Erfurter Weihnachtscircus

At the end of the year, I accepted an invitation to perform at the Erfurter Weihnachts Circus in Germany. It is an action Christmas show focused mainly on sports and adrenaline performances. It is, of course, not a traditional circus with animals, but a modern production full of sport, jumps, and extreme performances. The program featured, for example, freestyle trampoline jumping, freestyle motocross, acrobatics, hand balancing, and of course my trial riding.

In Erfurt, this event was held for the third year, but this year it was taken over by a new organizer. This brought a number of changes and fine-tuning directly on site, but step by step everything was set up successfully and the show got up and running. The whole event took place at the Messe Erfurt expo center, where the organizers built a large circus complex consisting of three interconnected tents. The first served as an entrance area with refreshments and facilities for visitors, the second was the main tent with grandstands where the show itself took place, and the third was a backstage tent for the performers.

The contract was planned for around twenty days. During the Christmas holidays there were many visitors, but after New Year attendance started to drop, so a few shows had to be cancelled. Usually we had one to two performances a day and stayed in one place the whole time, because otherwise such a demanding production would not be possible.

The show was divided into two parts. At the beginning, all performers entered together and then one act followed another. In the middle there was about a twenty-minute break, during which the audience could, for example, get refreshments. My performance was scheduled right after the break. During the intermission, my trailer was brought onto the arena and the obstacle setup was simplified so that both assembly and disassembly took as little time as possible.

The second part started with a dance performance by a group of girls who danced around the trailer. At the end of their choreography, I jumped over them on the funbox and thus kicked off the whole act. Two dancers then became directly involved in my performance. I jumped over one of them on the ground and the other on the trailer, where she was standing on her elbows upside down, and I jumped over her on the funbox between her legs. My whole performance lasted about five minutes. At the end of the second half, all the performers entered the arena again and said goodbye to the audience.

Unfortunately, during the contract I also went through an unpleasant viral illness. I had a fever, a runny nose, irritated airways, a cough, and I was vomiting, so I had to miss several performances. I therefore spent New Year’s Eve in bed instead of celebrating. Fortunately, after a few days I recovered and was able to return to the show.

Circus projects of this type are always a great physical and mental challenge. Constant stress, unnatural lighting, the same routine every day, and high responsibility for safety. On the other hand, they are huge experiences and powerful memories that you never forget. I am glad that I made it through the entire contract healthy and without a single crash, and I am taking away many memories from Erfurt. At the same time, I would like to thank the organizers for the invitation and the dancers for their courage in taking part in my performance.

A few shots from the performance can be seen in the following video: