycle, Instead of having handlebars, he held a big pole. Then he did it with a person on top of him. Then he walked across again, except this time he had two people on top of him. When it was the end of their act, they came down but instead of walking down a ladder they came down a rope in crazy ways, their feet going around. One slid down like a fireman.
There was a man and he put his hands in what were almost like bracelets of ribbon. He twisted them together and he did somersaults in the air. They were bringing him up on a wire. And he did somersaults and twists and different things in the air and it was really cool.
Three people had like eighteen dogs or something. They made them do tricks and put them through hoops. Two of them were dancing in blue and pink dresses. They made them jump over hurdles. Two dogs did it, and one knocked them all over. They tried to get one dog to do it, but she ran around and ran around and they tried to catch her and she never did it. They pulled a slide in that they made them go down. A few of them slid and then jumped off, but a lot of them slid headfirst. The dog that wouldn’t do the hurdles went up the stairs to the slide and went right back down. They chased her but she went right back down. She wouldn’t do anything!
There were two people on motorcycles or something. They went around in a giant metal ball. You could see through it. One person did it, then another, then four did it together. It was really kind of scary because I knew they knew what they were doing, but if they made a wrong turn everyone would have messed up.
Right before the second half, they threw out giant beach balls into the audience and everyone tried to be able to bounce one. I was watching excitedly with my hands in the hair. My teacher says she got hit by someone behind he who was trying to hit the ball.
At the intermission they were having elephant rides again. During the whole time, they were selling popcorn and cotton candy and flags and glow things.
The second half started with a man on big poles and two giant swings made out of metal. There were three giant cushions in the middle if they fell. They would run up on the giant things and would hold them up so one of them would get on the swings. He would do a somersault on the swing and go to the next one. That was pretty cool too.
They had tigers. It was really kind of scary. One of the kids in my class said he was glad they were in a cage. He didn’t know they were trained. I was scared too. One of the tigers didn’t do as much as the others.
I didn’t like seeing them whip animals to get them to do tricks. My teacher said she didn’t like it either, and said she’d rather see the animals in the wild than in a circus.
When we had to go, they were doing, they were doing an act where there were three girls who had to twist their arms and legs around their bodies where people can’t usually twist their arms and legs. Everyone really liked that part, but we had to leave because our bus was waiting.
I’m not sure if I saw the whole circus or not.
Thanks, Mabel. Sorry you had to go back to school. Fourth grade sucks sometimes.
Remaining Universoul Circus performances are today (Saturday Oct. 22) at 4 & 7 p.m. and Sunday the 23rd at 12:30, 3:30 & 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 to $28.50 (free for children under 1; big deal).The company’s tent is on Route 34 between Sherman Parkway and Ella T. Grasso Blvd.