Contemporary Clowning as Social Performance in Colombia brings to light the emergence of new kinds of clowning in everyday life in Colombia, focusing particularly on the pervasive presence of clowns in the urban landscape of Bogota. In doing so it brings a fresh and updated perspective on what clowning is as well as what it does in the 21st century. Featuring descriptions of more than 24 distinct clown performers, Barnaby King provides an engaging and lively account of the performative moment in which clowning transpires, analyzing the techniques and processes at work in producing what is commonly named as "clowning". In contrast with their North American and European counterparts, clowns in Latin America are seen every day in public settings, are popular cultural figures and sometimes claim to exercise real political influence. Drawing on five years of co-performative ethnography, the book argues that clown artists have thrived by adapting their craft to changing social and economic conditions, in some cases by allying themselves with authority and power, and in others by generating spaces for creativity and resistance in adverse circumstances. By applying performance theory to clowning in a specific cultural context this is the first work to propose an appropriate scholarly response to the diversity and ingenuity of clowning beyond Europe and North America.

It was during the Victorian era that the circus, whose origins lay in the fairground world, emerged as a commercialized entertainment that we would recognize today. This development was intricately tied to a widespread demand for circus acts by a broad range of classes. In The Circus and Victorian Society, Brenda Assael examines this interest in the circus as an artistic form within the context of a vibrant, and sometimes not so respectable, consumer market. In doing so, she provides not only the first scholarly history of the Victorian circus but also a new view of nineteenth-century popular culture, which has usually been seen as the preserve only of the working class.

The Victorian circus ring was a showcase for equestrian battle scenes, Chinese jugglers, clowns, female acrobats, and child performers. In addition to their wondrous qualities, unabashed displays of physical power, and sometimes subversive humor, however, Assael reveals how such acts were also rendered as grotesque, lewd, or dangerous.

The consuming public's desire to see the very kinds of displays that reformers wished to regulate put the circus establishment in a difficult position. Wishing to create a respectable reputation for itself while also functioning as a profitable business, the industry was engaged in a struggle that required the appeasement of both the regulator and the consumer. This conflict informs us not only of the complicated role that the circus played in Victorian society but also provides a unique view into a collective psyche fraught by contradiction and anxiety.

A far-reaching examination of exoticism, cultural internationalism and modernism's encounters with Indonesian tradition, "Performing Otherness "examines how Indonesia entered world stages through imperialism as an antimodern phantasm and through nationalism became a means of intercultural communication and cultural diplomacy.

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To spice up dinner parties, readers can turn to this book for more than 150 tricks anyone can do at the dinner table--from making salt and pepper shakers disappear to bending solid silver utensils with a quarter. 113 diagrams.

Exotic animals were coveted commodities in nineteenth-century Britain. Spectators flocked to zoos and menageries to see female lion tamers and hungry hippos. Helen Cowie examines zoos and travelling menageries in the period 1800-1880, using animal exhibitions to examine issues of class, gender, imperial culture and animal welfare.

Elephants, lions, tigers and leopards evoke fascination and awe, fear and excitement. This book analyzes trained acts in twentieth-century live circus and cinema, reveals how humans anthropomorphize animals with their emotions, and interrogates the notion that animals embody a phenomenology of emotions and feelings in culture.

Do you want to learn the strategies for winning tournaments? Are you worried about your lacking knowledge that gets in your way of deck building? Do you need some advice? Are you ready now to master the rules of the game? Are you tired of banging your head against a wall? If you keep playing poor strategies, do you think you will master the game? Is this working for you? Magic The Gathering: 3 Manuscripts - Rules and Getting Started, Strategy Guide, Deck Building For Beginners shows you everything you need to get started. This includes an overview of types of players and a look at types of decks for winning. This is a book of action and doesn't just tell you to try harder. This book will get you moving in the right direction. Packed full of real-life examples for players like you, this book has proven techniques of that have worked for thousands of people. These methods are backed up countless games played, all which will arm you with a mindset primed for deck building with winning in mind.

This must-have third revised and newly expanded edition of the only single reference source for information about state symbols features over 300 information updates plus three new chapters, updated license plate illustrations, and a newly formatted design for ease of use. Libraries that hold earlier editions of this work need this edition to keep their information on the states and territories current. With the addition of new chapters on state and territory universities, state and territory governors throughout U.S. history, state professional sports teams, and a complete revision of the chapter on state and territory fairs and festivals, the work now totals 17 chapters of essential information that is a treasure trove for students.

This completed redesigned reference work features chapters on state and territory names and nicknames, mottoes, seals, flags, capitals, flowers, trees, birds, songs, legal holidays and observances, license plates, postage stamps, miscellaneous designations, fairs and festivals, universities, governors, professional sports teams, and a bibliography of state and territory histories. The work features full-color illustrations of every state and territory seal, flag, flower, tree, bird, commemorative postage stamp, and license plate (updated for this edition).

This book presents a contemporary overview of our most ubiquitous cultural phenomena - festivals. It is able to do so by taking a powerful and unique case-study focused, theoretically rigorous and pan-European approach. It comes from a hugely expert and experienced team of editors and authors drawn from across Europe and is based on the groundbreaking work of the European Festival Research Project (EFRP). The EFRP and the book are focused on understanding the causes and implications of the current growth in festivals internationally, and the implications this has across major sectors ranging from tourism to culture. The key themes the books brings out are: *The politics, programming, impacts, governance and management of festivals; *The social, cultural, political, economic and physical contexts in which festivals operate; *The potential of festivals to explore and stimulate a more risk-oriented approach to the arts; *Key conclusions, trends, forecasts and recommendations for the sector in the future. The exciting range of real world examples and the mix of practical and academic contributions provides readers with a broad perspective across agendas from economic regeneration and tourism, to education and social inclusion. An indispensable text for students in arts and festival management, events, tourism, hospitality and cultural policy and management courses. It is also essential reading for festival and events managers, public authorities and existing and potential sponsors.

The Sunday Times bestseller from the bestselling author of The Doll Factory, Elizabeth Macneal. Set in a spectacular circus in the pleasure gardens of Victorian London, Circus of Wonders is an addictive novel about power, fame, and a love that is threatened by a terrible secret. 'Glitters and gleams . . . utterly beguiling' - Daily Mail 1866. In a coastal village in southern England, Nell lives set apart by her community because of the birthmarks that speckle her skin. But when Jasper Jupiter's Circus of Wonders arrives in the village, Nell is kidnapped. Her father has sold her, promising Jasper Jupiter his very own leopard girl. It is the greatest betrayal of Nell's life, but as her fame grows, and she finds friendship with the other performers and Jasper's gentle brother Toby, she begins to wonder if joining the show is the best thing that has ever happened to her. In London, newspapers describe Nell as the eighth wonder of the world. Figurines are cast in her image, and crowds rush to watch her soar through the air. But what happens when her fame eclipses Jasper's own? And as she falls in love with Toby, can he detach himself from his past and the terrible secret that binds him to his brother?

Crossing Central Europe is a pioneering volume that focuses on the complex networks of transcultural interrelations in Central Europe from 1900 to 2000. Scholars from Canada, the United States, and Europe identify the motifs, topics, and ways of artistic creation that define this cross-cultural region. This interdisciplinary volume is divided into two historical periods and includes analyses of literature, film, music, architecture, and media. By focusing first on the interrelations in the nineteenth and early twentieth-century, the contributors reveal a complex trans-ethnic network at play that disseminated aesthetic ideals. This network continued to be a force of aesthetic influence leading into the twenty-first century despite globalization and the influence of mass media. Helga Mitterbauer and Carrie Smith-Prei have embarked on a study of the overlapping artistic influences that have outlasted both the National Socialist regime and the Cold War.

There is something doing every day in Texas, from the Fireant Festival to the Gatorfest, Watermelon Thump, or Bun Run. Texan Jim Gramon has compiled all the major events in one book.

A Galaxy of Things explores the ways in which all puppets, masks, and makeup-prosthetic figures are "material characters," and uses Star Wars creatures, droids, and helmeted-characters to illustrate what makes the good ones not only compelling, but meaningful. The book begins with author Colette Searls' Star Wars thing aesthetic, described through a release-order overview of what creatures, droids and masked characters have brought to 45+ years of live-action Star Wars. Building on theories from the burgeoning field of puppetry and material performance, it sees these "material characters" as a group and describes three specific powers that they share - distance, distillation, and duality - using the ubiquitously recognizable Star Wars characters to illustrate them. The book describes Distance, Distillation, and Duality as material character powers, using characters like C-3PO and Jabba the Hutt to illustrate how all three work to generate meaning. An in-depth exploration of the original Empire Strikes Back Yoda and "Baby" Yoda (Grogu) reveals how these two puppets use those powers to transform their human companions: Luke Skywalker, and then Din Djarin. Searls provides an in-depth analysis of Darth Vader's mask trajectory across three trilogies (1977 - 2019), revealing its contribution as a "performing thing." Finally, the book presents problematic uses of material character powers by critiquing droids in service, and the historical use of racial stereotypes in characters like Jar Jar Binks, before offering a hopeful analysis of how early 2020s live-action Star Wars began centering the non-, semi-, and concealed human in redemptive ways. This is an accessible exploration for students and scholars of theatre, film, media studies and popular culture who want to better understand puppets, masks, and makeup-prosthetic characters. Its terms and concepts will be useful to scholarly explorations of non-, semi-, and concealed human portrayals for a range of other fields, including posthumanism, object-oriented ontology, ethnic studies, and material culture.