Cirque Africa will roll into the Central West on Saturday night, providing the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre audience with a 100 per cent African cultural experience.
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In what is a vibrant and highly entertaining blockbuster production, Cirque Africa will transport the audience to the positive side of Africa through modern stage performances.
Cirque Africa is the vision and creation of Zimbabwean-born German citizen Winston Ruddle, also known as Papa Africa.
An orphan since the age of 15, Ruddle began his young adult life as a busking breakdancer on the streets of Bulawayo, the second-largest city in Zimbabwe.
But breakdancing soon went out of fashion, so he had to find another source of revenue.
His inspiration for his new job came when he went to see a team of acrobats from Zambia performing with a band.
Ruddle was amazed at how much like breakdancing their movements were and asked if he could train them.
They accepted and they put acrobatics into their street acts.
A couple of years later, Ruddle joined a circus as an attendant and was soon performing as an acrobat with a renowned South African circus.
That was the beginning of an extraordinary career that led him to establish an acrobatic training school in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam in 2004 and subsequently a circus – Cirque Africa.
With 25 of Africa’s finest professional acrobats such as aerial artists, jugglers, stilt dancers, contortionists and clowns, the heart of the Cirque Africa experience is made up of a core group of Tanzanian artists.
The cast also represents the rich and diverse circus, musical and dance cultures of Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe.
Draped in more than 200 different colourful African costumes, all acts are performed with live music that is played by the eight-piece Cirque African band that has a strong African rhythm.
It is a fresh, funky, bold, fun and challenges the audience’s imagination like no other show.
The dedication and immense professionalism of Cirque Africa makes this show very appealing to all audience members discover the great show from Africa.
Cirque Africa’s Bathurst show starts a 7.30pm and tickets are available on the BMEC website at www.bmec.com.au.
Tickets are priced from $49-$79 for the general public and range from $39-$68 for the Friends of BMEC. Family tickets available.
For further information contact the BMEC box office on 6333 6161.
