An international troupe that includes trapeze artists, acrobats and jugglers is enchanting Yangon audiences with traditional and contemporary circus performances rarely seen in Myanmar.
By SU MYAT MON | FRONTIER
THE GOLDEN CIRCUS is performing in Myanmar and delighting and amazing audiences with traditional and contemporary acts in Yangon’s Thaketa Township.
The Golden Circus, Shwe Lake Pyar in Myanmar, is a France-based, international troupe of 23 performers, including acrobats, trapeze artists, jugglers, clowns and two cute dancing dogs.
“We came here for the Myanmar people,” said Golden Circus producer, Mr Regis Michel, 52, who is French.
The troupe wanted to give Myanmar people an opportunity to enjoy traditional and contemporary circus performances that they are unlikely to have seen, he said.
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Among the three Myanmar joining the troupe for the duration of its six-month visit is Ko Khaing, a professional magician for the past 15 years, who said performing for the Golden Circus had sharpened his skills.
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Artists prepare ahead of their performance in the Golden Circus in Yangon. (Theint Mon Soe — J / Frontier)
“As this is an international circus group I am gaining a lot of experience working with these people,” he said.
“I am proud to appear as a representative of Myanmar in the Golden Circus and I hope people take this rare opportunity to see a circus perform.”
The other Myanmar with the troupe are a costume designer and a drummer.
Mr Sergio Nguyen, 50, from France, co-founded the Golden Circus with his German wife, Ms Sarah Schwartz, 42, who is both its artistic director and a trapeze and high-wire performer.
A 20-year circus veteran, Nguyen performs on bicycles, including unicycles.
“We were very interested to come to Myanmar, where we know traditional theatre has long been popular, because we wanted to do a circus show,” he told Frontier.
The circus is different to theatre, with dance, music, and traditional and contemporary circus acts that include small animals.
“In France, we work with small animals like pigs, chickens, cats, goats and dogs, but bringing the pigs here would have been very difficult,” Nguyen said. “The dogs live with us just like family,” he said.
Many of the troupe’s international members have years of experience as circus performers.
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Theint Mon Soe — J / Frontier
They include Ms Jennifer Cohen, 27, from Israel, who’s been an acrobat since she was 16, performing throughout Europe.
“For me, performing in the circus is very beautiful,” she said. “The circus is magic.”
Cohen said she hoped audience numbers would increase. “It takes a little time, but I hope they will appreciate it.”
Because circus performances were virtually unknown in Myanmar, the audience response was different to Europe, where the circus has a long history, Cohen said.
She wants Myanmar audiences to appreciate how hard it is to be an acrobat.
“The hardest challenge about being an acrobat is waking up in the morning and having to push your body to the limit every day,” she said.
Ms Valerie “Vally” Winzen, 42, from Germany, performs solo as a singer with the circus.
“My work is to make the circus beautiful by singing,” she said.
For Winzen, the biggest challenge of the circus is to make an audience react with laughter and joy.
Other members of the troupe include Mr Samuel, 19, an Ethiopian who has been a circus juggler since he was nine.
“When I’m performing the audience is silent and when I finish and I hear the applause of the audience I am so happy,” he said. “The applause is like my second salary.”
Golden Circus performs on Min Nandar Road, Thaketa, opposite the Capital Hypermarket, Wednesday to Sunday, at 7pm, until December 31. It takes its big tent on the road next year and is due to perform in Mandalay, Taunggyi, Magway and Meiktila, until next March.
Tickets range from K6,000 to K60,000.
