After the catastrophic collapse of the circus business due to the Corona pandemic, circus arts experienced a grandiose resurrection at the 45th International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo.

Prince Albert II opened the festival last Friday, assisted by his sister Stéphanie, who not only chairs the jury, but is also the heart of this circus show.

As always, the audience rose from their seats as the prince and princess walked to the sounds of the Monte Carlo circus march to the prince's box directly at the ring.

Stéphanie was accompanied by her daughter Camille and her son Louis.

Albert even brought his twin children Gabriella and Hereditary Prince Jacques to the screening on Sunday, but the eight-year-olds couldn't stand it long.

As always, Princess Charlène was not to be seen in the box.

For the German circus in particular, this unofficial world championship proved to be a triumph, as a German artist, 26-year-old René Casselly, won the Golden Clown together with his sister Merrylu and artist Quincy Azzario.

Casselly is a big hit in show business.

He recently danced his way through the show "Let's dance" as the winner on the RTL television channel, and in 2021 he was the first to overtake all the other participants on "Ninja Warrior Germany".

In Monte Carlo, Casselly made the hearts of circus fans beat faster because he took an old discipline, horsemanship, into a new dimension.

"I wanted to do something that no one has done before," said Casselly.

The management of the Monte Carlo Festival had booked René Casselly junior's number before it had even been performed for the first time.

She knew that Casselly and his sister would deliver something sensational, because the two have already won gold in Monte Carlo: together with their father René Casselly senior they stood on the podium in 2008, at that time with an elephant number.

The somersault from an elephant onto another elephant running behind is memorable.

The animals have now been retired due to the immense pressure from animal rights activists.

They spend their twilight years in a zoo in the Hungarian city of Györ, where the Casselly family lives.

With that, the chapter on elephants in the circus is finally over, at least for Europe.

"Corona is more than over for the circus"

But circus art has so many facets that it can cope with the loss of elephant training.

Even in traditional disciplines, artists sometimes break old records.

The Italian Michael Martini, for example, was the first European to do a quadruple somersault on the flying trapeze.

Of course, that didn't always work out.

At the premiere, Martini fell twice into the net, until finally, on the third try, the catcher got his hands on the other trapeze.

The Flying Martinis were rewarded with a Silver Clown for this daring feat.

As always, the scouts of the big European circuses came this year to immediately sign outstanding artists.

Frank Keller from Circus Krone reported on Saturday that he had made appointments with everyone who was on his wish list.

"Corona is more than over for the circus," said Keller, referring to the many sold-out performances during the previous winter season in the Krone building in Munich.

The Christmas circuses in Germany and other countries have never gone as well as they have in the past few weeks, added Helmut Grosscurth, Managing Director of the European Circus Association.

The industry is currently concerned about the war in Ukraine.

It actively supports Ukrainian artists and circus schools and largely boycotts Russian circuses and artists.

In Monte Carlo, where Russian circus troupes were usually invited, only one artist from Putin's empire, Oleksiy Grigorov, was able to show his skills on the air ring this year - and only because he performed together with the Ukrainian Marina Glavatskij.

At the press conference, both had to wipe their tears when the talk turned to the war.

The second big winner from the German-speaking area, along with René Casselly junior, was the 71-year-old juggler veteran Kris Kremo, who, together with his son Harrison, let the red cylinders rotate in the air.

On Tuesday, Kris Kremo was presented with the Monte Carlo Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grand Chapiteau.