Circus leaves big impression

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Queenstown Primary School pupil Hannah Ferguson earned a few moments in the limelight at the Loritz Circus in a hula hoop competition. Watched by Loritz Circus' Joanne Wilson and young hula hoop performer Americus Loritz, Hannah showed her skill spinning six hoops at once. Photo by Felicity Wolfe.

The spectacle of the circus proved to be a treat for many, but old-fashioned humour seemed to make the biggest impression on children at the Loritz Circus' first Queenstown show.

Slideshow: Lens on Wakatipu - African Circus comes to Queenstown [2]

The Wednesday night show had many drawcards - and most of them lived up to expectation.

Tiny Americus Loritz, the hula-hooping 6-year-old, is now the heroine of young Queenstown girls.

Americus' skills were matched by her showmanship - smiling, and skipping around the arena with hoops spinning, she won many rounds of deserved applause.

However, it was the gravity-defying acrobatic feats which were the highlight of the show.

The eight Royal Kenyan Acrobats seemed to be spring-loaded, jumping and tumbling while literally playing with fire.

Also mesmerising were the acrobatics by a trio of girls balanced on a bicycle.

Ella Fenwick's solo act on a swing trapeze - and almost over the heads of those in the front rows - showed her skill and daring as she flipped and hung by her feet from the ropes and crossbar.

The inclusion of Jumbo the elephant has stirred some controversy - a Save Animals From Exploitation protest about her living conditions is planned for tomorrow - but her brief appearance was anti climatic.

The elephant appeared content throughout the day on the Queenstown Primary School playing fields and her cameo lasted about a minute before she was led away again.

A disappointment was the show's Out of Africa theme which contained a wafer-thin storyline, which was sometimes hard to follow.

The impression it left was of the exploitation of the excellent Royal Kenyan Acrobats.

At the end of the evening it was the clowns who got the biggest reaction - especially from children.

Many almost laughed themselves out of their seats at the old-fashioned slapstick antics, gleefully clapping along with the "good clown" and cheerfully booing the spoilsport.