Circus spectacle galore is entertaining the crowds this week in a big top that has sprung up in Norwich's Chapelfield Gardens to celebrate the 250th anniversary of circus.
And that big top belongs to Lost in Translation, the circus company which is leading Norwich's celebrations as one of a number of specially designated Circus250 cities across the country for 2018.
Lost in Translation features circus performers from across the globe and together they have made Norwich their home, creating the Oak Circus Centre, in Oak Street, where the team creates their own shows - including their latest show Famished which will be performed for the first time tonight as part of the Circus250 programme - and they also run circus classes and workshops for people of all abilities.
Among the team is joint-company director Massimiliano Rossetti, who set up LiT with his partner Annabel Carberry, and who said seeing the LiT big top in Chapelfield Gardens was among his proudest achievements.
Massimiliano, 37, who grew up in Rome, said: 'Friends from around the world are coming and performing in Chapelfied Gardens this summer, they are all coming because we created this, and it's beautiful to have our big top in the centre of the city and be proud to show that the circus is something fantastic and amazing.'
Massimiliano's own individual circus story began as a teenager and saw him go from juggling objects to juggling people!
Nowadays he is what is known as a 'base' or a 'catcher' in circus terms and together with his performance partner Roisin Morris, who performs the role of the 'flyer,' he has since 2015 held the Guiness World Record for the most somersaults in one minute on a Korean Cradle - 14 to be exact.
When asked what he loves most about circus, he simply said, 'diversity, inclusion, craziness and the sense of community.'
Thirty-six-year-old Roisin is originally from Dublin, in Ireland, and her journey into the world of circus developed from being a competitive gymnast to an acrobat.
Nowadays her specialisation is being a flyer and she too is especially proud of her and Massimiliano's achievements with the Korean Cradle.
'We're the only couple in the United Kingdom that do this,' she said.
'It's a big 8m structure, he stands up and basically swings me and I do somersaults and turns and flips and he catches me.'
Like Massimiliano, it is the incredible sense of community in the circus which she loves most.
'I get to do things that I think people only dream about doing,' she said.
'But more than that is the relationships that you build with people, like me and my partner [Massimiliano]...every day I put my life in his hands and it's a normal thing because the trust is so high.'
Another key member of the LiT team is Annabel Carberry, one of the joint company directors, and she first honed her circus skills as a child at Flying Fruit Fly Circus in her native Australia.
Annabel, 36, said: 'I'm an aerialist, I've done lots of different aerial stuff but my main aerial specialism is aerial hoop and cloud swing which is a rope which you swing on, and I do hula hoops.'
She said she was especially looking forward to performing the LiT show The Hogwallops this week as part of the Circus250 celebrations in Chapelfield Gardens.
'It is a really nice homecoming for us in a way. We have performed it so many times all over the place but we've never got to do it here [in Norwich] because there hasn't been a venue that fits it properly, so it's great to be able to do that here,' she said, adding that there was also lots more in store in the packed Circus250 programme this week.
'It's great to be able to have the visiting shows but also for the Oak Circus Centre students to get to perform in the tent it's a really nice, it's a really nice culmination of lots of things that have been happening over the last few years.'
Flying the flag for local performers in the LiT team is 20-year-old Tasha Rushbrooke who is from Norwich and originally did artistic and acrobatic gymnastics at the Chermond School of Gymnastics before making the move into circus.
'I do hand balancing, so basically handstands and balancing on one hand, and I also do acrobatics, gymnastic-style things and some of the aerial as well, so the hoop, the trapeze,' she said, adding that one of her biggest highlights to date was performing at the National History Museum in London as part of the national Circus250 celebrations.
Together the Lost in Translation performers are an incredible team whose breathtaking talents and dedication to circus is awe-inspiring.
Be sure to take a trip to Chapelfield Gardens this week to catch them in action - and enjoy the rest of the circus delights taking to the stage in their big top too.
Chapelfield Summer Circus Events
The Chapelfield Summer Circus festivities in the Lost in Translation Big Top in Chapelfield Gardens include:
July 11: Lost in Translation's Famished
July 12 8pm: Fauna - five performers balance, tumble, jump and fly in a show looking at links between humans and animals
July 13 7pm: Lost in Translation's The Hogwallops
July 14 2.30pm: The Hogwallops
July 14 7pm: Casus' Knee Deep - a show that tests the boundaries of strength and fragility through acrobatics and aerial stunts
July 15 3pm: The Oak Circus Community Cabaret - students from the Oak Circus Centre show off their skills alongside professionals.
July 13 and 14 10pm: Circus Cabaret Lates - late night circus spectacle for over 16s only.
For full details of all the Circus250 festivities in Chapelfield Gardens this week, visit www.circusnorwich.co.uk
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