The Great Moscow Circus visits Singapore
The Great Moscow Circus is in town, Singapore! My kids have goin to a "real" circus on their bucket list so they were really quite excited and really wanted to go so I booked the tickets online. Now looking at the seating and prices, I picked the $69 dollar tickets which looked like they were in the "nose bleeds",5 rows down from the top. I kept thinking to myself that I'd rather watch ice hockey at that price. Anyways, I bought the tickets and proceeded to look for the restrictions, low and behold, photography is ALLOWED! Just no flash. Wow, I'm impressed. So I attached my 70-200 lens onto my Canon 7D and put it into my bag. I chose the 70-200 because I figured I'd need the f2.8 more than I would need the reach of a 100-400.
Upon reaching the venue, my first thought was how small the "Big Top" was. My eldest asked if it was supposed to be that small, my youngest didn't care. We got in line for the security check and watched people who were ushered off to the side, trying to eat the snacks they tried to bring in as quickly as they could. Yup, read that in the fine print but in all fairness the only food they had inside was bottle drinks, popcorn and cotton candy, I was so looking forward to jumbo hotdogs or corn dogs. If they're gonna restrict food they should have a better selection or at least hotdogs, who doesn't like hotdogs, am I right? The souvenirs were not so enticing either, just some light up wand things, a yoyo, some really small t-shirts and the program. Oh Well.
Walking around the Big Top, to find the entrance to our section, I found it strange that there wasn't the heavy smell of animals, I didn't notice any cages or anything either but then again the area was really quite small. Found our entrance and seats, and boy oh boy did I miscalculate the distance. I wish I brought my walk around lens (24-105) because we're way to close but I'm so glad I brought the 70-200 instead of the 100-400. I had problems getting the action in at 70mm, plus the guy in front of me was tall and kept raising his arms. If I had to guess, I'd say we were around 50-60 feet away from the ring so if you're buying tickets don't worry if you're in the top rows, you'll still be close. Close enough to swat the giant beach ball that they throw into the crowd.
Here's some shots:
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The start time for our show was 7:30 pm and it ended at 10 pm. There were the usual jugglers and clown routines, acrobats and contortionist as well as some "death defying" stunts that really made for some edge of your seat entertainment! Personally I found it very entertaining despite, for better or worse, no animal routines nor playing with fire routines. Although we've seen plenty of the tumbling/bar/acrobatic routines (my youngest daughter was a competition gymnast), we still found these segments of the show very entertaining. Looking across the seats and seeing the huge smiles, the awe and the astonishment on my kids faces was awesome. The show also included some acts from one of the major televised talent shows, I can't remember which one but they were truly amazing to watch. Even spider man came to watch the show:
Just kidding, that's just the silhouette of the guy swinging around the tent, at times holding/suspending/dangling his female partner! If The Great Moscow Circus ever reaches your town, I highly recommend that you go enjoy the show, especially if you have kids.
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howdy from Texas sir rayshiuimages! This was a really great review, I like the information on size, the seating distances and the prices. I'm surprised that there were no animals there though, I've never heard of a circus without animals.
Your pictures are really good!
So you also do travel posts?
Texas! WOW! Thanks for dropping by with your kind words and support, Janton!
Ya, it seemed "off" without animals before the show but afterwards, not so much.
Yes, I like to write about the places I've been fortunate enough to have visited with my camera. Planning on a trip next month so will have more travel posts soon 😄👍
howdy again sir rayshiuimages! oh the travel posts are so good, thanks for the great job you're doing!
Thanks so much for the kind words! I took a gander at your blog....OMG...I love history! I've only read one post so far and I believe it is you, Sir, that is doing an awesome job! Please, please keep it up!
howdy sir rayshiuimages! Your words are very encouraging and it's funny but I was just thinking about perhaps trying another type of post because my history posts don't seem to be very popular. lol. But I will stay with it for awhile because I don't think anyone else is doing history like this so it's a little bit unique. So I thank you for the encouragement.
Where are you located? Your English is good. And you fear no beer! lol. that's funny.
Hi rayshiuimages,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Awesome, thanks! 😄👍
Hah, I think your pictures are great sooo dont worry about 70,100 or 50000 lens haha :D eyes of beginner don't see the difference. Next time someone will be raising hand in front of you, just slap him from behind :D I've seen some videos on YT of people doing it haha :D
and btw it's kinda new trend I kept noticing in circuses. That they drop animals. I tool a blablacar ride like a year ago with some circus member and he told me how much more money in various donations the circus gets if they don't do animal performances. He actually even ,mentioned the smell you're talking about. That they save sooo much money on cleaning the cages and feeding animals etc etc. So I guess it's win win, let the animals live!
Hi matkodurko, thanks for stopping by, for your support and words of wisdom 😄👍
Great points regarding the animals (I'd like to think that not all places mistreat animals) and the increase in animal costs would be transferred to the ticket prices too...
Yepp yepp...anyway, gr8 post and pictures!
😄👍
I am very happy that there were no animals included. I hope more circuses around the globe will follow this example. Some countries even ban using animals in circus performances.
What a treat for your kids! Getting what you have on your bucket list is a dream of many :) The ticket price sound a little bit exaggerated but I'm sure it was worth it.
It looks it is focused around clowns and acrobats. I love circuses! We went to one in Switzerland a few years ago.. it is a very popular one with artists from all over the worlds. The performance was beautiful and the music amazing. It was so lovely that it made me emotional :) I'm still treasuring these memories :)
Thank you for sharing your great photos with us! It was a good choice to take that lens :)
Hi delishtreats, thanks for stopping by and for your support!
Yes, the ticket prices seemed a bit much at first but after the show we all agreed it was worth it, some really amazing performance!
I imagine it was a magical moment for your children, the children love this .. It looks super great circus, as I liked to see a little video .. Congratulations for your curie vote and for sharing your experience with us. A big hug from Venezuela @rayshiuimages
Hi naideth, thanks for stopping by and for your support!
Yes, it was pretty awesome, the performances. My video skills, however, not so great, lol.
You took me to 30 years back ..when i make my parent to visit the circus if ever cone across my town. Its been a while now that i visited. Looking at your swesome picture you made me to revisit my old golden memory lane.
Those death defyming stunts and hillarious copic role by each of the clown . Always a worth to visit them ...
This moscow circus looks quite amazing...i would suggest you to make a deal with the circus for your photographs. They can use such beautiful snaps fot their advirtisenments....pretty good one....thanks for sharing
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Hi steemflow, thanks for stopping by and for your support! Watching the circus brought back a lot of memories for me too! Glad you enjoyed my images 😄👍
It is good to know that your family enjoyed the show. So that makes the nose bleed dollars worth it, yeah? 😊
If the circus group came from Russia as their name implies then I think there won't really be much with animals. Expect that for a group from Africa. 😉
With your camera and lens, I was expecting to see vivid close-ups but I have to admit I found it lacking to see those small photos. 😄 Then I read below that you are selling them so I fully understand. Thanks for sharing some of your photos though. That somehow gave me a quick glimpse of the circus.
I think animal are not more part of any circus just prevent any cruelity against them. May be i am wrong too but it had happened in my country
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That is another good point. Some time ago, I saw protests on social media about the use of animals on circuses so maybe performers may have stopped using them.
Thanks, macoolette for stopping by and for your support. Yes the 'nose bleed' sections was worth it, lol.
Thanks for the feedback on the images sizes, I'll rethink my image strategy vs post length esp. since I didn't think about viewing on handheld devices. 😄👍
Oh and ya, I read some articles about the "cruelty to animals" and its' impact to zoos and circus, it's a shame when animals are being treated cruelly.
How did you know that I was viewing on my phone? Seriously, I was. You got a great instinct there! 😄
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What good to know that this great circus is still alive and without animals, I'm from Venzuela and I went to the same circus when I was only 8 years old, I still remember as if it was yesterday, the marked difference is that at that time was in full swing the use of exotic animals in the circuses and the Moscow was not the exception. within my memory were marked: some bears that rode on miniature motorcycles, perhaps that was the most striking.
It seems to me that their routine is still more focused on clowns, which by the way are world famous.
excellent jugglers.
I was fascinated by your graphics and obviously I too as a photographer would have opted for the 70-200 for versatility, then in the process I can reframe and trim to my liking if it is my wish.
I laughed that they are still classic in terms of sourvenirs and food, nothing modern.
Thank you for reminding me of my infacia.
greetings and thank you for sharing.
Thanks, arrozymangophoto for stopping by and for the support! I remember, quite fondly, circus' with animal routines. Judging from my kids' reactions I believe this circus will be fondly remembered as well, even without the animal routines 8-)
As for the 70-200, it did do well and I'm happy with the shots I got but I felt I might have been able to get more 'context' if I used my usual walkabout lens (24-105), hopefully next time!
As a follower of @followforupvotes this post has been randomly selected and upvoted! Enjoy your upvote and have a great day!
Awesome, thanks! 😄👍
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Awesome, thanks! 😄👍