In front of hundreds of people, a majestic elephant stood tall – its ears flapping and tails wagging. And then she was gone in the blink of an eye. The crowd erupted into cheers and applause.
This is the new type of performances offered by Circus Roncalli in Germany – animals appear as a 3-D hologram.
Circus Roncalli, which was founded in 1976 and began to stop using live animals in its performances back in the 1990s, now prides itself for using holographic projections of animals as they aim to “preserve the flavor of historic circuses while eliminating concerns of animal cruelty,” as reported in the Smithsonian.com.
Bernhard Paul, founder of Circus Roncalli, thought of the idea when he watched the half-time show of the 2018 NFL Super Bowl, where singer Justin Timberlake was seen singing alongside a hologram of Prince who passed away in 2016.
Since then, Paul found a way to use the same technique in his circus.
Now, Circus Roncalli uses 11 projectors to create 3D holograms of the animals. The results have been breathtaking ever since, thanks to the works of 15 designers and software engineers. The transition to move to animal holograms was a quick one, said the circus in a statement, because they had always focused their acts on clowns, acrobats and poetic acts.
Last May, the UK government has passed a rule to ban circuses from using any wild animals in their performances.
“Travelling circuses are no place for wild animals in the 21st century and I am pleased that this legislation will put an end to this practice for good,” Michael Gove, environmental secretary, told local media.
“The use of wild animals in travelling circuses has no place in modern society and does nothing to further the conservation [of] our understanding of wild animals,” the government’s official website added.
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