Circus skills are a group of pursuits that have been performed as entertainment in circus

Circus

A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

, sideshow

Sideshow

In America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair or other such attraction.- Types of attractions :There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions:...

, busking

Busking

Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...

 or variety

Variety show

A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...

/vaudeville

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

/music hall

Music hall

Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...

 shows. Most circus skills are still being performed today. Many are also practiced by non-performers as a hobby.

Circus schools and instructors have developed a variety of pedagogical classification systems for circus skills. Systems that have attempted to formally organize circus skills into pragmatic teaching groupings include the Gurevich system (the basis of the Russian Circus School's curriculum) and the Hovey Burgess system.

Circus skills

• Acrobalance
  Acrobalance
  Acrobalance is an acrobatic art that combines elements of two other arts: adagio and hand balancing.Adagio consists of partner lifts, usually performed by a man and a woman, where the male lifts his female partner in many different poses and positions...
  
  
• Acrobatics
  Acrobatics
  Acrobatics is the performance of extraordinary feats of balance, agility and motor coordination. It can be found in many of the performing arts, as well as many sports...
  
  
• Acro dance
  Acro dance
  Acro dance is a style of dance that combines classical dance technique with precision acrobatic elements. It is defined by its athletic character, its unique choreography, which seamlessly blends dance and acrobatics, and its use of acrobatics in a dance context...
  
  
• Adagio
  Adagio (circus skill)
  Adagio is the performance of partner acrobalance poses and associated movements that involve stationary balances by a pair of performers. It is performed in professional circus, in various dance disciplines including acro dance and ballet, in pair skating, and as a hobby in university circus...
  
  
• Aerial hoop
  Aerial Hoop
  The aerial hoop is a circular steel apparatus suspended from the ceiling, on which circus artists may perform aerial acrobatics. The hoop sometimes has a hand loop and a bar across the top...
  
   (lyra, cerceaux)
• Aerial silk (tissu, fabric, ribbon, silks, aerial contortion)
• Aerial straps
  Aerial straps
  Straps, also known as aerial straps, are a type of aerial apparatus on which various feats of strength and flexibility may be performed, often in the context of a circus performance. It is a cotton or nylon web apparatus that looks like two suspended ribbons...
  
  
• Animal training
  Animal training
  Animal training refers to teaching animals specific responses to specific conditions or stimuli. Training may be for the purpose of companionship, detection, protection, entertainment or all of the above....
  
  
• Artistic cycling
  Artistic cycling
  Artistic cycling is a form of competitive indoor cycling in which athletes perform tricks for points on specialized, fixed-gear bikes in a format similar to ballet or gymnastics...
  
  
• Balancing
  Equilibrioception
  Equilibrioception or sense of balance is one of the physiological senses. It helps prevent humans and animals from falling over when walking or standing still. Balance is the result of a number of body systems working together: the eyes , ears and the body's sense of where it is in space ideally...
  
  
• Banquine
• Baton twirling
• Buffoonery
• Bullwhip
  Bullwhip
  A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather, which was originally used as a tool for working with livestock.Bullwhips are pastoral tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country...
  
  
• Bungee trapeze
• Chinese pole
  Chinese pole
  Chinese poles are vertical poles of aluminium on which circus performers climb, slide down and hold poses. The poles are generally between 3 and 9 metres in height and approximately 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Some poles have a slightly larger pole that rotates around the static central pole...
  
  
• Chinese yo-yo
  Chinese yo-yo
  The Chinese yo-yo is a toy from China consisting of two equally-sized discs connected with a long axle. The Chinese yo-yo is kept spinning on a string tied to two sticks at its ends. Each stick is held in one hand. In modern times, it is used as a children's toy and as a performance tool in...
  
  
• Chair balancing
  Chair (acrobatics)
  The use of chairs as props in acrobatic activities falls into three broad categories: balancing, vaulting and contortion.-Balancing: In chair balance acrobatics one or more acrobats balance on one or more chairs...
  
  
• Cigar box juggling
• Cloud swing
  Cloud swing
  The cloud swing is an aerial act that usually combines static and swinging trapeze skills, drops, holds and rebound lifts....
  
  
• Clowning
  Clown
  Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
  
  
• Club swinging
• Contact juggling
  Contact juggling
  Contact juggling is a form of object manipulation that focuses on the movement of objects such as balls in contact with the body. Although often used in conjunction with "toss juggling", it differs in that it involves the rolling of one or more objects without releasing them into the air...
  
  
• Contortion
  Contortion
  thumb|upright|Contortionist performingContortion is an unusual form of physical display which involves the dramatic bending and flexing of the human body. Contortion is often part of acrobatics and circus acts...
  
  
• Corde lisse
  Corde lisse
  Corde lisse is an aerial circus skill or act that involves acrobatics on a vertically hanging rope. The name is French for "smooth rope".- Description :...
  
   (vertical rope, smooth rope)
• Cradle
  Cradle (circus act)
  The cradle is a type of aerial circus act in which a performer hangs by his or her knees from a large rectangular frame and swings, tosses, and catches another performer. The aerialist being swung is referred to as a flyer, while the one doing the tossing and catching is referred to as a catcher...
  
  
• Cyr wheel
  Cyr wheel
  The Cyr wheel is an acrobatic device invented and popularized in the early 21st century...
  
   (roue Cyr)
• Danish pole
  Danish pole
  A Danish pole is a circus prop, consisting of a wooden pole about 4 metres long and with a 5 cm diameter. It is fastened to a turnable base on the bottom and to a rope on top. The rope can be slackened, causing the pole to hang at an angle and permitting the artists to swing the pole around the...
  
  
• Devil sticks
  Devil sticks
  The manipulation of devil sticks is a form of gyroscopic juggling or equilibristics, and is generally considered to be one of the circus arts...
  
  
• Diabolo
  Diabolo
  The diabolo is a juggling prop consisting of a spool which is whirled and tossed on a string tied to two sticks held one in each hand. A huge variety of tricks are possible using the sticks, string, and various body parts...
  
  
• Electric act
• Fire dancing
  Fire dancing
  Fire dancing is a group of performance arts or disciplines that involve manipulation of objects on fire...
  
   (fire twirling, fire spinning, fire manipulation)
• Flag spinning
• Flying trapeze
  Flying Trapeze
  The flying trapeze is a specific form of the trapeze in which a performer jumps from a platform with the trapeze so that gravity makes the trapeze swing....
  
  
• Freestanding ladder
• German wheel (Rhönrad, gym wheel)
• Globe of death
  Globe of death
  The globe of death is a circus and carnival stunt where as many as seven performers ride motorcycles inside a mesh sphere simultaneously. It is similar to the wall of death, but in this act riders can loop vertically as well as horizontally. There have been three performance related deaths...
  
  
• Hair hang
  Hair hang
  The hair hang is an aerial circus act where performers are suspended by their hair, and perform acrobatic poses and/or manipulation. Some believe the act originated in South America; others claim the act hails from China...
  
   (hair suspension, hair hanging)
• Handbalancing
  Handstand
  A handstand is the act of supporting the body in a stable, inverted vertical position by balancing on the hands. In a basic handstand the body is held straight with arms and legs fully extended, with hands spaced approximately shoulder-width apart...
  
   (équilibre)
• Hand walking
  Hand walking
  Hand walking is an unusual form of human locomotion in which a person travels in a vertically inverted orientation with all body weight resting on the hands.It can be executed with legs fully extended or with variations such as stag, straddle or front splits...
  
  
• Hat manipulation
  Hat manipulation
  Hat manipulation is a form of juggling in which the manipulator performs feats of skill and dexterity using a brimmed hat such as a bowler hat or a top hat. Tricks can range from rolling a hat up and down the various parts of the body to throwing and catching the hat in amusing ways. Hat...
  
  
• Hoop diving

• Hooping
  Hooping
  Hooping generally refers to artistic movement and dancing with a hoop used as a prop or dance partner. Hoops can be made of metal, wood or plastic. Hooping combines technical moves and tricks with freestyle or technical dancing, and is typically accompanied by music...
  
  
• Human cannonball
  Human cannonball
  The human cannonball is a performance in which a person is ejected from a specially designed cannon. The impetus is provided not by gunpowder, but by either a spring or jet of compressed air...
  
  
• Human pyramid
  Human pyramid
  A human pyramid is a type of gymnastic formation in which the participants kneel together in a row or other formation, forming a base for another tier of participants who stand or kneel on their shoulders, backs or thighs. A human pyramid is very difficult to make. In case that the participants...
  
  
• Icarian games
• Juggling
  Juggling
  Juggling is a skill involving moving objects for entertainment or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, in which the juggler throws objects up to catch and toss up again. This may be one object or many objects, at the same time with one or many hands. Jugglers often refer...
  
   (balls, clubs, rings, etc)
• Jump rope
  Jump rope
  Jump rope or skipping rope is the primary tool used in the game of skipping played by children and many young adults, where one or more participants jump over a rope swung so that it passes under their feet and over their heads...
  
   (skipping ropes, double-Dutch)
• Knife throwing
  Impalement arts
  Impalement arts are a type of performing art in which a performer plays the role of human target for a fellow performer who demonstrates accuracy skills in disciplines such as knife throwing and archery. Impalement is actually what the performers endeavour to avoid - the thrower or marksman aims...
  
   (impalement arts)
• Lasso
  Lasso
  A lasso , also referred to as a lariat, riata, or reata , is a loop of rope that is designed to be thrown around a target and tighten when pulled. It is a well-known tool of the American cowboy. The word is also a verb; to lasso is to successfully throw the loop of rope around something...
  
  
• Mexican cloud swing
• Mime
  Mime artist
  A mime artist is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech. In earlier times, in English, such a performer was referred to as a mummer...
  
  
• Multiple trapeze
  Multiple trapeze
  Multiple trapeze is an act entailing the use of more than one trapeze, typically two or three. In these acts, multiple people perform simultaneously....
  
  
• Object manipulation
  Object manipulation
  Object manipulation is a form of dexterity play or performance in which one or more artists physically interact with one or more objects. These can be special props made for the purpose of the manipulation itself - such as balls, clubs, hoops, rings, poi, staff, devil sticks, etc. - or any other...
  
  
• Perch (equilibristic)
  Perch (equilibristic)
  The perch is an equilibristic balancing act where one performer balances atop a pole that is being balanced by another performer. Each perch pole has a loop at the top into which the performer may insert either a hand or a foot in order to perform a variety of tricks while hanging down from the loop...
  
  
• Physical comedy
  Physical comedy
  Physical comedy, also known as slapstick, is a comedic performance relying mostly on the use of the body to convey humour.Physical comedy, whether conveyed by a pratfall , a silly face, or the action of walking into walls, is a common and rarely subtle form of comedy...
  
  
• Plate spinning
  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...
  
  
• Pogo sticking
  Stunt pogo
  Stunt pogo or extreme pogo is the act of performing stunts or tricks on a pogo stick, and is often compared to other extreme sports, such as skateboarding. The organization of the sport is attributed to David Armstrong the founder of Xpogo.com...
  
  
• Poi spinning
• Puppetry
  Puppetry
  Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance which involves the manipulation of puppets. It is very ancient, and is believed to have originated 30,000 years BC. Puppetry takes many forms but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects...
  
  
• Rebound straps
• Rola bola (balance board
  Balance board
  A balance board is a device used for recreation, balance training, athletic training, brain development, therapy, musical training and other kinds of personal development....
  
  )
• Rolling globe
  Rolling globe
  The rolling globe is a circus skill in which the performer balances atop a large sphere, sometimes taller than the performer. Various gymnastic or juggling stunts may be performed while the performer moves and controls the position of the ball with the feet and/or hands.-Further reading:* *...
  
  
• Roman ladders
  Roman Ladders
  Roman Ladders is an equilibristic circus skill where four or more people perform acrobatics on specially made ladders. The people in the middle push the ladders out, while the people on the outside perform various poses and tricks.-External links:...
  
  
• Russian bar
  Russian Bar
  The Russian bar is a circus act which combines the gymnastic skills of the balance beam, the rebound tempo skills of trampoline and the swing handstands skills of the uneven bars and the parallel bars...
  
  
• Russian swing
• Spanish web
  Spanish web
  The Spanish web is an aerial circus skill, similar in appearance and style to corde lisse. The name refers to both the apparatus and the performance....
  
  
• Springboard
  Springboard
  A springboard or diving board is used for diving and is a board that is itself a spring, i.e. a linear flex-spring, of the cantilever type....
  
  
• Stage combat
  Stage combat
  Stage combat is a specialized technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet productions. The term is also used informally to describe fight choreography for other...
  
  
• Static trapeze
  Static trapeze
  Static trapeze, also known as fixed trapeze, is a type of circus art performed on the trapeze. In contrast to the other forms of trapeze, on static trapeze the bars and ropes mainly stay in place....
  
  
• Stilt walking
• Teeterboard
  Teeterboard
  The teeterboard is an acrobatic apparatus that resembles a playground seesaw. The strongest teeterboards are made of oak . The board is divided in the middle by a fulcrum made of welded steel. At each end of the board is a square padded area, where a performer stands on a 45-degree incline before...
  
   (Korean plank)
• Tightrope walking
  Tightrope walking
  Tightrope walking is the art of walking along a thin wire or rope, usually at a great height. One or more artists performs in front of an audience or as a publicity stunt...
  
   (or slackwire walking
  Slacklining
  Slacklining is a practice in balance that typically uses 1 inch nylon webbing tensioned between two anchor points. Slacklining is distinct from tightrope walking in that the line is not held rigidly taut ; it is instead dynamic, stretching and bouncing like a long and narrow trampoline...
  
  )
• Trampolining
  Trampolining
  Trampolining is a competitive Olympic sport in which gymnasts perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. These can include simple jumps in the pike, tuck or straddle position to more complex combinations of forward or backward somersaults and twists....
  
  
• Trapeze
  Trapeze
  A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances...
  
  
• Trick riding
• Trick roping
  Trick roping
  Trick roping is an entertainment or competitive art involving the spinning of a lasso or lariat. It is particularly associated with wild west shows or western arts in the United States....
  
  
• Tumbling
  Tumbling (gymnastics)
  In gymnastics, tumbling, also known as power tumbling is an acrobatic sporting discipline which combines some of the skills of artistic gymnastics on the floor with those of trampolining. It is practised on a 25 metre long spring track...
  
   (power track)
• Twirling
  Twirling
  Twirling is any of several art forms, hobbies, or sport and recreational activities accomplished by spinning or rotating the twirled object either for exercise, or in a rhythmic, or otherwise artful manner. Though the origin of twirling is impossible to ascertain, twirling enjoyed a steady growth...
  
  
• Unicycle
  Unicycle
  A unicycle is a human-powered, single-track vehicle with one wheel. Unicycles resemble bicycles, but are less complex.-History:One theory of the advent of the unicycle stems from the popularity of the penny-farthing during the late 19th century...
  
  
• Ventriloquism
  Ventriloquism
  Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is an act of stagecraft in which a person manipulates his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered "dummy"...
  
  
• Voltige
  Equestrian vaulting
  Equestrian vaulting, or simply Vaulting , is most often described as gymnastics and dance on horseback and, like these disciplines, it can be practised as a non-competitive art/performance or as a competitive sport. Vaulting has been an equestrian act at the circus from its early days. It is open...
  
  
• Wheel of death (Space wheel)
  Wheel of death (Space wheel)
  The Wheel of Death, in the context of acrobatic circus arts, is a large rotating apparatus on which performers carry out synchronized acrobatic skills. The "wheel" is actually a large space frame beam with hooped tracks at either end, within which the performers can stand. As the performers run...
  
  
• Whistling
  Whistling
  Human whistling is the production of sound by means of carefully controlling a stream of air flowing through a small hole. Whistling can be achieved by creating a small opening with one's lips and then blowing or sucking air through the hole...
  
  

Circus and sideshow attractions

• Armless wonder
  Armless wonder
  An Armless Wonder was a person without arms who was exhibited, usually at a circus sideshow. Typically a woman, she would perform various tricks using her feet and toes, such as smoking a cigarette or writing...
  
  
• Bearded lady
• Bed of nails
  Bed of nails
  A bed of nails is an oblong piece of wood the size of a bed with nails pointing upwards out of it. It appears to the spectator that anyone lying on this "bed" would be injured by the nails, but this is not so...
  
  
• Bee bearding
  Bee bearding
  Bee bearding is the practice of wearing several hundred thousand honey bees on the face, usually as a sideshow-type demonstration at agricultural shows...
  
  
• Blade box
• Body modification
  Body modification
  Body modification is the deliberate altering of the human body for any non-medical reason, such as aesthetics, sexual enhancement, a rite of passage, religious reasons, to display group membership or affiliation, to create body art, shock value, or self expression...
  
  
• Camel
  Camel
  A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
  
  s
• Chapeaugraphy
  Chapeaugraphy
  Chapeaugraphy, occasionally anglicised to chapography, is a panhandling trick in which a ring-shaped piece of felt is manipulated to look like various types of hats...
  
  
• Elephant
  Elephant
  Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
  
  s
• Entomophagy (insect eating)
  Entomophagy
  Entomophagy is the consumption of insects as food. Insects are eaten by many animals, but the term is generally used to refer to human consumption of insects; animals that eat insects are known as insectivores...
  
  
• Fiji mermaid
  Fiji mermaid
  The Fiji mermaid was an object comprising the torso and head of a juvenile monkey sewn to the back half of a fish, covered in papier-mâché...
  
  
• Fire breathing
  Fire breathing
  Fire breathing is the act of creating a fireball by breathing a fine mist of fuel over an open flame. Proper technique and the correct fuel create the illusion of danger to enhance the novelty of fire breathing, while reducing the risk to health and safety...
  
  
• Fire eating
• Flea circus
  Flea circus
  A flea circus refers to a circus sideshow attraction in which fleas are attached to miniature carts and other items, and encouraged to perform circus acts within a small housing...
  
  
• Freak show
  Freak show
  A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with both male and female secondary sexual characteristics, people with other extraordinary diseases and...
  
  
• Glass eating
• Glass walking
• Gurner
  Gurn
  A gurn or chuck is a distorted facial expression, and a verb to describe the action. A typical gurn might involve projecting the lower jaw as far forward and up as possible, and covering the upper lip with the lower lip....
  
  
• Heshe

• Hook suspension
  Suspension (body modification)
  A suspension is the act of suspending a human body from hooks that have been put through body piercings. These piercings are temporary and are performed just prior to the actual suspension.- Method :...
  
  
• Human blockhead
  Human blockhead
  A human blockhead is a carnival or sideshow performer who hammers a nail or other implement into his nasal cavity via the nostril. The stunt is often shocking to audiences, who believe that the nail is being hammered into the skull itself...
  
  
• Human dartboard
  Human Dartboard
  The human dartboard is a contemporary sideshow act in which one person throws darts at another person. Usually the thrower is the target's assistant or a member of the audience. This act was popularized by the Jim Rose Circus, where it was performed by Jim, in the role of the target, and his wife...
  
  
• Human zoo
  Human zoo
  Human zoos were 19th- and 20th-century public exhibits of humans, usually in a so-called natural or primitive state. The displays often emphasized the cultural differences between Europeans of Western civilisation and non-European peoples...
  
  
• Iron tongue
• Magic acts
  Magic (illusion)
  Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
  
  
• Midgets
• Midway
  Midway (fair)
  A midway at a fair is the location where amusement rides, entertainment and fast food booths are concentrated....
  
  
• Monkeys
• Pedal go
• Pickled punks
  Pickled punks
  Pickled punks is the carny term for human fetuses preserved in jars of formaldehyde and used as sideshow attractions. Most pickled punks display some sort of anatomical abnormality, such as conjoined twins or polycephaly; however, the deformities present are as varied as the nature of human...
  
  
• Piercing acts
• Ponies
• Shallow diving
  Shallow diving
  Shallow Diving is an Extreme Sport, whereby enthusiasts attempt to dive from the greatest height into the shallowest depth of water, without sustaining injury. It is typically associated with travelling circuses along with the Strong man, performing animals, clowns and other such...
  
  
• Sideshow
  Sideshow
  In America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair or other such attraction.- Types of attractions :There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions:...
  
  
• Snake charmer
  Snake Charmer
  Snake charmer can mean:*Snake charming, the practice of "hypnotizing" snakes*Snake Charmer, a 1983 album by guitarist The Edge, bassist Jah Wobble, multi-instrumentalist Holger Czukay, drummer Jaki Liebezeit, and DJ/remixer François Kevorkian...
  
  
• Strongman
  Strongman (strength athlete)
  In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or circus performers of similar ilk who displayed feats of strength such as the bent press , supporting large amounts of...
  
  
• Sword swallowing
  Sword swallowing
  Sword swallowing is an ancient performance art in which the performer passes a sword through the mouth and down the esophagus towards the stomach...