Opening on 16 December What visitors can expect at the Bonn Christmas Circus
Beuel · On the Friday before the fourth Sunday in Advent, the Bonn Christmas Circus will celebrate its premiere on the Pützchener Marktwiesen. How do the operators deal with rising energy prices and what programme awaits the visitors?
The Christmas Circus has been a guest in Bonn for 15 years and has since become a popular end-of-year meeting place for many citizens of the federal city. The circus wagons roll into Pützchen at the beginning of December. Then the team of helpers starts setting up the tent on the Pützchen market meadows. There the Christmas Circus has found a permanent home for the time being after years of vagabonding through the Bonn city area. Until the premiere on Friday, 16 December, the staff do not have much time to prepare everything festively. Before the first circus performance, there is still a building inspection by the City of Bonn.
As for all other companies and private households, the significantly increased energy costs are of course currently playing an important role for the operators of the Christmas Circus. Circus director Manuel Fischer wants to significantly reduce the amount of outdoor lighting. On the one hand for energy and economic reasons, but on the other hand he also wants to keep the environmental impact of light pollution as low as possible.
Saving energy in a full tent
According to the circus team, they already used electricity and heating oil very sparingly during the last season in the 2021/22 winter season. They used nowhere near the amount of heating oil they had purchased. According to Fischer, this is now benefiting the company even more. Nevertheless, saving energy is to be taken into account even more. Switching to LED lighting was already done years ago in the showman and circus industry for cost reasons.
"Regardless of this, the more people who watch a performance, the more economical heating can be. That means there is a double reason to hope for the highest possible attendance. So you can actually say that everyone who buys a ticket is actively helping to save energy and produce fewer costs. In any case, there will be no energy surcharge in ticketing," explains Thomas Lenz, press spokesman for the Christmas Circus.
For Circus Director Fischer, the programme for the new season is particularly important because for him 15 years means a small anniversary: "For our anniversary year, we have put together a particularly extraordinary and sensational programme. In 15 years, our guests have already seen a lot with us, but here we have surpassed ourselves once again. We are particularly pleased that we have once again been able to win over a real star director of the circus world in Louis Knie Jr." The Swiss with a great circus tradition in his blood will also perform in the ring himself this year and show himself as an accomplished animal trainer with an elegant horse act. The rest of the programme promises thrills and entertainment, according to the organisers. The programme includes:
Freestyle Motocross: The five freestyle motocross riders of Extreme FMX from England will thrill the audience with daring jumps and spectacular manoeuvres high above their heads. One of the highlights is the so-called backflip, a backwards somersault with the motorbike.
Boomerang: The undisputed star of this year's programme is the Portuguese Danny Luftman. In 2020 he wowed the audience at the RTL Supertalent and holds the world record for juggling five boomerangs. After a four-year engagement with Cirque du Soleil, he will perform for the first time this year in Bonn's Christmas Circus.
Roller skating: Together with his partner Rita, Danny Luftman performs a fast-paced and daring roller skating act in his second act. Highest concentration and body control are required when the two do their rounds on a small platform at top speed. A dizzying and fast-paced act.
Waterbowl: Reka Lantos from Hungary presents a flowing sequence of movements from equilibristics, acrobatics and aesthetics in and on the water basin.
Clowning: The Italian Jimmy Folco already provided fun in the ring of the Bonn Christmas Circus last season. This season, too, his funny clown prises guarantee lots of laughs.
Juggling: Vanessa Berousek learned the art of juggling from her father, who once broke record after record as the fastest juggler in the world. Her performance is based on dance elegance and rhythm.
The fact that the Christmas Circus is allowed to perform on the meadows of Pützchens Markt does not only require the approval of the City of Bonn in advance. Both the Beuel district council and the Pützchens Markt Round Table have approved the venue. The latter is made up of representatives of the administration and the local associations of Pützchen. The aim is to inform the citizens of Pützchen at an early stage about possible uses of the market meadows. Since the area lies in the middle of the town, the city of Bonn wants to avoid overstressing the neighbourhood.
Fischer also knows this: "Without our loyal audience, this would never have been possible. But I would also like to explicitly mention the good and always constructive cooperation with the City of Bonn. We are very happy that with the Pützchen location we have found a new home that is so well received by the guests."
(Original text: Holger Willcke/Translation: Mareike Graepel)
