Austin Shrine Circus

Austin Shrine Circus is returning to the Cedar Park Center January 18-21, 2013. Tickets just went on sale to the public but I haven't bought mine yet.  Why?  The good seats appear to be blocked off.  No matter what day or time I try, I cannot get a seat in the center section.  I've gone to the Shrine Circus for several years and I've always been able to find decent seats.  I doubt they are all sold out already (I was having this problem during the presale yesterday).  With money being extra tight now I'm not going to pay for bad seats so at this point it looks like I'll be skipping it this time.  That's too bad because it's one of my favorite photo opportunities.

If anyone knows why the seats are blocked off or how I can get seats in the center section please drop me an email.  Thanks!

Quidam opens tonight at the Cedar Park Center

Don't miss it! I'm going this weekend. Quidam is one of my favorite Cirque du Soleil shows. I first saw it in Orange County in 1997. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Banquine act again as well as my other favorites: diabolos, hand balancing, jump rope, aerial hoops, German wheel and anything else acrobatic. Can't wait!

Shrine Circus Pictures

Despite my annoyance with the mislabeled seats and getting trampled for the elephant rides, I'm happy with the pictures I got at the Shrine Circus. Here's a link to the set on Flickr.

2011 Austin Shrine Circus

Handbalancing on canes act
Originally uploaded by DigiNik13

The Austin Shrine Circus, at the Cedar Park Event Center, was once again a mix of good and bad experiences. First I'll start with the good:

The performers all did a great job. There were aerialists (silks, hoops, trapeze and swinging rings) and handbalancers, jugglers, clowns and other standard circus acts. There was a performer shot from a cannon all the way across the arena to a landing area. This was especially scary in the low ceiling of our small arena - he had to go over the lighting rigging but not hit the ceiling. The BMX bike performer was energetic and talented as was the motorcycle performer. All the aerialists and circus performers did a great job. I got some photos that I'm slowly editing for my flickr stream.

But this is the second time I've been to the Shrine Circus at the Cedar Park Center and the second time I leave feeling a little annoyed a few things:

1. The seating! This is the Cedar Park Center's mistake. We had a huge annoyance last year when the Box Office sold us seats that were no where near where the employee pointed to on the seating chart. This year, I decided to buy my tickets online through Ticketmaster so I could read the seating chart myself and pick out my seats. Well, this year the seating chart did not match how the Cedar Park Center set up their floor seats. So our "front row center" seats were actually off to the right side (but still front row). How hard can it be to set up the floor seats so that they match the seating chart?

2. The lighting. I love that the Shrine Circus encourages photography - I thank them for this! Now, could we just light the performers consistently? There were some performers performing in the dark with the spotlight next to them - like the spotlight had missed it's mark. Other performers had no light at all. I think everyone (performers and audience) would appreciate more even and consistent lighting so we can see these artists better.

3. The elephant rides. I was annoyed by this last year (see last year's post) and it was equally annoying again. The way they do these rides, they create a massive mob during the pre-show, intermission and after show. This mob is literally trampling the people in the floor seats and making it impossible to get up from your seat. Also, it's very frustrating for families to wait in a long line only to get turned away because the intermission is over. But the most appalling aspect to me was the assembly of plank they used to get people on and off the elephant. Picture a platform about 5 feet high and a few feet wide. Before the show started they tore the legs off the platform and placed it in a pile in front of us - that was okay. But since the elephant rides start again for the intermission, the technicians came out two acts before the intermission and assembled this huge platform a couple of feet in front of us. Yes, our view was blocked by the poles of a five foot high platform (and the plank and the technicians assembling it) during the end of the BMX bike and the trapeze act before the intermission. Can't they be a little more friendly to their audience members and wait until the intermission to assemble it? Of course they can't because they have kids and parents already standing in the aisles waiting to trample everyone to be first in line for the elephant rides during the short intermission (some of these people got turned away from the elephant rides before the show started so I can understand their impatience also). The elephant/pony rides are just a frustrating, crowded experience for anyone unfortunate enough to be close to them. It's a shame that something like this (and the seating problem) leaves a bad taste in my mouth and overshadows the fantastic performances by the artists but since they encourage photography, I'll give it another chance next year.

Shrine Circus Starts Tomorrow

Austin Shrine Circus starts tomorrow at the Cedar Park Center. There will be an Elephant Brunch at noon on Friday and the circus shows start Friday evening and go through Monday. I'm looking forward to taking lots of photos when I see the show on Saturday.