Cirque Rocks was a

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

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 unicy ...

held in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

event that was organised by the Dean Lonergan Events organisation and sponsored by

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

restaurants. The event was held August 23–26, 2006, with 215 performers. The event was held in the Trust's Stadium in Waitakere. It featured over 80 circus acts and

X-Games The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc. and aired on ESPN networks and ABC. In late 2022, ESPN sold the long-running property to MSP Sports Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Jahm Najafi and Jeff Moor ...

performers, choreographed to a 60-piece

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

. The theme of the night being the history of

Rock 'n Roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African American music such as jazz, rhythm and ...

. The festivities began to a backdrop of early Rock 'n Roll hits and through the night progressed into today's

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

. The event was held live at the Trusts Stadium in

on August 23, 2006, and broadcast a couple of days later on local network

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

on Saturday, August 26, 2006. The charities that this event raised money for were: *

Ronald McDonald House Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is an independent American nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to create, find, and support programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children. RMHC has a global network of ...

Yellow Ribbon The yellow ribbon is used for various purposes. It may be worn on a person, placed on a vehicle, around a tree, or for a neck tie. History and etymology "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" Yellow is the official color of the armor branch of the U.S ...

(Prevention of Youth Suicide) *Child Cancer Foundation

Performances

These are among some of the acts performed at the Cirque Rocks event. *

Plate Spinning Plate spinning is a circus manipulation art where a person spins plates, bowls and other flat objects on poles, without them falling off. Plate spinning relies on the gyroscopic effect, in the same way a top stays upright while spinning. Spinning p ...

*Holland's Motorcycle Globe of Death *Sunchasing *

bikers - - Chad Kagy, Ryan Nyquist, Jamie Bestwick and Scott Cranmer. *

Trampolining Trampolining or trampoline gymnastics is a competitive Olympic Games, Olympic sport in which athletes perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. In competition, these can include simple jumps in the straight, pike, tuck, or straddle posit ...

*Cage of Death *Ramashov

Russian swing A Russian swing is a large, floor-mounted Swing (seat), swing which is sometimes used in circus performances to make impressive high acrobatic jumps. Unlike ordinary playground swings, a Russian swing has steel bars instead of ropes, and its swing ...

s *Troupe Mayarov Fast Track Tumbling * Motorcycle Foot Jugglers from Russia * The Flying Wallendas (the world's greatest high wire act) Cirque Rocks was a contemporary circus event and therefore did not use any performing animals.

Disappearance

On August 29, 2006, it was reported that a

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

performer associated with the Chasing Sun chair balance act failed to turn up for her flight back to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. No further details are apparent and her disappearance remains a mystery.welshmandownunder, Cirque Rocks, February 6, 2010
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References

External links

google videosflickr photos of the show
Cultural history of New Zealand Circuses {{NewZealand-culture-stub