Circus thrives on the new: New tricks, new spectacles, new blood. The first visit to the UK of Italian show Gravity Circus brings all those things, to refresh once again the more than 250-year-old wonder of a circular ring in a big top.
The show that first turned me on to circus was the Summer Spectacular at the Yarmouth Hippodrome. No small part of what captivated me was the water finale in which the ring was transformed into a pool of synchronised swimmers while an aerial straps artist flew through the surrounding fountains.
The transformation dates from the Hippodrome's construction in 1903, when it was first performed by gaslight. There is a similar attraction at the equally venerable Blackpool Tower Circus.
But surely you couldn't stage a water show in a travelling tent?
The answer is that you can do ANYTHING in a big top!
And while Gravity Circus doesn't run to a swimming pool, it is bringing to the UK a circular ring surrounded by fountains that jet small and large streams of water over the performance space, while a fountain erupts from the middle of the stage.
The visual effect as Amanda Togni flies through the gushing water gives Gravity Circus a look that you won't find in any other UK circus outside of the permanent arenas in Yarmouth and Blackpool - and it's that thrill of the different that a travelling show needs.
Among the stars is Silke Pan, a Swiss artist who embodies the tragedy and triumph of the circus. In 2007, Pan fell from the trapeze, broke her back and was paralysed from the waist down. The devastating injury could not rob her of her circus spirit, however.
Making her UK debut this year, the 50-year-old acrobat enters the ring in a wheelchair and is carried to a pedestal by her partner Didier Dvorak. There, accompanied by the moving playing of an onstage violinist, Pan performs an elegant hand balancing act followed by walking on hand stilts.
Elsewhere in the show is a high-wire troupe, rola-rola, cyr wheel and chair balancing, plus an aerial silk routine accompanied by ground-based ballerinas, wafting sheets of fabric to create an ocean-like effect.
The show's finale is a refreshing change from the ubiquitous Globe of Death. There is the thrilling roar of motorbikes, yes, but instead of circling inside a cage, they enter the tent on a ramp, leaping over a ring full of dancers and jugglers and passing through the central fountain while fire erupts in rising balls of flame, from around the edges of the stage.
Gravity Circus begins its UK tour in Lancing on 26 July and will be touring until 1 September.
Don't miss the chance to see a circus that looks like no other.
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