The day I came back from Siem Reap, there were two circuses in town.
That in itself is remarkable, as it's not exactly a common thing here, and yet to have two on the same night, roughly around the same time, was quite something.
My friend invited me to go, and I bought a ticket, at that point not knowing about the double situation, and just bought it for the circus I thought it was, the Phare Ponleu Selepak troupe from Battambang, which I'd heard a lot about.
However, once in the tuktuk with my friend, who was directing and heading to somewhere that was definitely NOT where I thought the performance was -- and yet, what do you know, a circus tent! I assumed I had gotten the directions wrong, until she pulled out her own ticket and we realized that in fact they were not the same. There were not one, but TWO circuses performing, and I was currently in possession of the wrong ticket for this venue.
Despite this mixup they let me in anyway, as I assume this was a common issue what with both tickets being on sale at the same places and nowhere that said choose wisely my friend.
Turns out, it was a circus compiled of artists from Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. The Ringmaster spoke in Vietnamese, with a translator to Khmer. The cast was enormous. It was an acrobatic circus, cirque du soleil style only without the crazy factor and the ridiculously intricate costumes and makeup.
Don't get me wrong, they were good -- but it was really interesting, watching it made me realize how much time I've spent around circus -- learning it, watching it, etc. I realized I had spent the majority of my teen years doing this, and therefore, I recognized pretty much every act and their tricks -- the tricks for the aerial acts, the structure of the show and the acts, even the juggling passing patterns. I never did passing in juggling, but I've seen it practiced enough to recognize.
However, what was much more interesting for me than the tricks themselves -- besides the general awe at how much human beings can do -- was how they were presented, with a definite Southeast Asian flair. I caught a lot of classical dance movements, for one. The contortion act was all based on Hindu myths and had a lot of the dance in it, finishing with the girl shooting an arrow through a balloon with her feet, while balancing on her elbows. I think that was the most impressive thing I saw...
The spring board act, from Vietnam, had what I think was Vietnamese folk dancing, and the music. The fabric duo had the Cambodian hand gestures. Though I'm not sure what it has to do with SE Asia, the Vietnamese troupe doing the human feet juggling (you know, the burly guys on their backs juggling people on their feet), had specially modified motocycles for the occasion.
It was fascinating just to see how the same tricks, the same acts, the same audience reactions were just a little transplanted, made into something a little more local. Besides that, whatever they may be doing, I just love watching performers perform.
And, I'm not sure I have ever seen anyone set a jump rope on fire and do it on a unicycle, on the top of the platform, as the young performer from Cambodia did in the uni act...
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