Vietnamese circus animal registration on international circus stage

(Baonghean) - Born and raised in Nghi Loc, in a poor family, little Le Hong Loc had his childhood days free to run around with dirty, mischievous games. No one thought that this naughty boy who was good at climbing would one day perform at home and abroad, and would also be the first person to bring Vietnamese circus animals to perform in the world and win high prizes.

Poor boy and his circus dream

The poor boy of the past, now Meritorious Artist Le Hong Loc, said that no one in his family was in the circus profession, but like many of his friends, he had a childhood of freedom to run around the fields, all over the village, so from a young age, Hong Loc had some talent in delicate movements. In 1972, the Circus School came to Nghe An to recruit students, Le Hong Loc and 5 other friends from his hometown were accepted when they were only 13 years old. And until now, only half of them are still in the profession.

Meritorious Artist Le Hong Loc and the dogs he trained.

Graduated from the Vietnam Circus School in 1977, Hong Loc continued his studies in the Soviet Union. His talent was recognized early on in his school days. Many times, he was invited by foreign teachers to perform in international circus programs, with a balancing act on a tightrope. Unfortunately, one time while performing a balancing act, the tightrope broke, Le Hong Loc fell from a high place, breaking his spine, shoulder blade, and many injuries all over his body.

The experienced doctor sadly shook his head and informed him that with his current health, it was absolutely impossible for him to return to the circus.

“Bored, disappointed, even thinking that I had given up the profession and was no longer interested in it. That was my state of mind at that time. A young man in his 30s. The ripe age of the profession. But at the same time, the hard-working nature of the Nghe people reminded me that somehow, I had to do the job I loved. If I couldn’t perform human circus, I would do animal circus. Animal circus doesn’t require as much strength as human circus, but it requires experience in teaching, communicating, and skillfully coordinating with animals” - Meritorious Artist Le Hong Loc shared.

Thinking is doing, full of determination and not afraid of difficulties, Le Hong Loc sought to learn from teachers and foreign friends around him about animal circus performances. Everyone admired and sympathized with the young man who refused to give in to fate, so they wholeheartedly taught him all their experiences and secrets. The beginning of Meritorious Artist Le Hong Loc's animal circus career was full of hardships and difficulties.

Dog circus.

In 2008, the performance “Bear Performance” directed and trained by Meritorious Artist Le Hong Loc won the Silver Prize at the International Circus Festival in Wuhan, China - the first award for Vietnamese animal circus. Talking about the animal circus profession, artist Hong Loc said: “That is the profession that chose me.”

Up to now, after more than 40 years in the circus profession, Meritorious Artist Le Hong Loc has won dozens of medals, gold and silver awards... in circus performances at home and abroad.

Circus Thach Sanh fights python.

Building a “brand”

At the age of 12, the Hong Loc Animal Circus, led by Meritorious Artist Le Hong Loc, has somewhat built its own brand in the field of animal circus. The troupe's regular performance venue is at Thu Le Zoo (Hanoi) and the Hong Loc Animal Circus's mobile performance team has more than 30 artists and 12 species of animals with a total of 40 animals. Not only in the North, the Hong Loc Animal Circus has become a brand eagerly welcomed by audiences in the Central and Southern regions because of its fearlessness in bringing circus art to all regions.

When talking to artist Hong Loc, I mentioned that in the past, in Vinh, there were many circus troupes that came and went, leaving behind many regrets in the hearts of children. The artist smiled and shared that the golden age of circus has passed. Circus artists today must be proactive, professional, and go everywhere, at all times to have an audience. Not afraid of difficulties, passionate about the profession, friendly and always searching are the criteria for the circus to exist in the hearts of the audience.

And to meet those requirements, most of the artists in the Hong Loc circus troupe are from Nghe An. The circus leader believes that his experience of traveling and living everywhere has shown him that Nghe An people have all the qualities to become excellent circus artists.

Snake clown.

Many people watching the show “Dogs Doing Math” were skeptical about whether the dogs could really do math. Mr. Le Quang Nhat, the person in charge of the smart dogs, confirmed that they really understood what he said. To achieve that, he and the dogs had gone through extremely difficult and patient training hours beforehand.

The first quality an artist needs is passion. Along with that is patience in the training process. Professional animal training techniques are very important, but equally important is the love of animals. Only when building a close friendship and the necessary understanding between humans and animals, can artists perform.

Treat animals like friends

Treating animals as close friends is what Meritorious Artist Le Hong Loc always tells his students, and is also what he wants to convey to the audience, especially the young ones. And to convey this meaningful message, Meritorious Artist Hong Loc is not only the artistic director for the troupe, but also the one who creates the scripts for attractive programs.

A dog circus

Outside of practice and performance hours, he and the artists who teach them are the ones who directly take care of their feeding, bathing, and disease prevention. Every day when they wake up, after taking care of their personal hygiene, they also have to take care of the animals’ hygiene. Except for “cold-blooded” animals like crocodiles and pythons, other animals know how to express their feelings in a very adorable way.

Mr. Loc has memories of a bear when he was working at the Vietnamese circus. Every morning, he would stop by the bear’s cage to pet its sagging cheeks and give it a small fruit. There were also days when he was busy or lost in thought, and before he could stop to say hello, the bear would shake the iron door loudly. It was so punctual that his other colleagues joked: “No need to look up, just hear the door shaking and you know Mr. Loc has just arrived.”

Even though we consider animals as friends, we still sometimes encounter occupational accidents caused by “friends”, as Meritorious Artist Le Hong Loc said: “If you work as an animal circus teacher and your limbs don’t have any scars, you are not really an animal circus teacher. Let’s understand this, when you get close to animals, you will see that they are like children, each with their own personality, they like sweets, they like to be pampered, and sometimes the accidents they cause are just accidental”.

Even for a wild animal trainer like Hai Dang, an artist in the Hong Loc circus troupe, despite having performed hundreds of successful performances of putting his head into the jaws of a crocodile, he cannot be sure of absolute safety when working with this cold-blooded animal.

There have been many circus acts that have left a lasting impression on the audience, such as “The Dog and the Clown”, “The Call of the Wild”, “The Old Farmer and the Chickens”, “The Chicken Lays Eggs at Will”… but Meritorious Artist Hong Loc, at the age of U60, still directs and teaches the young artists in his troupe every day to always strive harder and constantly seek new things. That is the secret to the success of the circus troupe, which is considered a “rare commodity” when it wins the hearts of audiences across the country.

Vo Thu Huong