Clàudia C. Salellas
Figueres (ACN).- The Figueres International Circus Festival improves year after year. This edition broke its own record with more than 30,000 tickets sold. The festival ended last Monday and took place in the Catalan city of Figueres (near the Costa Brava and the French border), which is Salvador Dalí’s home town. The new columnless high top with a height of 15 metres allowed for extreme air acrobatics that won over the spectators. This is the reason why the two Dalí Golden Elephants, the biggest awards of the festival, went to two air shows: the North Korean National Circus of Pyongyang for its trapeze performance – they pulled off a double quadruple somersault for the first time in Spain – and to the Russian company Troupe Trushin for its acrobatic jumping show ‘Watch Dogs’.
Figueres is consolidating itself as a European city of reference for the circus world, second only to Montecarlo. The 4th edition of the International Circus Festival has been a great success as an event as more than 30,000 people went to the shows. Most of the spectators were not children but adults, which proves that the circus is not necessarily an entertainment form aimed solely at kids, as the festival wanted to show it could reach people of all ages.
Twenty-four performances by different companies were offered during the five days of the festival. More than 80 artists from 16 countries partook in the event, which included last minute changes because of an injury to one of the professionals of the Uzbekistan duo ‘Strongman’ before the festival. The act was replaced by an equestrian performance given by the Muratov Company of the Nikulin Circus of Moscow, the only act which featured animals.
The awarded performances
The Gold Spectacle was held on Monday, before two juries made up of fifteen international circus experts. The Golden Dalí Elephant winners were two air performances: the North Korean National Circus of Pyongyang for its acrobatics that impressed the public by pulling off a double quadruple somersault for the first time in Spain; and the impossible acrobatic jumping performance ‘Watch Dogs’ by the Russian Troupe Tushin. Both shows moved the public thanks to the new big top, higher than those used in previous editions and without columns, which allowed for a full panoramic view from every seat.
Seven other Dalí Elephants prizes were also awarded. The four silver ones went to the foot juggling of the Flag Circus & Yunnan Acrobatic Troupe of China; the Russian Troupe Bayramukov’s parlour acrobatics; the air performance with ribbons given by Ekaterina Rubstova & Dimitry Efremkin; and the show ‘You & Me’ which mixed bar and ribbon specialisations.
The Bronze Elephants went to the air ribbons performance of the Wuhan Acrobatic Troupe of China; Gustavo Sartori, who did a moving ribbon show too; and a juggling performance inspired by Salvador Dalí. The image jury awarded the pole dance given by the Ukrainian duo Essence and the Russian contortionist Aleksandr Batuev.
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