This Street Performer Is The Real Lord Of The Rings

Circus venues are not everybody’s cup of tea. There are some shows that spark anger in us, and others that freeze the blood in our veins, but a good amount of them leave us slack-jawed in amazement. Sometimes it seems as though circus performers bend the laws of physics when they soar in the air or twist their bodies in various shapes no human body is ever supposed to twist in.

One interesting and seemingly harmless stunt in circus is the Cyr wheel. It is an updated version of the German wheel, an apparatus of two large aluminum or steel rings that are bind together by handles. Now, it might look like nothing special, but the real magic happens inside the wheel where performers do almost incredible acrobatics all the while they are rolling on the circus floor. The Cyr wheel was named after Daniel Cyr, who reinvented the German wheel as a circus apparatus, rather than just wheel gymnastics, which it was previously used for.

The Cyr wheel contains only one ring that is 4-6 inches bigger in diameter than the performer, thus making it a bit more tricky to use than its predecessor. To see how it’s used make sure you take a look at this acrobat’s amazing performance. That’s one ring to amaze us all! Taiwan's famous street performer Isaac Hou blows our minds with his amazing Cyr wheel performance, check it out!