Giant Praying Mantis in Prague.

Compagnie Malabar, a French circus group, recently came to Prague as part of a New Circus festival, and brought along a giant 30-foot tall mechanical praying mantis!

The main acts this year are French groups Compagnie Malabar and Cirque Trottola, and Escalarta Circus from Spain. Malabar will present two evening performances of Helios II, an extravagant fire show of innovative pyrotechnics performed in the open air in honor of the sun god. The group also uses a spectacular 9-meter-high (30-foot-high) and 24-meter-long mechanical praying mantis that incorporates live music and several human acrobats hanging from ropes, animating its parts. This cyber-punk fairy-tale beast moves with eerie grace, preceded by two leaping, stilted creatures that will also be seen bouncing through the streets of the city center.

http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2006/Art/0817/calen2.php | Praying Mantis [QVTR] - Thanks Jeffrey Martin!