Daily Mail Online: When the crowds at the circus dome in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe witnessed the accident, they were certain she must have been killed - or at the very least seriously injured.
The unidentified victim was balancing herself on the legs of a man on a high wire when something caused her to lose poise and topple 35ft to the ground below.
3 comments:
This is unbelievable! The fact that the performer didn’t have any broken bones is definitely some sort of miracle like the article says. I am surprised they were not over a net. Usually circuses use nets, and only huge productions like Cirque Du Soleil seem to push safety boundaries by performing with minimal apparent safety equipment, but those are highly-rehearsed and refined. The manner in which these performers were moving above the ground—being swept up in a large arc—and the way the female performer was being spun probably created a large amount of force, causing her to slip away from her partner. It is disappointing that the circus company did not realize the potential dangers with this sort of choreography and lack of safety equipment. The performer is definitely very lucky. I wonder if she and her partner will perform the routine again, or if trust has been lost. Hopefully they can work with the circus company to produce a safer act.
While Tajikistan is not a country renowned for its safety regulations ( that honor goes to Germany), I was still a bit shocked to see that there was no observable safety equipment in the footage of this accident. Perhaps, as someone with very limited experience with the circus and its workings, I've underestimated the amount of trust that such companies have in their performers, trained professionals with years and years of experience under their belts. I don't know how many times those performers have done that stunt in particular, but I'm sure that was the first time it had ever gone wrong.
That fact both illustrates the technical experience of the performers in question, and also the major differences between the circus rehearsal process (where performer slip-ups are far more likely to be fatal) and theatrical tech rehearsals, where mistakes across the board are much less likely to have the same effect. In conclusion, I am so very glad the performer survived (although I'm not entirely sure how), and I hope that maybe, just maybe, incidents like this one will help safety in the circus become more of a component in our international theatrical dialogue.
The circus is kind of fascinating. How is it that a group of people devote their lives to risking everything. What do they get in return? A community? An audience? An even greater question, why do we go to the circus. The performers usually do not tell a story. There is no moral to be taught, no drama to unfold. All we see are a few extremely talented people flirt with death. We wait for accidents, like this one, to happen. Why are we attracted to this? Yet another question: how is this legal? As it has been explained to me, if the actor is willing to do it, it can be done. But the same legal policy does not extend to other forms of recreation. If someone wants to partake in illegal substances, and knows the risk, they obviously can't do it (legally). Safety precautions must be taken. I realize that Tajikistan probably does not hold safety as the highest priority. But we, in the United States should. This woman's fall may be her first brush with death, but certainly it won't be her last. I would like to pretend that things like this are less likely to happen here. I would like to pretend that there is no way that a performer could die onstage. I know I'm wrong. I also know, that despite how disgusted I am at the entertainment found is watching people risk their lives, I would still jump at the chance to work for, or work for someone who works for Cirque.
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