Sports & Entertainment » Entertainment
Vietnam Circus Federation struggles to deal with fake performers
  • | dtinews.vn | February 08, 2018 04:56 PM
Ta Duy Anh, director of Vietnam Circus Federation said that amateur circuses had been impersonating them in low-quality shows.

  

Director of Vietnam Circus Federation Ta Duy Anh


According to Anh, a circus in Hai Phong impersonated members of the Vietnam Circus Federation in the marketing of their performance. Anh said they had invited the inspectors of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to deal with this case. In March, a crocodile bit a circus performer's face during a show falsely advertised to belong to the federation.

"A circus performed in the Central Highlands was stopped by forest rangers to ask about the origins of their performing animals. They couldn't provide any papers and said that they belonged to the federation. The animals were later seized," Anh said. "We always bring all the permits and papers as well as required personnel on a tour."

He went on to say that they only knew the tip of the iceberg. Unless the fake performances make news like the crocodile case, it has been difficult for the federation to detect incidents, especially if they perform in remote areas.

Anh said the federation had been steadily improving the quality of its shows.

"Shows with huge beasts like tigers or elephants are common internationally. But we want to use animals that are more familiar to the audience in the daily life such as chickens and pigs. We are also setting up shows with parrots and ostriches," he said.

He also denied opinions that circus is only for children. According to Anh, the circus has all types of humour and gentle or dangerous acts suitable for everyone. The federation is working with circus schools to find new performers for tightrope walking and trapeze.

The federation will hold the spring circus festival 2018 in Thanh Hoa Province from March 3 to 11, Quang Binh Province from March 21 to 25 and Nghe An Province from April 6 to 16. They will showcase internationally-award winning acrobatic performances by Van Thai and Thu Huong. The act won a silver medal at the 33rd Golden Circus Festival held in the Italian capital of Rome, in January 2017.

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