Joined the Ringling Bros. for an Out of This World day!

Joined the Ringling Bros. for an Out of This World day!

R146_INT_WEBSITE_LOGO_1200x693_R1_NB-1024x591Ringling Bros the family that has given us family entertainment for generations offers the next generation of Circus.  #OUTOFTHISWORLD is art, experience, theatre, story, pathos, exhilaration and more.  Travel through the universe, bend time, and beyond entertainment, your senses will be awakened with performances in music, light, ice, and smoke and mirrors.

The theater goes dark, you sense a beat, streams of light, music begins, a spot finds a spacewalker floating and the planets, and it gets busier and more light and the spotlight finds moonwalkers, and they bow, the music builds as the telescopic light finds the stars, let the games begin.

We all go to the circus as a child or to watch the awe in our child.

Now it’s the awe in the child in Pops  that revels in the chills of the magic.

IMG_8462 The circus still has its lions and tigers who we met up front and personal with their lifetime companion, Alexander Lacey, who took over the role of big cat trainer from his father.  He speaks to us as he grooms one of the 1,000 lb. lions, who paws at him, the same way my 15 lb. dog paws at me, playfully, with love, with requests for me to play with him.  Watching them hang together, I saw the comparison, but then I saw the mouth open and those big teeth and I realized the difference.  But the love and companionship are the same.  They’ve known each other since the lion was born and they’ve worked together since the lion agreed to take on responsibilities at the circus.

Alexander then puts the lion back in his spacious cage and gets 4 tigers to come play with him.  It’s a beastly hot day on the west coast of Florida and when the tigers come out they are ready to play, but not necessarily with their trainer.  They play with each other, and frolic in the pool much as dogs in a water pool at the dog parks of New York City.  A big rubber ball floats in the pool and the tigers play with the ball, and the wakes they make and they splash themselves and each other, and they play, like six year olds in a kiddie pool.  Alexander and a couple of the tigers play with each other and he shows how he commands them with a stick that touches them like I might tickle my dog.  And the tiger sits, stands, lies down, and looks left and right as Alexander requests.  Alexander doesn’t push his friend and he lets him go play in the pool after just a moment, explaining to the audience of 10 or so, that “I only want to do with one of my friends what they want to do with me. “  If one of them is not ready for a show or a rehearsal he sits out.  There will be other days when she’ll be raring to go, but I only do what they want, it is never them doing what I want.  That’s the secret to being a big cat trainer.

We go into the thousands of square feet of rehearsal halls, and watch the unicyclists warming up with their Harlem Globetrotter routine.  Not all the players are performers some are just joining the troupe to acquire the skills to the level needed.  We learn that they will be unicycling on ice, a skill they have all just been learning since March, 2016, but they are ready to take this show on the road.

We meet the aerialists and the contortionists, and watch them warm up for the big performance.  It is explained in the former circus different performers had differing roles as controtionists and as aerialists, now each specialist has learned to do the other, so look in the sky when you get to the next circus, watch the ladies in glass spheres dance, spin and seemingly fall out of the high wire act, in unison with each other, hanging high above the stage.

IMG_8463Then the highlight.  We are shepherded into the big top rehearsal stage.  As big as any arena in the country, the stage is set and the lights go down and the musicians start the drama.  The actors present themselves and the audience is introduced to the plot of the circus.  It is not just performance for the sake of the act, it is now theater, produced with circus flair but with broadway music and characters who engage us with concern for their plight and overcoming their obstacles.  We weren’t able to watch the entire performance, so when the circus comes to an arena near you, which it will starting in California in July, 2016, maybe you’ll tell me how it ends.

We thought that was the best but as in every child’s mind when attending the circus, the best is yet to come.  We visit their monster truck factory.  Trucks as big as buildings line the immaculately clean workplace.  All phases of trucks from frames to almost perfect, they explain the life of trucks.  Cared for just as the animals and performers only doing what they want when they want.  A couple of the circuit drivers are working on their cars and stop to talk to us.  The winner of the last tournament has taken his car apart and is rewiring it to make it even better.  He works with his big truck as genteelly and friendly as Alexander Lacey worked with his big cats.

Super heroes are now performers as the Feld Organization has mixed the big truck show with theater to tell the story of heroes and out to protect the innocents that we all are.  I stand among them and feel my magical powers over take me as I become one of them.

IMG_8461But that is not the end of this tour.  I become one of them when I am taken to the costume shop, or should I call it the costume museum.  Any and every costume ever made resides in this many thousands of square feet of costumes hanging, classics and new.  Want to do a school production of Cinderella well the costumes of Disney on stand there, ready for the community to borrow for free or negligible fees as just another outreach by the generations of the Feld family, the family that brings family entertainment to America, and now the world.

IMG_8465So Ladies and Gentlemen and Children of all ages, the elephants may have retired and there is no more midway, but the show goes on with a new twist and new costumes and new props and mostly new technology adding speed and song and dance to the performances, but the thrill is still there.  This is Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, where all three rings are combined into one magnificent story with the cast of thousands all doing their circus thing while the good guys save the day and the evil queen is thwarted.  Ladies and Gentlemen and Children of all ages, the circus is in town and it’ll be in your town at some point in the next 18 months.  And while that show is on the road at the Feld Headquarters in Ellenton Florida the next show will be created and sent on the road.  And the next Disney on Ice and the next Hulk and Ironman show and the next Monster Truck winner and the next generation of circus performers and circus productions will all be created under one massive roof for the pleasure of the generations so parents take your kids and grandparents take your parents, this is entertainment for one and all.

Find tickets to the show when it rolls into your area here on the tour schedule page.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Fully Charged – Coming into New Jersey & Long Island ticket giveaway

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Fully Charged – Coming into New Jersey & Long Island ticket giveaway

DIAL UP THE ENERGY. Don’t miss the All Access Power Up Pre-show Party!

Arrive an hour before show time and step onto the arena floor to meet our performers and animals.  It’s your chance to learn skills from the stars of the show and discover how to be CircusFit®. This action packed  event will get you Fully Charged and ready for the show to begin. Plus, watch one of our incredible Asian  elephants paint a masterpiece, and enter for a chance to win your very own pachyderm painting. The fun starts an hour before show time, and it’s free with your ticket!

Don’t miss Fully ChargedSM, the all-new surge of circus entertainment fromRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey®where megawatts of thrills explode off of the arena floor with breathtaking dare-devilry, superhuman stunts and never-before-seen performances that energize Children of All Ages!

The most electrifying edition ever ofRingling Bros.®celebrates performance power that boosts circus-goers excitement. The amazing acts, which can only be seen at The Greatest Show On Earth®, include Tabayara, a dynamic animal trainer whose rare ability to communicate with animals allows him to ride rearing stallions at a fully charged gallop and orchestratemajestic four-ton Asian Elephants in a symphony of dance. When he stands inside a cage, eye to eye with twelve ferocious tigers, Tabayara sees family where others see danger.

Audiences will feel the earth shake when the Ukrainian strongman duo ofDmitry Nadolinkskiy and Ruslan Gilmulin, who are as wide as they are tall, enter the arena.  The brawny twosome give the word manpower a whole new meaning as they lift large cumbersome telephone poles, which weigh up to half-a-ton, and twirl them above their heads while acrobats balance atop.

The Fearless Fernandez Brothers dial up the thrills as they perform daring feats of athleticism on the Twin Turbines of Steel, including, extreme jumps and twists inside the moving wheels! Audiences will crackle with excitement as they watch Guillermo perform a three hundred sixty degree flying forward somersault, three stories in air, a feat so difficult it has only been attempted by one other person in the 141-year history of Ringling Bros.The Human Fuse, Brian Miser, sets the arena sky ablaze as he rockets through the air from his self-made human crossbow.  Don’t blink as he flashes across the sky in less than a second, and travels 80 feet at 65 miles per hour.

Ever wonder how many clowns it takes to change a light bulb? The hilarious hoopla continues to flow as the clowns from the world-famous Ringling Bros.®clown-alley, charge-up the audiences’ funny bones with hysterical silly antics and clownish comedy.

You can only experience this current of excitement at Ringling Bros. Fully Charged! Get your ticket for high-voltage fun today!

This time around the Circus is also doing some social good with this campaign ARE YOU FULLY CHARGED? This is a unique initiative in which we’re encouraging everyone everywhere to check their smoke detector batteries to make sure they’re (wait for it) — Fully Charged. Yes, there’s a Facebook page – http://facebook.areyoufullycharged.com — and there’s also a contest to win one of 10 family four packs of tickets to the show: http://contest.areyoufullycharged.com

Use code BLOGGER saves $5 on all non-VIP tickets to all shows (except opening nights) for the Prudential Center (Feb. 23-27), the IZOD Center (Mar. 2-13) and Nassau Coliseum (Mar. 16-20).

Here are the local dates – Prudential Center (Feb. 23-27), the IZOD Center (Mar. 2-13) and Nassau coliseum (Mar. 16-20). Here’s the Ticketmaster link if you want to get tickets: http://www.ticketmaster.com/Ringling-Bros-and-Barnum-Bailey-Fully-Charged-tickets/artist/1507334?tm_link=edp_Artist_Name (NOTE: The code is good on all performances at all three area arenas, with the exception of opening nights.)

 

We’re doing a raffle for a family 4 pack to see the circus on March 2nd at the IZOD Center and keep and eye out on Facebook.com/dadarocks for giveaways to the other shows!

How to win it… Contest ends 11:59am EST. March 1, 2011.

You get 1 entry for placing a comment with what your favorite circus
act is and please use some method for us to contact you in the comment
(twitter or email)

You get 1 extra entry for following us on twitter –
twitter.com/dadarockstwitter.com/Ringling_NYC_NJ

You get 1  extra entry for tweeting about this contest (you can do this daily).  Must contain the following information:
@Ringling_NYC_NJ @dadarocks –  http://dad.tc/dKbTSN and you must also comment with the link to your twitter message.

Example:  I want to win @Ringling_NYC_NJ tickets from @dadarocks – http://dad.tc/dKbTSN

You get 1 extra entry for becoming a FAN on facebook –facebook.com/DaDaRocks you must comment that you’re a fan

You get 1 extra entry for becoming a Fan on facebook of the circus –facebook.com/Ringling.NY.NJ you must comment that you’re a fan

You get 1 extra entry for subscribing to our Feedburner digest mailing – you must also comment that you’ve subscribed

You will have 10 hours to reply before we pick another winner

Disclaimer: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s provided these tickets for the raffle.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s FUNUNDRUM!! Review

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s FUNUNDRUM!! Review

Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s slogan is that its the greatest show on earth. That is still true to this day, I haven’t seen another true circus since I was a little kid myself but I’ve seen a number of Cirque du Soleil which isn’t nearly the same.  The concept is still a three ring circus, which is broken out by light usually, there is a clear view of entertainment from any part of Madison Square Garden (MSG).

Before the show gets started they offer fans for about an hour before to come down to floor and take pictures with the performers.  The act is really the history of the circus it goes though the sideshow acts, the song/dance, the high-wire, the acrobats, the clowns, the motorcycles in the steel cage (one of my favorites), the animals of the wild west, and the elephants from India.  The show does a great job of bring all the historical elements together to make it fun and engaging to kids.

I felt like act 1 did get a little long but thought that act 2 was much faster paced and enjoyed it more! I would try to take younger children to the afternoon show if possible but the night show is great for those that can be up past 9pm.  The souvenirs are a little pricey but its the standard 10-40$ range.  The food was the same pricing as usual with the additions of a Kids Value meal.

The circus and the act are going are one of those once a year treats that you should really try to make happen.  Its great memories and hopefully you could write your own memory about your visit.  Other then this being Marc’s first visit to the circus, it was also his first time having a piece of popcorn (they grow up so fast).

My quick disclaimer that Ringling Brother and Barnum & Bailey’s Funundrum tickets were provided by them, but don’t worry this didn’t sway my judgment it was still an awesome show!

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The BlackTop Circus Arrives in NYC

The BlackTop Circus Arrives in NYC

For the first-time-ever, New Yorkers will have the opportunity to experience some of the country’s greatest young circus artists and hip-hop talent in one spectacular variety show as The Blacktop Circus: Where The Big Top Meets The City Streets hits the stage at the legendary and newly revitalized Paradise Theater in the Bronx on March 12, 2010. Show information is available at www.blacktopcircus.net

Taking place from March 12th – March 21st , the show features an eclectic array of acclaimed young performers, assembled from the blacktop — the asphalt pavements of city streets and playgrounds. The show is the only hip-hop variety show to provide a professional venue featuring these exceptional talents all under one roof.

The performances appeal to, and inspire people of all ages and demographics, while bridging cultural and racial boundaries within the arts. Audiences will recognize many of their favorite acts from appearances on television shows including America’s Got Talent, America’s Best Dance Crew and Showtime at the Apollo as well as familiar live touring shows.

The BlackTop Circus features exciting performances from aerialists, acrobats, dancers, illusionists and athletes bringing their own unique styles and techniques to the stage. Each young performer brings something contemporary, and never-before-seen, to these high-energy, awe-inspiring and gravity defying performances.

With over 26 performers slated to appear, audiences will be blown away by:
magic,
• Hip-hop illusionist/Elliot Zimet — renowned for his NY street-smart modern spin on magic, Elliot’s vision of using illusions, birds, dancers, special effects, lighting, and crowd-moving beats has captivated audiences everywhere with his unforgettable presence.

• New York City’s renowned King Charles Unicycle Troupe — have been dazzling audiences for over 40 years with their high-energy game of basketball on unicycles developed and created right here in the Bronx.

• The Kenya Safari Acrobats — a fast-paced troupe of eight highly trained athletes take the stage for gravity defying insane antics.

• Aerialist Extraordinaire/Susan Voyticky – poetry- in-motion describes the elegance and craft of her aerial dance – a visually stunning array of physical strength, style and technique combine in a beautiful display of airs above the ground. Professionally trained in Londonat The Circus Space’s BA Theater. Susan Voyticky began training at an early and is proficient on single hoop and swing trapeze and aerial silks

• Contortionist/Ricardo Sosa — bending his body parts past human limits, he has the uncanny ability to charm and in an unconventional body ballet, the physical strength, flexibility and grace to amaze.

• Dance Performer/Kenichi Ebina – his incredible HipHop, Poppin’, Lockin’, Mime, House, Jazz, Contemporary and Ethnic dance styles have made him the only two-time grand champion in Apollo theater history.

• AND SO MUCH MORE!

To purchase tickets log onto www.paradisetheaterevents.com or call ticketmaster @ 212-307-7171 or The Paradise Theater box office @ 212-220-1015.
Tickets prices from $13.50 for kids, $22 for adults, $20 for mezzanine and $30 for VIP seating.
For more information about The Blacktop Circus, log onto www.blacktopcircus.net

Seems that the show was but on hold due to scheduling issues. Sorry the contest wont be happening (I’m as bummed as you).

Save 25% on tix for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Present Barnum’s Funundrum!

Save 25% on tix for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Present Barnum’s Funundrum!

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Present Barnum’s Funundrum!

Mar 25 – Apr 4 at Madison Square Garden

SAVE 25% OFF TICKETS!

Promotion Code: MSGFUN

Valid Dates: Mar 5-24

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® is roaring into town with Barnum’s FUNundrum!SM, a celebration of P. T. Barnum so big, it is an event 200 years in the making! Hop aboard and go on an unbelievable excursion that brings together performers and characters from exotic countries all over the world — even from places for which there are no geographic borders. From the moment that you arrive, the momentum explodes as The Greatest Show On Earth® comes to life in a way that can only be inspired by the greatest showman who ever lived.

Get your tickets today before this train leaves the station!

Offer subject to availability; may not be combined with any other offer, does not apply to Circus Celebrity seating, VIP Gold or VIP Seating or previously purchased tickets. Offer Valid only on $15, $24.50 and $34.50 tickets for all performances except for the March 24, 7:30 PM and April 3 & 4, 3:15 PM performances. Tickets are non-refundable or exchangeable. Eight (8) ticket limit per order. Ticketmaster orders are subject to separate service charges. Other restrictions apply. Offer expires March 24, 2010.