Circus Ukraine

Edna on the right buying our tickets for the "European" circus

We thought it would be fun to finally check out one of the traveling circuses that frequently come through Bila Tserkva, so that's exactly what we did today. Dominic opted to stay home so it was just me, Edna, and Joshua. I thought it was interesting that the tickets varied in cost by where you chose to be seated. Since there were only four sections and eight rows, this seemed a little strange since the price of a first or second row seat was double what a seventh or eighth row seat cost. I noticed one boy in the fifth row had binoculars around his neck. I couldn't help but think that he had to have figured the inside of the tent wasn't bigger than what it looked like on the outside. Right? I wonder if he actually used those binoculars.

Anyway, I think my favorite act was the first one with four trained, skirt wearing dogs. Except for the fact that two of the dogs looked like they had been plucked off the street, I thought it was pretty good. I didn't even get a picture because I was so intrigued by their canine exploits.

The clown pulled a woman from the audience and asked her to jump rope in the high heels that she was wearing, and she did, perfectly.

Next came the clown who made an appearance between the acts. He wasn't very funny, but he did manage to get a woman to jump rope in high heels. (That's real talent.) The next act was "jungle boy", a contortionist who pretended to be a savage living on the plains of Africa. He was quite limber and entertained to a degree, but again, I didn't get a picture of him. Not that I was mesmerized by his flexibility, but mostly because he was wearing spandex. Enough said?

This is the pigeon wrangler who also demonstrated the talents of four dogs wearing skirts and later dazzled us with an amazing hula hoop display.

Then there was the pigeon wrangler, a.k.a. crazy lady who dresses dogs in skirts. I really liked the part where she would grab a pigeon and hurl it into the audience only to have it narrowly miss bird-on-spectator contact and return safely to the perch on her head. (Seriously, it was really cool.) There was also a lady who could balance a candle stick on her head and twirl a flaming baton.

We felt a little sad for this lion. She didn't seem to want to perform or do much of anything for that matter. Her circus days might be numbered.

Of course no circus would be complete without a dangerous lion. Unfortunately the old girl looked like she just wanted to take a nap rather than jump through flaming hoops, which she eventually did after a little coaxing. The real crowd pleaser was the baby bear they had on a leash just outside the tent. He looked a little more playful than the lion.

After the show we got to see this cute little bear cub being walked on a leash. He looked like he could do some damage with those razor sharp claws. Small but powerful.

I was actually entertained by the whole affair so the five or so dollars each it cost for me and Edna seemed worth it. Joshua got in free with a coupon so it was totally worth it for him. I'm not sure if I'd want to go again, but hey, little bears on a leash really are cute.