Arena (circus)

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Manege of the Great Moscow State Circus .

A manege ( French : manège: " riding school ") is usually the location of a circus performance today. The ring is round or elliptical. In contrast to a peep show stage with an auditorium, the audience sit in a kind of amphitheater on the Gradin around the ring. For the access of the artists and animals there is the so-called door in front of the saddle corridor , above which there is usually space for a circus orchestra . In the early circus buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries, the floor with no seats was used as an arena and the stagewas available for painted backdrops .

The size of the ring has to do with the type of attractions. If horse numbers are shown, which originally made up the main part of the circus attractions, the ring should be suitable as a lunging circle and its diameter should therefore not be less than about 12 m. Almost 13 m (= 14 yards or 42 feet ) has been considered the "right" size internationally since Philip Astley . But there are also circuses with a ring diameter of 9 m and less.

The arena is usually surrounded by an approximately 50 cm high arena box (also known as a "piste"), in which, for example, the wire mesh of a predator cage is located. The arena floor was since the end of the 19th century, when the traveling circuses with Chapiteau covered interspersed with sand and as required with Manege carpets. Sawdust has been scattered around the ring since the beginning of the 20th century, and its smell can hardly be separated from the circus experience today.

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