Saturday, January 05, 2008

Cirque National #1


ALEXIS4, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Alexis Gruss: I think the greatest living circus horseman.
His Cirque National is perhaps the only in the world still based at 70 per cent on pure equestrian acts.
The quality, quantity and variety of horses in his stables is unbelievable today.
His family master perfectly each classic circus speciality, dance and musical instruments.
In 30 years Mr.Gruss trained, produced and directed every year about a dozen or so of different equestrian acts, each one with original design, written music and specific costumes and a full size live band.
The 2008 show is titled "Orchestra" and is based on the theme of music. In Paris until March.

Raffaele De Ritis

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

First time in my life I have ever wanted to go to Paris. cc

Anonymous said...

This group of photo shots are great. Are they from a program, or do we have a talented shutterbug amongst these bloggers?
A thumbs up on this post.

Anonymous said...

I am so impressed at Circus National and at the same time very sad. Here we see Europe thriving with beautiful horses presenting professionalism and originality with absolute stunning results and here in our own country it is non existent. I see unbelievable accomplishments with horses, horses picked for beauty instead of a cheap variety with no knowledge of conformation or correctness. It is sad that our U.S. shows have become so commercialized that the producers of any kind of supportable horse events hire amateur managers who know nothing of the quality of acts they are hiring. I myself have experience this and even though I have the most beautiful horses I can find and train them to their infinite abilities, there is no place to present them unless you are agreeable to "free". How sad that the talented people here are strangled and their inventiveness thrown out because of the lack of knowledge of the people who quote "produce" shows. The successful shows with horses do not come from here, they migrate from Europe and show us how to do it but it remains stagnant in our own country. How I would love to see the talented horse people here be able to take their ideas, implement them and to keep alive the stimulation of ideas and talent. Alas I see no such thing on the horizon and consequently very good horsemen, trainers and horses are staying at home unwilling to compete in the world of amateurs.

Hoorah for Circus National and the other horse circus's thriving in Europe who keep alive this wonderful art form. I truly enjoyed each photo with amazement and tears in my eyes.

Raffaele De Ritis said...

The reason is maybe in the fact that European circuses don't belongs to producers, but their owners are the same families perfoming in the ring, and transmitting the equestrian art to their sons for seven generations.
In the Usa anyway there was some attempts: thinks to all the beautiful productions of Katia Schumann at BAC for 3 decades, or some past editions at RBBB. Ummodestly, the equestrian act I imagineded for Sylvia Zerbini at Kaleidoscape can be another example.

Anonymous said...

Horses are indeed different than most animals in the circus in that there are so many people who own horses and have a decent knowledge of conformation, etc. Elephants, bears, tigers, etc all look the same to most people.
So, that is why, I believe, the quality of the horse is important.
Some time back I saw a nice libety act being presented at a fair. Nice, as far as the training went, but the horses were not well groomed and the harness looked like some old practice harness. Right next to the circus was the colluseum where the horse shows (Competitive) were being held.
I felt embarrassed for the circus that the horses contrasted so badly with the amatuers next door.
Having been a part of many aspects of the horse business, I know that many average horse people are in awe of liberty acts (though dressage people always make the mistake of comparing circus high school with competition dressage).
Anyway, it would be wise for performers presenting horse acts to remember that many in the audience are horse people as well, and go the extra mile in presenting polished animals.

Anonymous said...

Imagine a show in one city for 3 months? There must still be plenty of interest in France to sustain a stand that long.

HM

Anonymous said...

To the frustrated one:
A lot of good points you do make,I believe this group of photos are of horses that are show owned and are this family's thing. Most of the horses you mention from Europe are usually the owners pride and hobby. There is also a show owner in the USA who has a slick liberty act;so I have been told.I think It would be difficult to obtain work in Europe, as here, whether you had a good horse act or not. Don't give up the ship. I personally do appreciate quality and effort.
Truly anonymous

Anonymous said...

As Raffaele De Ritis has stated, in Europe most circuses are run by families who have long been performers. For all the disappointment about recent Ringling shows and the admiration expressed these past few days for the very exceptional Gruss family, Ringling did feature a fine liberty horse act that transcended the typical routine when Sacha Houcke was on the show (see my comments under "Cirque National #9" here on Buckles blog for links to YouTube videos of his full act in 2004) and Kenneth Feld certainly aimed for artistic achievement when he launched Barnum's Kaleidoscape. Perhaps the problems often discussed on this website about the status of circus in the USA reveals more about the public's lack of a great tradition of appreciating the circus as performance art in this country as compared to Europe (and especially in France). Credit Paul Binder for trying to change this 30 years ago. It seems to me that both he and Irvin Feld were a bit resented as "outsiders" when they got started and now we are grateful for what they have done.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

Raffaele De Ritis said...

Yes: "horses are their pride and hobby". These families spend often most time with their horses than with the other aspects of circus life. I don't think possible the same achievement if you just book or buy them as a producer. The only one on the planet with such a power to do it was Feld, and in fact Mr.Flint mention the 2004 achievement with Houcke (and in the past with Gunther).
Anyway, as Mr.Flint again states, I wish to remember to everybody here that the special case of Gruss is completely exceptional for achievement and context. I don't think of other traditional equestrian circuses existing today(beside theatrical operations as Zingaro, Cavalia, etc.).
About the fact of staying 3 months in a city: well, the city is Paris and is one of the largest on the planet; and the one with the oldest circus culture in the world. But i Paris the almost totality of the show is sold to groups and enterprises trhough special organizations starting by late summer....This explain the fact that in the same reason a good dozen of large circuses perform yearly in Paris at the same time.