Ringling Bros. Circus visits Long Island

By Karen Bloom
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s latest circus extravaganza celebrates the 200th anniversary of its founder’s birth in its super-sized spectacle, now at Nassau Coliseum, through Sunday, March 21.
Featuring 130 performers from six continents, almost 100,000 pounds of performing pachyderms, cowboys, pirates, and mermaids, Barnum’s FUNundrum! honors the legacy of the legendary P.T.
Barnum.
Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson invites the audience to join him on an adventure to meet exotic characters and witness thrilling performances that attempt to answer Barnum’s FUNundrum, “What special wonders create The Greatest Show On Earth?”
See the Flying Caceres attempt to complete the elusive quadruple somersault on the flying trapeze; a feat that hasn’t been mastered in over three decades. Watch the Puyang Troupe from China dazzle with a stunning display of dexterity as they bounce, flip, and twirl to new heights on a two tiered trampoline. Witness the contortions of the body benders who fit three humans in a cube the size of a milk crate. Enjoy the wondrous ability of the Mighty Meetal, billed as “the strongest man in the world,” as he lifts over 1,200 pounds. And savor the stupendous skills of the hand balancers featuring Duo Fusion, a married pair of performers with a twist; the wife does the heavy lifting.
Thrills await as the audiences cast their eyes above at the Sky High Ice Gliders who take the high wire to new extremes and in new directions, from horizontal to nearly vertical, combining intricate acrobatic skills and extreme agility as they execute flips, perform splits, and even walk while balancing their partners on their head. The Torres Family revs up the energy as they blast around inside a 16-foot diameter steel globe with seven motorcycles, at speeds up to 65-miles an hour with only inches to spare between them in The Spherical Miracle.