海角大神

It鈥檚 the end of an era. Or is it?聽

On May 21 the circus long promoted as 鈥淭he Greatest Show on Earth鈥� is closing down with a final performance in Uniondale, N.Y. 鈥� attended by no small dose of bittersweet nostalgia from fans and the media.

Richard Bukowski can tell you. He and his wife attended the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as kids 鈥� half a century before attending a recent show by the same circus in Worcester, Mass.

鈥淥h, I remember they used to have those side shows,鈥� Mr. Bukowski says, his mind recovering childhood memories such as seeing a sword eater.

To many, the demise of Ringling 鈥� a circus that defined the word for a century and聽half聽鈥� seems unfathomable. Yet the real story here is less the death of the circus than its evolution. True, old standbys such as exotic animals or 鈥渇reak鈥� human performers have fallen out of favor.聽But the age-old yearning for dazzlement and virtuosity is alive and well. And although those desires are increasingly being met by other forms of entertainment, circuses remain part of the act.

鈥淪o many times in history there鈥檚 been the death knell of the circus conversation,鈥� 聽says聽Scott O鈥橠onnell, executive director of Circus World, a museum and performing circus in Baraboo, Wis. 鈥淲hen they stopped traveling from town to town on horse-drawn wagons and they moved to this new form of transportation called trains 鈥� oh my goodness, that was the end of the circus as we know it.鈥�

Yet it wasn鈥檛. The circus survived many other challenges along the way. Ringling鈥檚 exit signals how rising public concern for animal rights has altered the business, but there is strong evidence that the circus arts continue to flourish even without animals.

Mr.聽O鈥橠onnell ,聽a former Ringling clown, estimates that at least 50 circus companies operate in the United States. Youth circuses are also a burgeoning phenomenon. And Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil, which recognized a cultural shift 30 years ago when it dared to launch a modernized circus without animals, has become one of the largest entertainment companies in the world. It produces shows not only under the traditional, big-top聽tent,聽but also in theaters on Broadway and in Las Vegas.

Circuses just have a lot more competition than they used to 鈥� in part from the proliferation of digital media.

鈥淲hen the circus came to town, it was like the antecedent to the internet,鈥� says Preston Scott, organizer of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival which聽on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

鈥淚t鈥檚 where you saw colors, shapes, forms, heard languages, tasted foods, smelled things, saw animals,鈥� Mr. Scott says.

As those experiences became more widely available, the circus鈥檚 role in society evolved, and its endurance was challenged.

Ringling did not keep up. In January, Kenneth Feld, the chief executive of Feld Entertainment, which owns Ringling, announced that the show, citing high operating costs and declining ticket sales after the company succumbed to public pressure in 2016 to retire its elephants.

Meanwhile, other American circus performances in recent decades have been evolving away from spectacles centered around exotic animals and聽toward the theatrical style of European circuses. Even in America, circuses have their roots in small troupes that featured equestrians, tightrope walkers, acrobats, and clowns, says Janet M. Davis, a history professor at the University聽of Texas聽in聽Austin and author of the 2002 book,聽鈥�.鈥�

鈥淭he future of circus in America is really in the direction of these more intimate experiences: one-ring shows focused on individual performances instead of on the entirety of spectacle,鈥� Dr. Davis says.

Among the many聽varieties聽today are shows such as聽based in Kansas City, Mo. It features ethereal acrobatic performances illuminated by electrifying light shows and accompanied by ambient, electronic music. The Australian-based, which is touring the US for the first time this year, is a revival of a turn-of-the-century circus, complete with elephants 鈥� though theirs are.

The circus also is attracting more young people, and not the traditional, circus-family children, but outsiders. Youth circuses, including schools and troupes, have proliferated to 250 across the country, most of those聽founded聽only in the past couple of decades. Circus supporters hope more newcomers will keep the art form fresh and popular for many more generations.

鈥淲hen you get more people involved, creativity flourishes,鈥� says Scott of the Smithsonian.

Back in, British equestrian John Bill Ricketts launched the circus in America as he performed tricks on horseback in front of an American audience that included George Washington. It was about a century later, in 1884, that five Ringling Brothers (out of seven total) from the Wisconsin town of Baraboo launched their circus.

Today, troupes are busy defining what it will mean to be a circus in the 21st century. And now, with Ringling鈥檚 shadow lifted, these shows could attract more attention, says Scott.

鈥淚t鈥檚 almost like ... a big tree with all of its bark falling off and then there鈥檚 this sliver of life that鈥檚 really vibrant and growing quickly underneath all that crust,鈥� he says.