THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, MAY 5, 2014
PAGE 3
+
NATIONAL
Acrobats fall during Ringling Bros. circus stunt
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A platform collapsed during an aerial hair-hanging stunt at a circus performance Sunday, sending eight acrobats plummeting to the ground. Nine performers were seriously injured in the fall, including a dancer below, while an unknown number of others suffered less serious injuries.
The accident was reported about 45 minutes into the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus' 11 a.m. Legends show at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence.
Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Bros., said the accident happened during an act in which eight performers hang "like a human chandelier" using their hair.
formers were hanging came free from the metal truss it was connected to. The eight women fell 25 to 40 feet, landing on a dancer on the ground.
He said the metal-frame apparatus from which the per-
"Everybody's doing fine, everybody's at the hospital, everybody's conscious, everybody's doing pretty well," said Roman Garcia, general manager of the Legends show.
All the performers have been doing "some variation of this act for some time," Payne said, though he didn't know how long. The current incarnation of the act began in January
be life-threatening.
Rhode Island Hospital in Providence admitted 11 patients with varying injuries, including one in critical condi-
"Everybody's doing fine, everybody's at the hospital, everybody's conscious, everybody's doing pretty well."
ROMAN GARCIA
Legends show general manager
"These 'hairialists' perform a combination of choreography and cut-ups including spinning, hanging from hoops, and rolling down wrapped silks, all while being suspended 35 feet
with the launch of the show, he said.
Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare said officials and inspectors haven't yet determined what caused the accident. He said none of the injuries appear to
tion, spokeswoman Jill Reuter said.
in the air by their hair alone," the website says.
Video taken by audience members showed several performers hanging around 25 feet in the air from an apparatus suspended from above. Seconds later, as they began to perform, the women fell and the metal apparatus landed on them.
"We heard this huge clatter and then we just heard the girls scream," said Sydney Bragg, 14.
Rosa Viveiros of Seekonk, Mass., said she saw that the acrobats had fallen on top of at least one other performer on the ground, a man who stood up with his face bloodied. The acrobats remained still and did not get up, she said.
"We thought it was part of the circus," said her husband, loe.
'The Dunkin' Donuts Center canceled two shows scheduled for later Sunday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Performers hang during a stunt at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus. A platform broke during an aerial hair-hanging performance on Sunday seriously injuring nine people.
NATIONAL
LA stage show fuses wrestling, striptease
LOS ANGELES — it's hard to say which zany circus-like act wins over the audience at Lucha VaVoom.
Perhaps it's the transvestite wrestler who swan-dives from a third-story balcony to pin his opponent to the concrete floor, a move equal parts stunning and stupid. It could be the two female high-wire acrobats who strip nearly naked and spin high above the arena secured only by scarves. Or maybe it's the three-person masked wrestling tag teams each composed of a man, a woman and a dwarf.
Whatever it is, there's little question that the esoteric hybrid of American burlesque and Mexican
wrestling is an outrageous hit that could be coming to a theater near you.
"I've been a wrestling fan, since the days of Hulk Hogan, but when I saw this — there's nothing like this," said Adalid Sanchez, an elementary-school teacher.
New York has Broadway. Las Vegas has Cirque du Soleil. Mexico has Lucha Libre wrestling. Only Los Angeles mashes the three together, then leavens it with ample doses of loud, blaring rock music, flashing lights, a celebrity guest performer and a cadre of burlesque-style comedians, said Diane Christensen of Los Angeles.
"This is everything about LA that you love," said Christensen. "People dressed up to come here."
The audience is a group as wildly
divergent as LA itself: Film editors, schoolteachers, a construction contractor, factory workers and the occasional celebrity.
"There's no show that's funnier, siller or more entertaining than this one," said Eric Idle, a regular at Lucha VaVoom shows.
All of this madness was born about a dozen years ago on the set of a movie about genetically enhanced baboons that was filmed in Mexico.
After this year's annual Cinco de Mayo week performances, Lucha VaVoom headed to Chicago for a show Saturday, with dates planned later in the year for Florida and Japan. It has been to New York, San Francisco, Boston and other cities.
Associated Press
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wrestling duo The Crazy Chickens fly over the ropes and into the audience during a Lucha VaWoom's show at the Mayan Theatre indowntown Los Angeles. The esoteric hybrid of American burlesque and Mexican wrestling has become an outrageous hit.
+