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Published: February 17, 2010
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Gasser family history
 The Gasser family has a long and chequered tradition within the circus world. Conny Gasser and his wife, Gerda, were former trapeze artists who went by the name of The 'Flying Tongas', travelling the globe from circus to circus.
Connie's father, grandfather and even great grandfather had a circus. In 1969 Connie & Gerda created their own travelling dolphin and sea-lion show, Conny's Flipper Show. Their son Roby, at thirteen, was in charge of the technical aspects of the show - sound and lighting. 
Three years later, his parents gave him a couple of sea lions to train - Adolf, a male sea lion, and Taxi, a female, who were eventually involved in one of the most innovative animal acts of its time. Roby's act was soon recognized as an extraordinary novelty, and he and his animal partners began to work in the most prestigious nightclubs and circuses of Europe, including the Lido in Paris and Circus Knie in Switzerland. In 1981, Roby Gasser, Adolph and Taxi participated in the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo, where they won the highest award bestowed to any circus artist, the 'Gold Clown'. From there, Roby went to the U.S. with the Lido revue, which was appearing at the Stardust Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.  Still in Las Vegas, he was subsequently featured in the Riviera Hotel's very successful nautical revue, Splash.
 Meanwhile, Roby's father had created Circus Conelli, in association with Herbi Lips in 1982 and opened Conny-Land, a dolphin and sea-lion amusement park, in Lippersvil, Switzerland in 1985. Roby became involved in both ventures, although he continued to perform internationally. His sister, Nadja, also presented a similar sea lion act.
After the death of his father, Conny, in December 2007, and of his mother, Gerda, a few months later, Roby took over the management of Conny-Land and the Artistic Direction of Circus Conelli. Roby Gasser's wife, Cindy Lee, a former principal dancer at the Stardust Hotel, Las Vegas (1978 - 1989), is the choreographer and associate director of Circus Conelli's productions. She also helps Roby to manage the family's enterprises.
Generations
  For many people winter means Christmas, hence the most beautiful season of the whole year. In Zurich every winter there is a tradition of the Conelli Circus pitching its tent on the romantic, fairytale Bauschänzli island, where Christmas lights shine and shimmer magically in the water of the River Limmat.
The 2009/2010 production is called Generations - "We're all in this together". The name itself arouses curiosity and in the truest sense of the word, it's a show from & to the Young and Old. It's an intergenerational show that features not only young, but also older and more seasoned performers and attracts an audience spanning several generations.
The entire ensemble comprises of 150 staff, made up of artists, 12 dancers, 8 gospel singers and 16 musicians, along with backstage, bar & ticket staff.
The youngest artist is 14-year-old Thomas Janke and the eldest, Japanese Koma Zuru is 78 years old.
The style of the choreography ranges from jazz to the 50's and mysterious and the numbers are intertwined around the acts.  The high energy levels and happiness are clearly seen.
Roby Gasser's wife Cindy, a choreographer and former dancer contacted some of her
Las Vegas friends and set the ball rolling. Within days, she had received fifty applications, the oldest of whom was 82, but was still very attractive and fit. From the auditions 6 young dancers and 6 older dancers were chosen. The older ladies have an average age of 58 years. They perform two shows a day - the matinee mainly for children and the evening performance for adults.
The Acts 
The Nate Jacobs Gospel Singers Roby Gasser had the idea to integrate a gospel choir into the Christmas show and looked intensively into it for a few years. He wasn't interested in the Swiss gospel choirs, because of the heavy work load involved in the show and the fact that they were only on an amateur level. Expanding his research he finally landed in the New Orleans professional scene - the heart of gospel, where he contacted the "Nate Jacobs Gospel Singers"  and found that these vocalists had gospel not only in their voice, but also in their soul. The eight singers who are all first-class soloists, delight the audience with their extensive repertoire.
Thomas Janke
Thomas embodies the circus of tomorrow. The young talent, 13 years young, from Memmingen whirls five clubs, seven rings and up to seven balls though the air and excites the crowd with its variant-rich play.  He is considered as an exceptional talent in the circus world with one Trick wealth, about which adults colleagues dream...
Butterfly With Butterfly, Anastasia and Viacheslav show a love story, where seriousness connects with humour. The story shows that there aren't any hindrances against a strong will and a deep love and the act is presented in a very romantic and loving way.  It shows another side of Circus.
Sea World
Ukrainian acrobats Yuriy & Sergey Ovsyannikov, Ruslan Kiyanitsa and Valeriy Luchko, have won numerous international titles. This unique, artistic act built around the world of water, is highly creative and extremely difficult and transfers the audience into a fantasy world.
Gaston & Roli with Nadja Gaston and Roli are simple, as simple is the essence of clowns, the way one imagines clowns in the classic sense. Many Conelli spectators end up with a stomach ache from laughing so much during the Tiger hunt and the Chess game numbers and their great improvisation.  This year, Gaston and Roli were joined by Nadja Gasser. Nadja has her own dolphins and sea lion act in Conny-Land.
Einrad - Malte Knapp
Malte is today one of Sweden's best known circus performers with his fast paced unicycle act. He surprises the audience with his bikes of all shapes and sizes and the most sensational tricks.
Alexej Alexey Goloborodko is a young dancing Contortionist from Tula, Russia. Born in 1994, he has been training since the age of 5. He practices classical and modern dance, combining them into his act.  By putting emphasis on the dancing aspect of the contortion, Alexej presents it in a very graceful way.
Roman Tereshchenko
Coming from a well known Ukrainian family of artists, 27-year-old Roman Tereshchenko created this unique air number in the record time of only a year! In this exciting act, made of power and elegance, Roman swirls through the air with both partners Anna Povolia and Olena Borshchanskaya, with unbelievable mutual, blind confidence. 
Koma Zuru The audience hardly believe their own eyes when Koma Zuru enters the arena. At 77, he is by far the eldest artist in Generations, but he always performs in an impressive manner, presenting a many-century-old Japanese tradition.  If his number had to be described in a word, probably surreal would be the most suitable. He sets this artistic act, featured for the first time in a Circus, with his typical Top Spin in motion and he balances in the most incredible positions with magnificent, almost magic ability.
Duo Kalachev
Former Russian physician, Andrey Kalachev, with and his wife Elena, a vertical rope artist put together this comedy act with the participation of their dog 18 years ago and have been successfully touring the world ever since. 
Mikheev
Trio Mikheev perform a skillful Ring balancing act with Margarita Egorova Hulchenko suspended from or balancing on a metal hoop structure spinning on Andrey or Vladimir's forehead. 
Shenyang Troupe
Shenyang, a Chinese Acrobatic Lasso troupe, consisting of 15-20-year-old artists. They swing a lasso while simultaneously performing difficult balancing acts.
Miao Qiao Qiao
14-year-old, hand stand acrobat, Miao QiaoQiao makes her first appearance outside China. At age 7 she started training as an acrobatic and at the 7th National China Festival 2008 - the most important competition in China - this extraordinary talent won a gold medal, the highest possible honour for her fantastic presentation. 
Conelli Orchestra - Alex-Maliszewsky Big Band:
The Alex Maliszewski orchestra from Poland has a long tradition with the Conelli Circus. With 16 musicians, it's the largest circus orchestra in Europe. All of the music is played live and the artists are asked to supply the musical score for their act or Alex writes and arranges it for them.
click here to view programme & many more photos...
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