At least since Thomas Gottschalk with new editions of the show dinosaur “Wetten, dass…?” celebrated its comeback and achieved success rates, they are conjured up again: the campfire qualities of TV programs that brought several generations together in front of the television. If Nazan Eckes has his way, the new edition of “Stars in the Manege” will also be such a format with campfire potential. “There’s a lot of nostalgia involved as well as excitement, and I’m already looking forward to watching the show with my two sons the way I used to see them as a child,” she says. Constantin Entertainment and Sat.1, who are bringing the show back to the ring after a 14-year break, want to kindle the fire – to let celebrities get a taste of circus air.
Eckes is sitting in her dressing room in the Circus Krone building, she has just completed a rehearsal lasting several hours with the Mongolian artists of the Khadgaa troupe. “We’ve already rehearsed together for three days, the acrobatic number requires a lot of body tension, absolute focus and concentration; also from me, because I have to be able to stand hands-free on a pyramid with two people,” explains the moderator. She also “begged” for a fourth day from those responsible at Krone, says Eckes and laughs. With her there are 15 other celebrities who slip into the role of artists. Among them news anchor Jens Riewa, moderator Guido Cantz, comedian Hazel Brugger, comedian Dieter Hallervorden (who even dares to ride the Teufelsrad with his wife Christiane), entrepreneur Judith Williams and musician Stefan Mross.
Presenter Nazan Eckes (right) has already been training with the Mongolian artists from the Khadgaa troupe for three days, and she wants to add a fourth day to it.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
The show, moderated by Jörg Pilawa and Jana Ina Zarella as circus directors, will be recorded this Thursday and Saturday in front of an audience (tickets from 12 euros: www.circus-krone.com), will be broadcast on December 30 and January 6 at 8:15 p.m. “We were approached at the beginning of October, so there wasn’t much time to look for 16 suitable numbers,” says talent scout and Krone spokesman Frank Keller. Above all, the time had to be right, because at the moment it is high circus season with Christmas circuses and dinner shows in many cities. According to the TV recording, the Mongolian troupe will travel on to Würzburg, where Krone will open a Christmas circus on December 15th. The trampoline artists from “Non Stop”, with whom Fabian Hambüchen, Olympic gold gymnast in 2016, is performing, are also moving there.
“I even knew one of the artists from before,” says Hambüchen in his dressing room. He met the Ukrainian Yuri Nikitin, gold medal winner in the trampoline at the 2004 Olympics, in Athens – “I was only 16 at the time, Yuri was 26,” Hambüchen recalls. During the rehearsal, they jump into the “window” of a meter-high house wall, twirl with somersaults down into the depths. Would such a path also be conceivable for him? Hambüchen shakes his head. “First I said to my wife that circus would be nice too. But then I realized what that means: work every day, deliver every day, sometimes even twice a day. That’s a brutal amount of work, for which I have enormous respect , that would be too much for me,” said Hambüchen.
Natascha Ochsenknecht injured herself during training. Still, she wants to perform
There is also the risk of injury, especially for people who are not professionals in the respective discipline. Natascha Ochsenknecht learned that this morning. “I’m spinning plates on a long pole and one fell on my left hand,” she says. The rehearsal had to be interrupted and she drove to the hospital for X-rays as a precaution. The good news: nothing is broken. “But the doctor diagnosed tendonitis in both wrists, and now there’s a bruise along with a pinched nerve, these are porcelain soup plates that weigh half a kilo,” she says during the coffee break in the artist canteen – the left hand in a blue rail. Today she will take a break on medical advice. “But tomorrow it continues, I’m determined to perform, and if it’s just one-handed, I’m Leo, they’re ambitious!”
A bruise on her left hand, but Natascha Ochsenknecht is determined to demonstrate her plate juggling.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
In general, she felt connected to the circus from an early age. “My parents were good friends with Ingrid and Fritz Sarasani, so I was a real circus kid,” says Ochsenknecht. At first she appeared as a number girl between individual performances, then she danced with an Argentine group that twirled rattling “Boleadoras”, small balls on long ropes. “When I was 18, I was once the assistant to a ‘contortionist’, an incredibly flexible Indian, Ochsenknecht remembers. He was able to fold himself up so that he could fit in a suitcase brought to the stage in a slightly larger suitcase.” But for “Stars in the Manege” she now wants to make the plates dance.