Manege free in the palace park

Created: 08/08/2022, 17:20

You have to get it right first: Two acrobats balance on rubber balls and show a ribbon dance.

They learned that in just a few days.

© Andrea Jaksch

At the end of the one-week acrobatics and movement workshop in the Gautinger Schlosspark, 18 children enchanted their parents, siblings and grandparents with a performance by the circus "Balloni".

As part of the holiday program, the children had a taste of circus air.

Gauting

- Excited children's voices can be heard behind the Balloni tent with the starry sky.

The tension rises when a boy enters the arena: "I have a dream that you are with me," sings the boy with a Hawaiian flower necklace at the beginning.

"May the sky, the earth, the sea fulfill my dreams," the children's song about the ukulele ends hopefully.

And then things really get going at the “Baschti Balloni” circus in the Gautinger Schlosspark: to the rhyme “Ein Hat, ein Stick, ein Umschirm...” girls in tutus, little acrobats dance to the same beat.

Sebastian (10) seems to balance effortlessly on the exercise ball, throwing sticks in the air.

Lilia and Marei inspire with hula hoop tricks and ribbon dancing.

The children had a week to practice tricks with the pantomime and acrobat Sebastian Derksen and his colleague Paolo Cassani.

The result was impressive.

Delicious clown numbers and difficult balancing actions alternated.

A brave little acrobat hung upside down from the trapeze in between.

Klara (13) achieve handstands with a rollover.

Concentration was required: Little acrobats, but also the older teenagers Klara and Janne, were balancing on the long bamboo cane, which the teachers Derksen and Cassani were lifting.

Meanwhile, Emilio (9) walked through the ring on stilts.

"Here I' am" came the sound from the loudspeaker.

Dancer Klara balanced on the unicycle in the ring.

A difficult balancing act with hula hoops and dancing ribbons on the table did not succeed immediately, the little acrobat simply started a second time with great confidence.

In a funny number, clown Janne threw children's chairs off the stack, balanced on the rola-bola board - and suddenly the light went on.

"I can't hold you anymore," chief clown "Basti" Derksen warns his smaller colleague Sebastian, who was standing on a tipping wooden ladder.

But fanfare, and all is well that ends well: With continued applause and bravos, the 18 young acrobats beaming with joy and their two teachers are standing in the ring unscathed.

"The demand for the circus and movement workshop was huge this year," says director Derksen.

Half an hour after the announcement, the Gauting holiday program workshop was fully booked.

Supported by his interns Klara and Janne, both 13 years old and attending for the seventh time, he increased the number of participants and offered three weekly workshops.

After the long Corona period, "the children love the balance and movement games".

It also affects your mental balance.

And in the nearby Würm there were refreshing baths in the heat.

"It was great fun," confirms Klara.

Christine Cless-Wesle