Ringling Bros Circus Resumes In Connecticut After Acrobats' Plunge

[May 09, 2014]  (Reuters) - A Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus show has resumed performing in New England days after acrobats were seriously injured when a chandelier-like apparatus carrying them plummeted to the floor, shocking a Rhode Island audience, media reported.

The show went on in Hartford, Connecticut on Thursday but without the act featuring an all-female team suspended by their hair, according to Feld Entertainment, which owns the Ringling Bros circus.

"Our young ladies are recovering and they're in great spirits," Ring Master Jonathan Lee Iverson told a crowd on Thursday night, according to CNN.

Eight performers fell about 40 feet to the floor, hurting one performer on the ground and stunning the roughly 3,900 onlookers at the Dunkin' Donuts Center on Sunday in Providence.

The condition of those injured was not immediately known.

Video of the act showed the women falling quietly. The lights were dimmed right after the drop.

An investigation was ongoing.

The circus that had performed in Providence was scheduled to play in Hartford starting Thursday and going through Sunday, Feld said in a statement this week.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle Editing by W Simon)

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