Trick (circus)

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A trick in the circus or vaudeville is a fast-moving feat of an artist ( acrobatics , animal training, juggling trick , magic, etc.) whose success or failure is immediately apparent and should therefore lead to applause . There are announced tricks, the outcome of which is eagerly awaited, and surprising tricks.

A circus act usually combines several tricks. Specific rituals are associated with the trick, such as the previous explanation by a moderator, a drum roll to increase the tension, the affirmation of success through flourish or fanfare in circus music or the compliment as thanks for the applause from the artists or animals.

History and theory

Some tricks, such as the magic trick , owe their effect to the amazement at the result. Witchcraft was still believed until the 18th century . Since the Enlightenment , the belief in a rational explanation has grown stronger, and the respect for magic gives way to the question: “How is it done?” Figures like Alessandro Cagliostro stand on the threshold between the older and the newer conception. Since the romantic era , people have liked to believe in magic again, but in the knowledge that it is an illusion (see willful suspension of disbelief ).

In spoken theater (see Extempore ) and in classical music , the trick is mostly outlawed as an exaggerated vanity on the part of the performer and as an interruption in the performance. In jazz you can applaud after a successful solo. Applause from the stage is also common in opera and ballet , although one usually waits for the end of the number .

There were approaches to a theory of circus tricks in the specialist literature of the socialist countries. This was related to the formalism dispute in the 1950s, in which one of the issues raised was whether art was a “ montage of attractions ”, that is, a series of tricks.

As in the performing arts, one speaks of tricks in card games and in connection with sports, see skateboard trick or snowboard trick .

literature

  • Helga Bemmann (Red.): The artists, their work and their art , Berlin: Henschel 1970