2023-07-29 08:15:00
Just in time for the milestone birthday, the next Hackenberg circus generation is in the starting blocks: Behind the “Orlandinos” there are now 30 children between the ages of four and six years who can hardly wait to twirl through the ring. Under the direction of Isabelle Prüll, the youngest offspring of the TV Hackenberg circus project has been rehearsing acrobatic tricks that sit in shooting star and unicorn costumes for months.
Prüll reports that most young artists are struggling with stage fright before the premiere on August 5th. “In this group we want to introduce the circus world in a playful way. The children benefit enormously in terms of motor skills,” says the 21-year-old, emphasizing that her protégés will put on a full two-and-a-half hour gala program.
In the 30th year of its existence, Circus Orlando offers over 80 artists in three groups, including the little ones: the big circus family, in which the unicycle formation and the trampoline troupe cavort, the variety artists, in the real Hackenberg circus – Veterans, for example, prepare fire shows, and the “Orlandinos”.
At the very first premiere in the summer of 1993, the workforce was significantly thinner, remembers Michael Zwinge, who founded the circus together with Gitta Esch. A year earlier, the two social workers had followed a circus show in Cologne’s Stadtgarten with a holiday group from Bergneustadt. “On the return trip there was only one topic of conversation: the young people wanted to organize such a gala themselves,” reveals Zwinge. While still on the train to Gummersbach, the first juggling starts.
On the way back there was only one topic of conversation: the young people wanted to organize such a gala themselves.
Michael Zwinge remembers visiting the circus in Cologne in the summer of 1992
For the past three decades, Circus Orlando has always been on the up. The group performs on the Hackenberg, but also at a city birthday party in Sauerland and in the middle of Paris. In 2006, Felix Schulenberg, an artist from Hackenberg, won the nationwide young talent competition of a major television station. A whole year of preparation is behind the five performances in August (see below).
“World of Fantasy” is the motto for the performances of the circus family and the “Orlandinos”. For weeks, bright costumes from the world of Peter Pan and Harry Potter have been sewn all over Bergneustadt, the raindrop outfits for the program for the youngest in the form of a dream trip. 30 years – that also means that there are people in the arena who have been with Circus Orlando their entire lives.
Denise Schneider is such a person. The 32-year-old is now head of the circus sport department at TV Hackenberg and can still remember her debut well – her older brother was already involved with the jugglers back then, and Schneider was looking forward to her seventh birthday, which was the minimum age for artists at the time. Today, Schneider coordinates the vaudeville group, which illuminates the circus in a different way – the Orlando circus is sure to receive a lot of applause for this mix, even in its 30th year.
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