Founded in 1984, La Tarumba is Peru’s most famous circus and on Wednesday night I paid a visit, unsure of exactly what to expect of el circo South America style.
My previous circus experiences include Cirque de Soleil, which admittedly sets the bar pretty high, various circus acts at Glastonbury Festival and hazy memories of depressed animals being dragged around Spanish circus rings. Fortunately, La Tarumba was (almost) animal free and whilst obviously not on a par with Cirque, was a fun night out and contained all the elements of traditional circus fare, with a dash of Peruvian patriotism juggled in.
We opted for the more expensive tickets, with the promise of better seats, though upon arrival at the small circus tent all the seats and views seemed relatively similar. When I first sat down I was lucky enough to have a number of empty seats on the rows in front, allowing an unimpeded view of the action. However, the tent slowly filled up and, what must surely have been the tallest man in Peru, made his way to the seat directly in front of mine. Oh joy.
Jugglers, acrobatics, tight-rope walkers and clowns filled the 2 hour show with various acts, though what really made the experience was the band. The conductor leapt around for the entire performance, stealing the show towards the end when he danced into the circus ring, flanked by two bandmates and threw some impressive shapes much to the crowds delight!
La Tarumba is not devoid of animals and did include one act with several horses, running in circles in the ring with riders adeptly jumping from and balancing on the saddles. I’m sure the horses were well looked after, but admit I was more impressed by the ability of the dizzied animals to exit stage in a straight line than by the acts themselves.
Clowns are a pretty standard aspect of any circus, La Tarumba – unfortunately – included. Whereas in England the adults in the audience may merely applaud these acts to humour the clowns, the Peruvian audience at La Tarumba seemed to find genuine humour in the antics. During a clown act towards the end of the show a huge Peruvian flag emerged and was passed across the heads of audience members, accompanied by performers in red and white costumes chanting ´Peru!´ along to the music. In England, an act which surely would be reserved for big sporting events or BNP meetings, here seemed to be a regular circus element.