Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Dragons in Review

We saw the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Dragons yesterday.  It was really very good!  There were a couple acts that were not as good as I had hoped, but overall the show was extremely well done.  We arrived a little early and went down on the arena floor.  We weren't there early enough to do much, but the kids got to dress up like clowns and meet some of the performers.  While waiting for the show to start the clowns were out to keep the audience entertained.  The show was all about dragons, courage, heart, wisdom, and strength.

The Riders of the Wind were my favorite part, but I really love horses.  A lot.  The riders were amazing and the horses so well trained.  During the show one of the horses pretended to be wild and untrainable.  It was so funny!

Next was a high-wire motorcycle act.  This is one that I wasn't enthralled with.  It was different and kind of cool, but went a little long for my taste.

After that was Alexander, the big cat trainer.  Picasso LOVES big cats so was bouncing up and down in his seat at this point.  There were both lions and tigers in this act.  The big male lion kept rubbing heads with all the girls, lion and tiger alike.  Whenever Alexander would pet the big cats it reminded me so much of our cat.  They would get the exact same looks on their faces as he does. 

There were some acrobats in balls.  It was fascinating as the balls opened at the bottom.  Princess would cover her eyes as she was worried about them falling out.  I told her they practice a LOT and know what they were doing.

Then there were the sisters that hang by their hair.  OUCH!  I have no clue how they do what they do.

Next up were the Shaolin Monks.  I was really looking forward to this part and felt a little let down.  Solely because I was expecting more of a display of their discipline of karate.  It was more of a display of strength then anything.  It was still really cool, just not what I expected.

The Russian Bar was very interesting.  I've seen it before on television, but never in person.  The fact that they get that much air and land so lightly is just crazy!

The trapeze troupe was very good.  I always enjoy watching a good trapeze troupe.  The amount of skill required is just insane.  It looks like so much fun, but I would never dare do it myself.  When I was younger I would have without a second thought, I'm getting old and more cautious.

There were some more animal acts that went on simultaneously, it was hard to decide what to watch!  There were some house cats in one ring, dogs in another, and in the third were horses, goats, and llamas (possibly alpacas).  They were all really good, but the dogs were my personal favorite.

The troupe that did the Russian Bar then did a springboard act.  They did things on that which as a child we thought about doing off a teeter totter.  Or maybe just what I thought of doing.

After that there were elephants.  Such big and majestic animals!

 
Then there was a motorcycle group that drove in a sphere.  How they get that many bikes going round in such a small space is crazy.

The amount of trust that the different troupes have with each other and that the animals have with their trainers is beyond insane.  If one person has an off day things would not turn out well.  They put so much time and effort into what they do. 

I can honestly recommend going to see the show.  Even the parts that were not my favorite, or what I expected it to be, were good.  They have a live band, which was super cool.  They were a bit loud, but not overwhelmingly so.  If you haven't gotten tickets yet I'd suggest doing so.  It is a great family activity.