Aerial Hoop (also known as "Circeau" and "Lyra"), is a circular steel apparatus (much like a suspended hula-hoop), is a popular aerial art. Aerial hoops are usually available in single tab and double tab configurations. One to 3 aerialists perform trapeze style maneuvers, usually while spinning.

Bungee trapeze is a circus act performed by accomplishing tricks while suspended by a pair of bungee cords. The performers do  back flips planges and other acrobatic maneuvers while bouncing on the bungee cords.

Chinese Poles are vertical steel poles on which circus performers climb, slide down and hold poses. The poles are generally between 3 and 9 metres in height and approximately 3 to 4 inches in diameter. A few Chinese poles tricks have been incorporated with erotic pole dancing techniques.

To improve the grip on the poles they are sometimes covered with rubber. This rubber leaves burn marks on the Chinese pole artists shoulders. These marks are used as a sign in the circus world for Chinese pole artists to recognise each other.

The most famous trick is "the flag" where the artist hangs straight out from the pole with his or her hands. This requires a very strong upper body. A few people are able to do pushups in this position, and even fewer can rotate the legs around in a circle-this requires enormous core strength.

The Cloud Swing (also known as a "Mexican Cloud Swing"), is an aerial act that usually combines static and swinging trapeze skills, drops, holds and rebound lifts.

The apparatus itself is a soft cotton rope about 25-30mm thick. On its simplest level the cloud swing resembles a Spanish web in length and width, with each end braided and spliced-lashed with a thimble, forming a loop. Two high caliber swivels are required to support the weight; the swivels are anchored to a crane bar or a stationary rig, with the swing itself hanging in a V-shape.. It can be made from a single rope, or from a cotton filled sheath.

The cloud swing is a relatively new apparatus, and many of the figures performed on it are borrowed or adapted from static and swinging trapeze.

Contact juggling is a form of object manipulation that focuses primarily on the movement of objects such as balls in permanent contact with the body. Having little in common with "toss" juggling, it most typically involves the rolling of one or more completely transparent balls on the hands and arms to create visual illusions, such as that of a ball fixed in space. It is divided into three main schools of technique:

1. bodyrolling is the manipulation of one or more props (usually spheres) around the hands, arms, and body, usually without the prop(s) ever being thrown into the air.
2. palmspinning is the manipulation of two or more spheres in each hand wherein at least one sphere is always in continual motion. Spheres may be transferred from one hand to another to form graceful and fluid patterns, but rarely are they ever released into the air.
3. isolationism is categorized by manipulation of usually one prop (again, a sphere of some sort or other toy such as firestaff) such that the prop appears to be suspended in time and place while the performer dances around it, usually in the Popping and locking styles.

Contact juggling is also known by several other names, including Static Juggling, SpherePlay, Orb Rolling and Dynamic Manipulation.

Contortion (sometimes contortionism) is an unusual form of physical display which involves the dramatic bending and flexing of the human body. Contortion is often part of acrobatics and circus acts.

In general, contortionists have unusual natural flexibility, which is then enhanced through gymnastic training.

Corde lisse is an aerial circus skill or act that involves acrobatics on a vertically hanging rope. The name is French for "smooth rope".

Corde Lisse moves are normally a combination of held postures and drops using ropes normally made from soft cotton about 25-30mm thick. It is closely related to both silks, another aerial circus skill performed on one or two long strips of strong fabric, often in bright colours and Spanish Web.It requires great skill and strength. Performers do not have any kind of safety net or safety line, relying on their own strength and ability to prevent a fall.

It is also possible for two (or more) people to perform on the same rope, although more than two is very rare. These people can either hang off each other, or both be at different heights on the rope itself.

The most famous use of aerial circus skills such as these has been for the BBC's test-card. Cirque de Soleil also use corde lisse, silks and trapeze in their shows.

Wheel gymnastics (German: Rhönradturnen) is a kind of gymnastics coming from Germany.

Wheel gymnasts do exercises in a big wheel: the gymnastics wheel (gym wheel, German wheel, Rhönrad).

 

Hair hang

 

Human cannonball

 

Juggling is a form of skillful, often artful, object manipulation. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, where the juggler throws objects through the air. Jugglers often refer to the objects they juggle as props, the most popular being balls, beanbags, rings, clubs, or bouncing balls. Some performers use "dangerous" objects such as chainsaws, knives and fire torches, although when done by a trained performer are far less dangerous than they appear. Juggling also includes most prop-based circus skills such as diabolo, devil sticks, poi, cigar box manipulation, fire-dancing, contact juggling, and hat manipulation.

The word "juggling" derives from the Middle English jogelen to entertain by performing tricks, in turn from the French jongleur and the Old French jogler. There is also the Late Latin form joculare of Latin joculari, meaning to jest.

Magic, including the arts of prestidigitation and conjuring, is the art of entertaining an audience by performing illusions that baffle and amaze, often by giving the impression that something impossible has been achieved, almost as if the performer had magic or supernatural powers. Yet, this illusion of magic is created entirely by natural means. The practitioners of this mystery art may be called magicians, conjurors, illusionists or prestidigitators. Artists in other media such as theatre, cinema, dance and the visual arts increasingly work using similar means but regard their magical techniques as of secondary importance to the goal of creating a complex cultural performance.

A mime artist is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art. In earlier times, in English, such a performer was referred to as a mummer. Miming is to be distinguished from silent comedy, in which the artist is a seamless character in a film or sketch.

Mime in Film

Prior to the work of Etienne Decroux there was no major treatise on the art of mime, and so any recreation of mime as performed prior to the twentieth century is largely conjecture, based on interpretation of diverse sources. However, the twentieth century also brought a new medium into widespread usage: the motion picture.

The restrictions of early motion picture technology meant that stories had to be told with minimal dialogue which was largely restricted to intertitles. This often demanded a highly stylized form of physical acting largely derived from the stage. Thus, mime plays an important role in films prior to the talkies. The mimetic style of film acting was used to great effect in German Expressionism film.

Silent film comedians like Charles Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton learned the craft of mime in the theatre but through film had a profound influence on mimes who work in live theatre even decades after their death. Indeed, Chaplin may be the best documented mime in history.

The famous French comedian, writer and director Jacques Tati achieved his initial popularity working as a mime, and indeed his later films had only minimal dialogue, relying instead on many subtle expertly choreographed visual gags. Tati, like Chaplin before him, would mime out the movements of every single character in his films and ask his actors to repeat them.

Mimes have often appeared in science fiction and fantasy films. The physical training of the mime when combined with a well designed costume can result in a fantastic, yet believable creature. In this regard, the distinction between mime and puppeteer has become blurred. More recent developments in computer animation such as motion capture or mocap technology allow for actors' movements to be used in creating animated characters. As a consequence, some mimes are beginning to work with animators in creating characters.

Mimes have also been portrayed in film, most notably in Les Enfants du Paradis, which featured both Jean-Louis Barrault in the role of Jean-Gaspard Deburau and Decroux as his father. However, when mimes are portrayed in film, it is just as common for filmmakers to have actors with little mime training to perform a stereotype of a mime as it is for a skilled artist to either perform or choreograph the performance on screen.

The perch is an equilibristic balancing act where one performer balances atop a pole that is being balanced by another performer. Each perch pole has a loop at the top into which the performer may insert either a hand or a foot in order to perform a variety of tricks while hanging down from the loop. During the whole routine, the base at the bottom must balance the pole as the flier shifts their weight from one position to another, climbs up and down and balances at the top.

Types of perch pole

There are several variations on the perch pole. They include:

• Balancing perch pole
• Swing or Swinging perch pole
• Hanging Perch pole

Balancing perch pole

The balancing perch pole consists of a tall steel pole about 25 feet high and weighing about 50 pounds with interchangeable top and bottom pieces, which are designed for variations of the act. The standard bottom piece is designed for a person to balance the pole on his shoulders and contains grips for holding the pole with his hands, while a substitute bottom piece may be used for a performer who wishes to balance the pole on his head.

Swing or swinging perch pole

The swing pole is an act where one performer holds up a steel pole about twenty feet long as their partner climbs to the top. After the flier fastens themselves to the top of the pole with a neck loop, he spins the pole around as fast as possible until the flier is swinging out almost parallel to the ground.

Hanging Perch pole

The hanging perch is a variation on the perch where the pole is hung from an aerial mount point, and a pair of fliers perform tricks and stunts from the pole.

 

Plate spinning is a circus manipulation art where a person spins plates, bowls and other flat objects on poles, without them falling over. Plate spinning relies on the gyroscopic effect, like it also applies for a spinning top. This makes balancing easier.

Most professional plate spinning plates are gimmicked, having an indentation in the center to help keep the plates on the poles.

The Sabre Dance is often played in the background. This was a popular act on The Ed Sullivan Show and other variety and talent shows. In an episode of the Simpsons, at the Springfield Retirement Castle talent show one participant does a similar act, but uses the dentures of several of housemates. Plate spinning was often seen in HBO's prison drama OZ, where an unnamed prisoner would often be seen spinning a book on the tip of a pen.

Poi is a form of juggling 'Impartial Art'  (Finnigan, 1992) with balls on ropes, held in the hands and swung in various circular patterns, similar to club-twirling. It was originally practiced by the Māori people of New Zealand (the word poi means "ball" in Māori). Women and men used it to increase flexibility, strength, and coordination. It developed into a traditional performance art practiced mostly by women. This art, in conjunction with others including waiata a ringa, haka and titi torea, make up the performance of kapa haka (Māori culture groups).

The rola bola (also called a "rolla bolla" or "bongo board") in its simplest form is a plank on a cylinder on which a person balances. The plank rocks back and forth on the cylinder like a seesaw but its pivot point shifts back and forth as the cylinder rolls beneath the plank. With a bit of practice, balancing on a rola bola is not too difficult.

The challenges come as one moves beyond simply standing on it. Rola bolas can be stacked on top of one another in various ways to increase the challenge and create a more visually stimulating performance.

Other circus arts can be performed on a rola bola, for example, fire-twirling (fire staff, fire poi and fire devil sticks), juggling, hula hooping, even acrobalance and adagio. A rola bola can also be used by more than one person in ways that are not a form of acrobalance. For example, 2 people can both stand on the board facing each other and holding hands. Tricks such as turning around or doing a handstand are also possible.

The rola bola cylinder is usually made of wood, PVC or metal pipe. PVC can be slippery and may bow if not thick enough. Alternatively, a large ball such as a bowling ball can be used. Plywood or pine can be used for the plank. Grip tape can be added to the board and/or the pipe. End strips can be added to the underside of the ends of the plank to make it safer for beginners.