Circus Montana

Circus Montana is a German circus company based in Osthofen , which has been known as the Black Forest Circus since it was founded in 1976 . Montana is run by the Frank family of artists as a family business. The Frank family has been a circus family for eight generations.

General

The company was founded by Gerhard Frank and Ilka Sperlich on January 1st, 1976 in Emmendingen with only seven employees. Gerhard Frank worked at Circus Alberti up to this point , Ilka Frank at Circus Arena .

The current management is Monty Frank, the deputy his brother Manuel Frank. The company employs around 30 people in three families, 16 of them in the arena. From March to October each year the circus visits around 40 cities. The circus tent is a large four-mast tent that can accommodate up to 600 visitors.

Filmography

Individual circus artists were involved in several episodes of the series Die Schwarzwaldklinik , for example in the episodes "The pious lie" (episode 16, 1986) and "Wedding with obstacles" (episode 70, 1989).

In 2006 the young circus drummer Adriano Sperlich played for a week in Stefan Raab's Heavytones Kids Band on his TV Total . Subsequently, he also took part in other Raab productions.

For the recordings of Lenßen - The film was shot for one day in 2009 in Circus Montana, which at that time was a guest in Dogern on the Upper Rhine .

In 2013 Circus Montana was involved in the crime scene episode " Circus Child ". The actress Liv Lisa Fries stayed at the circus for three weeks to rehearse its processes for the film, for which she received special training from Sandra Frank, the wife of Manuel Frank. She comes from the Hein circus and attended the State Artistic School in Berlin. As part of the filming, the circus traveled to Baden-Baden for two days, where the fire-breathers and knife throwers were trained for the film. The artist Shannon Frank played an artist girl in the film, her sister Charliné Frank was a double for a performance on the ring trapeze .

In 2015, during the ARD theme week , the SWR published the report “On the way with a family circus”, which reports on everyday life in a family circus. The circus family was accompanied on their tour through Baden-Württemberg.

Attractions

Every year both the artists and the trainers rehearse new, predominantly classical numbers with their animals. Renowned main numbers are retained, however; this includes Germany's largest fire show in the arena, acrobatics on loop scarves and trapeze as well as performances by the clowns. Furthermore, Montana is one of the few circuses in Germany that has its own show band for live music. During the winter break, many artists from Montana perform in the Loerrach Christmas circus .

Animals

The circus has a total of around 50 animals, including camels , arabo friezes , geese , ducks and goats . Since the animals are kept in a species-appropriate manner in accordance with the guidelines of the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection and also have enough space available, the company was recognized for its animal husbandry and accordingly received good notes in the animal inventory book.