Their second involves tumbling, stilts, and split-second timing. Two of the troupe are girls. This year the girls are the only kids in the show. In the computer age, they go to school both via the mail and on-line. Act follows act, with the usual amount of bellowings and exasperations common to any run-through.
Circus performers rehearse assiduously.
Hours and hours go into the perfecting of any routine, but these rehearsals are more for lights, sound, and timing than for performance, and the animals seem to know it. Some of the horses buck a little, or toss their plumed heads. The dogs fool happily about a bit. Animal acts have always been a circus mainstay, but this year a decision by the Agriculture Ministry has meant that Medrano's big cats, camels, and yes, giraffes, and rhinos, have been left at home. So the 23 horses and 10 dogs are it.