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Many Americans think a circus must have elephants, lions, dancing bears and acrobats. 很多美国人认为，马戏团一定要有大象、狮子、会跳舞的熊以及杂技演员。
But circuses are changing. 但现在的马戏团正在发生改变。
In May, after traveling the country for almost 150 years, the large Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus will close. 5月份，在全国各地表演了150年的大型马戏团--玲玲马戏团(Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus)将关业。
But different kinds of circuses are still successful. 不过还有不同种类的马戏团依然很成功。
They include Cirque du Soleil. 其中包括来自加拿大的太阳马戏团(Cirque du Soleil)。
It combines music, acrobatics and story-telling. 其表演形式囊括音乐、杂技以及讲故事。
Adam Woolley operates Circus Now, a non-profit group 亚当 伍利经营着一家名为Circus Now的非盈利组织，
that supports efforts by circus performers to combine traditional circus skills like acrobatics, juggling and the trapeze with storytelling. 其表演者注重对杂技、杂耍、荡秋千等传统马戏团技能与叙事的结合。
Woolley says circuses have been changing for many years by increasingly telling stories. 伍利说，通过不断增加叙事的成分，很多马戏团在过去数年间一直都在变化。
"Circus artists have been producing new and incredible circus acts and apparatuses and shows "马戏团的艺术家们一直都在结合不同的道具装置产出新颖惊人的动作，
that have an artistic context and theatrical storylines, or well-drawn characters. 他们的演出总是有艺术意境、戏剧性的故事线亦或特征分明的角色。
And this has been happening around the world for the past 10, 15 years or so." 而这一点在过去的10年甚至15年左右的历程中，得到了全球各地马戏团的印证。"
One of those circuses is the Race Horse Company from Finland. 其中一家这样的马戏团就是来自芬兰的赛马公司。
It was part of the Circus Now festival in New York this month. 该公司也参加了本月在纽约举行的Circus Now节日。
Acrobat Rauli Kosonen started the circus with a few other performers nine years ago. 九年前，杂技表演着劳利与几个同行开启了马戏生涯。
"I think it's really pure art form, in the sense that you can really feel the risks - "我觉得杂技表演是一种真正纯粹的艺术形式，从某种角度上来说，你可以真切地感受到危险--
there's a lot of risks, so you can get a lot of adrenaline while you watch it if there is kind of tricks that make your heart bounce. 是有很多危险的，所以在观看那种让你心跳加速的表演时，你也会分泌很多肾上腺素。
Because it's real. 因为这一切都是真实的。
They can see that if they make a mistake, they might get hurt. 观众可以看到，如果表演者犯错，就会真的受伤。
So, I guess that's always been why circus is appealing. 所以我想这一点一直是马戏吸引人的地方。
It reminds us that, uh, we're humans." 它也提醒着我们一点，人无完人。"
Kosonen has been injured many times during his performances. 劳利在表演过程中曾多次受伤。
"Well, I had three operations and its part of the job; "我做过3次手术，受伤是我工作的一部分；
sometimes you don't get lucky." 有时候可能就是运气差一点。"
Kendall Rileigh is one of the founders of New York's Only Child Aerial Theatre. 肯德尔是纽约Only Child Aerial Theatre的创办者之一。
She says, with his group, telling a story, or a narrative, is even more important than the skills of performing in a circus. 肯德尔说，对于她的马戏团团队来说，讲故事、叙真情是比表演技巧更加重要的事情。
She says the skills the performers learn are designed to drive and support the story. 肯德尔还说，表演者的技巧就是为了推动并支持故事的发展。
In a former factory in Brooklyn, Rileigh's performers are preparing for the latest show -- called "Asylum." 在布鲁克林此前曾是工厂所在地的Rileigh马戏团里，表演者们正在准备最近的一场演出--名为"收容所"。
Co-founder Nicki Miller says there is a story, but none of the performers speaks. 同是创办者的尼基说，虽然是在讲述故事，但没有一个表演者是用言语来讲述的。
The story is told through acrobatics, dance, music and projected images and shadow. 故事是通过杂技、舞蹈、音乐、投影图像和光影来讲述的。
"We would describe it as a theater piece that includes a lot of aerial work, dance, some recorded music, some live music and overhead projection and shadow. "我觉着更应该将马戏表演描述为包含很多空中杂技、舞蹈、录制音乐、现场音乐、空中投影和光影的剧院活动。
So, the story is told, rather than through dialogue, through the conversation of all of those theatrical vocabularies, instead." 所以故事的讲述并不是通过对话，而是通过剧院特有的语言来讲述的。"
Adam Woolley says the Only Child and Race Horse performers simply want to entertain people. 亚当说，Only Child and Race Horse的表演者只是想给大家带来欢乐。
"With lots of practice and hard work, we can accomplish the impossible. "通过大量的练习和努力，我们实现了本不可能完成的事情。
That's the core idea that everyone in circus believes in and that everyone in circus tries to impart to the audiences, 这一点也是每一个马戏团成员深信不疑的核心理念，是每位成员竭尽全力想要传递给观众的信条--
is that 'I have dedicated my life to this seven minutes of performance and honed my skill to the place '我已经将毕生精力投注在这几分钟的表演中，我不断打磨自己的技能，
where I'm going to accomplish something in front of you now that you did not think could be done.'" 我也将把我的这些你们看来不可能完成的技能展现在你们面前。'"
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