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Tightrope
Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a long tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope walking and slacklining. Types Tightwire is the skill of maintaining balance while walking along a tensioned wire between two points. It can be done either using a balancing tool (umbrella, fan, balance pole, etc.) or "freehand", using only one's body to maintain balance. Typically, tightwire performances either include dance or object manipulation. Object manipulation acts include a variety of props in their acts, such as clubs, rings, hats, or canes. Tightwire performers have even used wheelbarrows with passengers, ladders, and animals in their act. The technique to maintain balance is to keep the performer's centre of mass above their support point—usually their feet. Highwire is a form of tightwire walking but performed at muc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Blondin
Charles Blondin (born Jean François Gravelet, 28 February 182422 February 1897) was a French tightrope walker and acrobat. He toured the United States and was known for crossing the Niagara Gorge on a tightrope. During an event in Dublin in 1860, the rope on which he was walking broke and two workers were killed, although Blondin was not injured. He married three times and had eight children. His name became synonymous with tightrope walking. Early life Blondin was born on 28 February 1824 in Hesdin, Pas-de-Calais, France.''Irish Times'', Dublin, 25 May 1861 His birth name was Jean-François Gravelet, though he was known by many other names and nicknames: Charles Blondin, Jean-François Blondin, Chevalier Blondin, and The Great Blondin. At the age of five, he was sent to the École de Gymnase in Lyon and, after six months of training as an acrobat, made his first public appearance as "The Boy Wonder". His superior skill and grace, as well as the originality of the settin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, which straddles the international border of the two countries. It is also known as the Canadian Falls. The smaller American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls lie within the United States. Bridal Veil Falls is separated from Horseshoe Falls by Goat Island and from American Falls by Luna Island, with both islands situated in New York. Formed by the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, the combined falls have the highest flow rate of any waterfall in North America that has a vertical drop of more than . During peak daytime tourist hours, more than of water goes over the crest of the falls every minute. Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfall in North America, as measured by flow rate. Niagara Falls is famed for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slackwire
Slackwire (or slack wire) is an acrobatic circus act that involves the balancing skills of moving along a flexible, thin wire suspended in the air, connected to two anchor points. Slackwire is not to be confused with slacklining. Description and setup Usually slackwire utilizes a steel wire in diameter fixed between two anchor points. It can have two single stands with two extending wire pieces each to install the apparatus in an arena, or two A-frame stands with one extending wire piece for each. It can also be mounted between two trees at an appropriate distance apart, or fixed to a ceiling or any points which are strong enough to hold a performer's weight. Wire walking artists usually use soft shoes made of leather. Slack rope A slack rope (or slackrope) is very similar to a slackwire. The difference between a slack rope and a slackwire is in the characteristics of rope and wire. A slack rope usually utilizes a rope in diameter. The slackwire and slack rope each have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slacklining
Slacklining refers to the act of walking, running or balancing along a suspended length of flat webbing that is tensioned between two anchors. Slacklining is similar to slack rope walking and tightrope walking. Slacklines differ from tightwires and tightropes in the type of material used and the amount of tension applied during use. Slacklines are tensioned significantly less than tightropes or tightwires in order to create a dynamic line which will stretch and bounce like a long and narrow trampoline. Tension can be adjusted to suit the user, and different webbing may be used in various circumstances. Styles of slacklining Urbanlining Urbanlining or urban slacklining combines all the different styles of slacklining. It is practiced in urban areas, for example in city parks and on the streets. Most urban slackliners prefer wide lines for tricklining on the streets, but some may use narrow () lines for longline purposes or for waterlining. Also see the other sections of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Circus
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclists as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term ''circus'' also describes the performance which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Although not the inventor of the medium, Philip Astley is credited as the father of the modern circus. In 1768, Astley, a skilled equestrian, began performing exhibitions of trick horse riding in an open field called Ha'Penny Hatch on the south side of the Thames River, England. In 1770, he hired acrobats, tightrope walkers, jugglers and a clown to fill in the pauses between the equestrian demonstrations and thus chanced on the format which was later named a "circus". Performances developed significantly over the next fifty years, with large-sca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Dimitri
David Dimitri (born March 7, 1963) is an internationally acclaimed tightrope acrobat who has been praised for his unique style. Combining an education at the State Academy for Circus Arts in Budapest with intensive dance studies at New York’s renowned Juilliard School, David Dimitri has created virtuoso wire dances celebrated at circuses, arts festivals, and concert halls throughout the world – Canada’s Cirque du Soleil, New York’s Big Apple Circus, Switzerland's Circus Knie, and the Metropolitan Opera under the direction of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. In 2001, Dimitri’s performing career took on an added dimension. With the assistance of his father, the famed clown and mime Dimitri, he created the one-man show "L'Homme Cirque" a presentation of '' nouveau cirque'' arts performed in a touring circus tent designed and built for the production. David Dimitri has been a guest artist at such festivals as Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina; the Lincoln Center Fe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pablo Fanque
Pablo Fanque (born William Darby; 30 March 1810 – 4 May 1871) was a British equestrian performer and circus proprietor, becoming the first recorded Black circus owner in Britain. His circus was popular in Victorian Britain for 30 years, a period that is regarded as the golden age of the circus. Since the 1960's, Pablo Fanque has been best known for being mentioned in The Beatles song " Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" on their album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (1967). Early life Little is known about Pablo Fanque's early life. Church records suggest that he was born in Norwich in 1810 and was one of at least five children, born to John and Mary Darby ( Stamp). They were believed to have resided in Ber Street. When Fanque married in 1848, he said his late father's occupation was "butler" on his marriage certificate. Dr. John M. Turner speculates in his 2003 biography of Fanque that "his father was African born and had been brought to the port of Norwich an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Con Colleano
Con Colleano (born Cornelius Sullivan; 26 December 1899 – 13 November 1973) was an Australian Tightrope walking, tightrope walker. He was the first person to successfully attempt a forward somersault on a tightrope and became one of the most celebrated and highly paid circus performers of his time. He was known as "The Wizard of the Wire" or "The Toreador of the Wire". Early life He was born Cornelius Sullivan in Lismore, New South Wales on 26 December 1899, the son of Cornelius Sullivan (1874-1952), and Julia Vittorine Sullivan (1878-1953), née Robinson, a woman of partial Bundjalung people, Bundjalung descent, whose father was an Afro-Caribbean man from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas in the Danish West Indies. Colleano was the third of 10 children. His father (reportedly a Convict, freed convict) made a precarious living from sideshow "take-on-all-comers" boxing and gambling. Around 1907, when Colleano was seven years old, the family settled in Lightning Ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skylon Tower
The Skylon Tower, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, is an observation tower that overlooks both the American Falls, New York, and the larger Horseshoe Falls, Ontario, from the Canadian side of the Niagara River. History Construction of the Skylon began in May 1964. The tower was opened on October 6, 1965, by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Ontario Premier John Robarts. Costing $7 million at the time of its construction, the Skylon Tower was owned by a private partnership called Niagara International Centre, which was financed by Hershey Foods shareholdings of Charles Richard Reese, former co-owner of the H. B. Reese Candy Company of Hershey, Pennsylvania. Canadian Pacific Hotels was hired to operate the tower restaurants and lounges. On October 1, 1975, CP purchased the tower from Mr. Reese and his partners for $11 million. The tower's summit features a verdigris-green copper roof similar to CP's other properties, including the Château Frontenac in Quebec City and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Primetime
Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to broadcast their season's nightly programming. The term ''prime time'' is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example (in the United States), from 8:00p.m. to 11:00p.m. (Eastern and Pacific Time) or 7:00p.m. to 10:00p.m. (Central and Mountain Time). In India and some Middle Eastern countries, prime time consists of the programmes that are aired on TV between 8:00p.m. and 10:00p.m. local time. Asia Bangladesh In Bangladesh, the 19:00-to-22:00 time slot is known as Prime Time. Several national broadcasters like Maasranga Television, Gazi TV, Channel 9, Channel i broadcast their prime-time shows from 20:00 to 23:00 after their Primetime news at 19:00. During Islamic Holidays Season, most of the TV Stations broadcast their esp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
