Circus skills

Circus skills is a group of pursuits that were traditionally used as a form of entertainment in circus, sideshow, busking or variety/vaudeville/music hall shows. While most circus skills are still being performed today, many are practiced by non-performers as a hobby.

Prop Manipulation Circus Skills

• Balancing (circus act)
• Ball spinning
• Bullwhip
• Cigar box
• Club swinging
• Contact juggling
• Devilstick
• Diabolo
• Fire-twirling
• Flag Spinning
• Hat manipulation
• Jitter rings
• Juggling (balls, clubs, rings, etc)
• Knife throwing
• Lasso
• Plate spinning
• Poi Swinging
• Shaker Cup Manipulation

Balancing/Equilibristic Circus Skills

• Bicycle acrobatics
• Chair acrobatics
• Chinese poles
• Danish pole
• Free standing ladder
• Handstands and hand walking
• Pedal go
• Perch (Equilibristic)
• Rola Bola
• Rolling globe
• Roman Ladders
• Russian bar
• Stilt walking
• Teeterboard (aka "Korean board")
• Tight-rope (tight or slack rope walking)
• Unicycle
• Wheel gymnastics

Aerial Circus Skills

• Aerial Rigging
• Bungee
• Cloud swing (Mexican cloud swing)
• Corde lisse (rope, Smooth Rope)
• Cradle
• Hair Hang (aka Hair Suspension / Hairhang / hair hanging)
• Aerial Hoop(Lyra, Circeaux)
• Rebound straps
• Russian swing
• Shoot-Thru sadder
• Silks (tissues)
• Spanish web
• Trapeze
  • Static trapeze
  • Swinging trapeze
  • Flying trapeze
  • Multiple trapeze
    • Double trapeze
    • Triple trapeze
  • French trapeze
  • Bungee trapeze
  • Washington trapeze
• Wire (harness)

Acrobatic Circus Skills

• Acrobalance includes all of the acrobatic balancing done in the circus. It includes partner acrobatics, adagio, multiple person hand-balancing, and large group pyramids. The performers at the bottom of the pyramid are known as bases and those who are balanced above the ground are known as fliers ado.
  • Adagio
  • Partner acrobatics
  • Hand-to-hand balancing
  • Risley
• Acrobatics
  • Hand balancing
  • Tumbling
  • Hoop diving
  • Teeterboard
  • Trampoline / Mini-tramp
• Contortion
• Jump rope
• Hula hoop

Clowning

• Clowning
• Clown make-up
• Magic
• Mime
• Physical comedy
• Puppetry
• Stage combat
• Ventriloquism

Dare Devil Skills

• Human cannonball
• Globe of death

Side Show Skills

Fire breathers risk burns, both internal and external, as well as poisoning in the pursuit of their art.

• Working Acts
  • Bed of nails
  • Blade box
  • Contortion
  • Electric act
  • Fire breathing
  • Fire eater
  • Fire dancing
  • Geek
  • Glass eating
  • Glass walking
  • Human blockhead
  • Human Chopping Block
  • Knife throwing
  • Magic acts
  • Mental flossing
  • Peircing acts
    • Iron tongue
    • Human pincushion
    • Suspension act (AKA Hook Hang act)
  • Strongman
  • Sword swallowing
  • Unbreakable hands

• Human oddity (Natural) Acts
  • Bearded Lady
  • Fat lady
  • Gurner
  • Heshe
  • Human freaks
  • Midgets
  • Painted people

• Animal Acts
  • Flea circus
  • Snake charmer

• Museum shows
  • Pickled punks
  • Abnormal Animals

Categories

Find

Find