Circus performances as rituals: participative ethnography -- The textility of circus acts: disentangling cognition and pleasure -- Magic in the ring -- Horses which speak, count, and laugh -- Steeds and symbols: multimodal metaphors -- The staging of actions: heroes, anti-heroes, and animal actors -- Circus animals as symbols, actors, and persons -- Dancing with tigers, lying with lions: translating biology into art -- Clowns at work: a socio-critical discourse -- The imaginary circus -- Ideology and politics in the circus ring -- The post-animal circus.