The Circus

A ring, and what has been put in it.

The modern circus began in London in 1768, when Philip Astley, a trick rider, marked out a ring and performed inside it. The ring was practical: riding in a circle generates centrifugal force that helps a standing rider keep balance. Astley's diameter of about 13 metres became the standard and remains so.

Traditional acts

Equestrian display, acrobatics, aerial work on trapeze and silks, tightrope, juggling, clowning and strongman acts. The three-ring format was an American development for very large audiences — it meant nobody had a bad seat, and it also meant nobody could watch everything.

Contemporary circus

From the 1970s a new form emerged that kept the physical disciplines and dropped the menagerie and the ringmaster's presentation. Contemporary circus is usually themed, narrative or thematic rather than a sequence of turns, and is staged as theatre. Cirque du Soleil is the best-known example, though the movement began earlier and more widely.

Animals

Performing wild animals were central to the traditional circus and are now banned or heavily restricted in many countries. The case against rests on confinement, transport, and training methods, and on the argument that natural behaviour cannot be expressed in touring conditions. Defenders of the tradition have generally moved to domesticated species or dropped animals entirely; most major companies now perform without them.