The Spanish National Circus comes to Salta

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Salta has been treated this winter holiday season to a visit from the Spanish National Circus (or, El Circo National de España). This weekend heralds the final shows before they pack up their big top and depart for a new city on their endless world tour. The Circus has been stationed here in Salta for a month and I thought it too good an opportunity to miss their highly acclaimed show before they head off tomorrow. So, off I went trawling through my mobile phone contacts list in search of someone with kids to tag along with. BINGO! My friend Ana has a young son, Bernardo, (not yet two years old) and she herself was eager to see the show and was more than happy for me to join them.

When we arrived at the site there was a huge queue of people, and after looking at my watch; I thought we'd never get our tickets in time before the show started. Luckily, we found out that the queue was for people with tickets waiting to get into the show and we were pointed towards the ticket booth, where there was no queue at all. Phew!! There were four or five ticket price options so we decided to go for the VIP family ticket which cost $60 for two adults and little Bernardo got in free. The doors opened shortly after and we filtered through a special VIP entrance, passing the popcorn and candy floss sellers to the main ring. We were promptly shown to our seats. The front row, no less and waited patiently for the show to start.

The show was opened with an huge company of scantily clad ladies in bright sequined tops and over the top make-up dancing around the ring to a well choreographed routine, culminating in two of the ladies lifting a mock up of the Spanish flag and then running back behind the curtain. The next few sequences involved three traditional clowns riding around the ring one by one on their different sized unicycles. Then, a couple of jugglers spinning and juggling rather large objects, one with flames, which was interesting to watch. An illusionist from Las Vegas performed a few scetches beginning with making a dove appear out of nowhere and turning a handkerchief into flames then he was joined by his assistants and they performed the lady in the box full of knives trick (of which I have a short video).

During the performance and inbetween the more traditional circus acts we were treated to scetches from Harry Potter with illusions, Pirate's of the Caribbean with Jack Sparrow being catapulted out of a cannon, Super Heroes; Batman, Spiderman and Robin along with the evil Penguin performing acrobatics in the rafters of the big top, a scene from Star Wars starring all of the main characters, including the all important light saber scene between Skywalker & Vader, a scetch from The Matrix, including lots of gun sound effects and choreographed fight scenes and finally an Egyptian scene involving acrobatics (of which I also have a video).

The show was performed in two parts. A short interval enabled the circus crew to crank up the safety net and alter a few things around the ring while the clowns from the earlier scenes came round selling flashing wands to the kids and key rings with photos that they had taken before the show started. (A clever way to make a few quid on the side). I bought a flashing wand for $10 to give to Maria Paz next time I see her and as Bernardo was facinated with it Ana bought one for him too.

One of the final acts was performed within a huge metal dome (Crystal Maze eat your heart out) and involved four people on motorbikes whizzing around at breakneck speeds just inches away from each other. It was fantastic to watch but I must admit I was holding my breath until the end as it looked so dangerous. One false move and.... well... you know. (I have another short video of this which I'll post in the video section to accompany this blog).

All in all great value for money. Front row seats and an action packed show with something for everyone, young and old. If the circus comes to a town near you, be sure to visit, you can take it from me, it's well worth it.

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Photos

Clowns
there was a bit of crowd participation going on

Little Bernardo
Isn't he cute

Ana & Bernardo
fascinated with his flashing wand

The Circus Crew
apologies that it's a bit dark