When I was invited to Plaza San Martín to see a circus perform, I almost didn’t go. I imagined the circuses of my youth: clowns with big red noses riding around on unicycles. I didn’t think that it would end up being one of the most amazing and random things I have ever seen.

When we arrived at the Plaza it was already filled with people. We found what we thought might be a good place, although no one had announced where the performance would take place and there was no stage anywhere that we could see. All of a sudden the performance began with bright red flames shooting out of the top of one of the buildings that surrounded the plaza. It was then that we noticed that there were long wires 300 feet in the air connecting all the buildings around the park.



After the fire went out, five tiny white figures dangled from the wire and slowly made their way across the sky.



They danced through the air, throwing bright white feathers onto the crowd below.



Soon it was raining feathers all over the plaza. Along with the blue lighting, the night had an eery, wintery feel, even though it was late summer.





At the end of the show, feathers shot out from giant tubes placed all over the park. It was the most amazing thing. Children and adults of all ages jumped and played in falling feathers.





One of the things I love about living in Buenos Aires is the endless number of free cultural events. After this experience I won’t pass up another opportunity like this.

The Buenos Aires Polo Circo Festival is an annual 12-day circus festival. They offer free and paid events daily in various locations around the city. This event was the closing night show for the 2010 festival. The Polo Circo Festival will take place from April 28 to May 9, 2012.