Circus Flora always has a thread of a story to pull the performances together. The title of this fall's production is The Trial of the Century. One of the performers was accused of stealing the costumes and the jugglers' clubs and something else I forget. Clarence Darrow this wasn't. The man on the left was the over-the-top defense counsel and the woman on the right the prosecutor. Why he came out wearing a giant cartoon mask of himself was never explained bu it was funny.
We temporarily interrupt the circus for a bad hair day. The kid had no school on Friday for some reason so she wheedled me to take her to our children's museum, The Magic House. One small room has a Van de Graaff generator, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_de_Graaff_generator, which pumps out very high voltage and very low wattage static electricity charges. You can buy one online if you like.
It produces this effect, making it a mandatory photo stop. Better Ellie than me. I don't have enough hair to make it worthwhile.
Something puzzles me about this. All those rings must have sufficient weight to maintain the momentum that keeps them spinning. Yet, if they are too heavy, they might exert enough centrifugal force to pull the performer off balance. One hula hoop is no big deal, but scores of them? The audience didn't get to examine the materials.
One of the nice things about The Lou is that we have our own resident circus company, Circus Flora, https://circusflora.org/ and that it has its own permanent big top tent. It has resumed live shows after a long period of Covid-enforced quiet. Of course, we took Ellie. She pretty much squealed for two hours.
Something I really appreciate is that they have no objection to photography, unlike most events. It was often tough to shoot under the dark blue canopy with spotlights and daylight from the sides, open for ventilation, creating wild dynamic range. Still, there are some cute images.
Time to wrap up the Artica photos, as much as I like the event. This is the grand finale. All the devotees circle around, ooh and ah, wait for the embers to darken and then wander off into the night.
