Circus skills

See also: Circus, Sideshow, and Contemporary circus

Circus skills are a group of pursuits that have been performed as entertainment in circus, sideshow, busking or variety/vaudeville/music hall shows. Most circus skills are still being performed today. Many are also practised 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 Acrobatics Acro dance Adagio Aerial hoop (lyra, cerceaux) Aerial silk (tissu, fabric, ribbon, silks, aerial contortion) Aerial straps Animal training Artistic cycling Balancing Banquine Baton twirling Buffoonery Bullwhip Bungee trapeze Chinese pole Chinese yo-yo Chair balancing Cigar box juggling Cloud swing Clowning Club swinging Contact juggling Contortion Corde lisse (vertical rope, smooth rope) Cradle Cyr wheel (roue Cyr) Danish pole Devil sticks Diabolo Electric act Fire dancing (fire twirling, fire spinning, fire manipulation) Flag spinning Flying trapeze Freestanding ladder German wheel (Rhönrad, gym wheel) Globe of death Hair hang (hair suspension, hair hanging) Handbalancing (équilibre) Hand walking Hat manipulation Hoop diving

Hooping Human cannonball Human pyramid Icarian games Juggling (balls, clubs, rings, etc) Jump rope (skipping ropes, double-Dutch) Knife throwing (impalement arts) Lasso Mexican cloud swing Mime Multiple trapeze Object manipulation Perch (equilibristic) Physical comedy Plate spinning Pogo sticking Poi spinning Puppetry Rebound straps Rola bola (balance board) Rolling globe Roman ladders Russian bar Russian swing Spanish web Springboard Stage combat Static trapeze Stilt walking Teeterboard (Korean plank) Tightrope walking (or slackwire walking) Trampolining Trapeze Trick riding Trick roping Tumbling (power track) Twirling Unicycle Ventriloquism Voltige Wheel of death (Space wheel) Whistling

Circus and sideshow attractions

Armless wonder Bearded lady Bed of nails Bee bearding Blade box Body modification Camels Chapeaugraphy Elephants Entomophagy (insect eating) Fiji mermaid Fire breathing Fire eating Flea circus Freak show Glass eating Glass walking Gurner Heshe

Hook suspension Human blockhead Human dartboard Human zoo Iron tongue Magic acts Midgets Midway Monkeys Pedal go Pickled punks Piercing acts Ponies Shallow diving Sideshow Snake charmer Strongman Sword swallowing