The Jerusalem Circus

Tonight was the annual Jerusalem Circus show. The Jewish Arab youth circus is aimed at teaching tolerance and I've seen their shows for the past 5 years. The early ones were staged in the lobbies of schools but the past few have been in professional theaters. It's interesting to see many of the same performers year after year and how they've developed.

In general they put on a fairly professional show and director Slava Oleinik should be commended for what he's contributed. The skills are impressive, costuming and lighting fairly polished, and the routines thought-out.

This year, however, I didn't enjoy it as much as previous years. Sadly the solo juggler had way too many drops between some fantastic tricks. The 4 person club passing act didn't have one pattern in more than a dozen finish cleanly. The clowns weren't as clever as past years and my daughter even commented on one skit that she remembered being funnier last time. There was a Charlie Chaplin rola bola act that was one of my highlights this year and last - great skills, good character, and nice use of humor. Unfortunately, that was about the only memorable act. Previous years generally had a star or two but this year they seemed to make too many acts into ensemble pieces. For example, the tissue acts had too many people strolling around the stage so the main artist's skills weren't highlighted properly.

Regardless, I'm fairly certain I'll bring my kids again next year. I never like to miss circus opportunities.