Ahmed Ben Ali Zinati - Revision history

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← Older revision		Revision as of 21:12, 20 October 2017
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−	[[Category:Artists and Acts\|Ben Ali Zinati, Ahmed]][[Category:Acrobats\|Ben Ali Zinati\|Ahmed]]	+	[[Category:Artists and Acts\|Ben Ali Zinati, Ahmed]][[Category:Acrobats\|Ben Ali Zinati\|Ahmed]][[Category:Tumbling Acts\|Ben Ali Zinati\|Ahmed]]

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 ===From the Boxing Ring to the Circus Ring===
-In 1949, Tangier was still an international zone controlled by Spain, France and the United Kingdom, and its proximity to the [[Image:Ben_Ali_-_Billy_Smart.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ahmed (front center) and Ben Ali (beck center) (c.1956)]]European continent across the strait of Gibraltar made it an important tourist and business destination&mdash;not to mention a bustling espionage hub. If espionage was indeed part of the local industry, the city’s touristic vocation made it an active show business center, and it attracted impresarios from all over the world; one of them spotted Ahmed, who was then twenty, and offered him a contract with a Moroccan tumbling troupe working in Europe. This was the beginning of Ahmed’s circus career.
+In 1949, Tangier was still an international zone controlled by Spain, France and the United Kingdom, and its proximity to the [[Image:Ben_Ali_-_Billy_Smart.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Ahmed (front center) and Ben Ali (beck center) (c.1956)]]European continent across the strait of Gibraltar made it an important tourist and business destination&mdash;not to mention a bustling espionage hub. If espionage was indeed part of the local industry, the city’s touristic vocation made it an active show business center, and it attracted impresarios from all over the world; one of them spotted Ahmed, who was then twenty, and offered him a contract with a Moroccan tumbling troupe working in Europe. This was the beginning of Ahmed’s circus career.
 His acrobatic abilities combined with his size and strength made him an ideal bottom man in the building of the traditional human pyramids that opened Moroccan troupe’s acts, especially for the spectacular feat in which one man&mdash;Ahmed in our case&mdash;supported alone up to eight of his partners. His first troupe leader was Ben Bachir, known as "El hombre de goma" ("the rubber man") for his contortion act; the troupe was called, in French, “La Troupe Chérifienne.” (Most of Morocco was then a French colony.)

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 ===From the Boxing Ring to the Circus Ring===
-In 1949, Tangier was still an international zone controlled by Spain, France and the United Kingdom, and its proximity to the European continent across the strait of Gibraltar made it an important tourist and business destination&mdash;not to mention a bustling espionage hub. If espionage was indeed part of the local industry, the city’s touristic vocation made it an active show business center, and it attracted impresarios from all over the world; one of them spotted Ahmed, who was then twenty, and offered him a contract with a Moroccan tumbling troupe working in Europe. This was the beginning of Ahmed’s circus career.
+In 1949, Tangier was still an international zone controlled by Spain, France and the United Kingdom, and its proximity to the [[Image:Ben_Ali_-_Billy_Smart.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ahmed (front center) and Ben Ali (beck center) (c.1956)]]European continent across the strait of Gibraltar made it an important tourist and business destination&mdash;not to mention a bustling espionage hub. If espionage was indeed part of the local industry, the city’s touristic vocation made it an active show business center, and it attracted impresarios from all over the world; one of them spotted Ahmed, who was then twenty, and offered him a contract with a Moroccan tumbling troupe working in Europe. This was the beginning of Ahmed’s circus career.
 His acrobatic abilities combined with his size and strength made him an ideal bottom man in the building of the traditional human pyramids that opened Moroccan troupe’s acts, especially for the spectacular feat in which one man&mdash;Ahmed in our case&mdash;supported alone up to eight of his partners. His first troupe leader was Ben Bachir, known as "El hombre de goma" ("the rubber man") for his contortion act; the troupe was called, in French, “La Troupe Chérifienne.” (Most of Morocco was then a French colony.)
-[[Image:Ben_Ali_-_Billy_Smart.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Ahmed (front center) and Ben Ali (beck center) (c.1956)]]Then Ahmed went to work with the Ben Ali Troupe (whose leader, Ben Ali, was not related to Ahmed Ben Ali Zinati.) In 1951, they were appearing at the Teatro Smeraldo, in Milan with the Circo-Revista [[Egidio Palmiri|Palmiri]], where Ahmed met and fell in love with Giulia Ferrari, who would “run away and join the circus” to marry him. Eventually, Giulia became a showgirl, participating in the "specs" and occasionally riding elephants. Together, Ahmed and Giulia had four children, Fatima, Roberto, Zohra and Karim.
+Then Ahmed went to work with the Ben Ali Troupe (whose leader, Ben Ali, was not related to Ahmed Ben Ali Zinati.) In 1951, they were appearing at the Teatro Smeraldo, in Milan with the Circo-Revista [[Egidio Palmiri|Palmiri]], where Ahmed met and fell in love with Giulia Ferrari, who would “run away and join the circus” to marry him. Eventually, Giulia became a showgirl, participating in the "specs" and occasionally riding elephants. Together, Ahmed and Giulia had four children, Fatima, Roberto, Zohra and Karim.
 In time, the Ben Ali Troupe became known as the Ifni Sahara Troupe. In the 1950s, they appeared in some of Italy’s leading circuses, such as [[The Togni Family|Circo Americano]] and Circo Palmiri, as well as at Paris’s legendary [[Cirque d’Hiver]], before signing a contract with England’s largest circus, [[Billy Smart’s Circus]], where they performed until 1956.

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 His acrobatic abilities combined with his size and strength made him an ideal bottom man in the building of the traditional human pyramids that opened Moroccan troupe’s acts, especially for the spectacular feat in which one man&mdash;Ahmed in our case&mdash;supported alone up to eight of his partners. His first troupe leader was Ben Bachir, known as "El hombre de goma" ("the rubber man") for his contortion act; the troupe was called, in French, “La Troupe Chérifienne.” (Most of Morocco was then a French colony.)
-Then Ahmed went to work with the Ben Ali Troupe (whose leader, Ben Ali, was not related to Ahmed Ben Ali Zinati.) In 1951, they were appearing at the Teatro Smeraldo, in Milan with the Circo-Revista [[Egidio Palmiri|Palmiri]], where Ahmed met and fell in love with Giulia Ferrari, who would “run away and join the circus” to marry him. Eventually, Giulia became a showgirl, participating in the "specs" and occasionally riding elephants. Together, Ahmed and Giulia had four children, Fatima, Roberto, Zohra and Karim.
+[[Image:Ben_Ali_-_Billy_Smart.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Ahmed (front center) and Ben Ali (beck center) (c.1956)]]Then Ahmed went to work with the Ben Ali Troupe (whose leader, Ben Ali, was not related to Ahmed Ben Ali Zinati.) In 1951, they were appearing at the Teatro Smeraldo, in Milan with the Circo-Revista [[Egidio Palmiri|Palmiri]], where Ahmed met and fell in love with Giulia Ferrari, who would “run away and join the circus” to marry him. Eventually, Giulia became a showgirl, participating in the "specs" and occasionally riding elephants. Together, Ahmed and Giulia had four children, Fatima, Roberto, Zohra and Karim.
 In time, the Ben Ali Troupe became known as the Ifni Sahara Troupe. In the 1950s, they appeared in some of Italy’s leading circuses, such as [[The Togni Family|Circo Americano]] and Circo Palmiri, as well as at Paris’s legendary [[Cirque d’Hiver]], before signing a contract with England’s largest circus, [[Billy Smart’s Circus]], where they performed until 1956.

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 Image:Ifni_Sahara_Troupe_c.1955.jpg|Ahmed (bottom) with the Ifni Sahara Troupe (c.1955)
 Image:Ben_Ali_-_Billy_Smart.jpg|Ahmed Ben Ali Zinati (in front center) with Ben Ali (back center) at Billy Smart's Circus (c.1955)
 </Gallery>
 [[Category:Artists and Acts|Ben Ali Zinati, Ahmed]][[Category:Acrobats|Ben Ali Zinati|Ahmed]]

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 <Gallery>
 Image:Troupe_Cherifienne_c.1950.jpg|The Troupe Chérifienne at Circo Americano (c.1950)
 Image:Ifni_Sahara_Troupe_1953.jpg|The Ifni Sahara Troupe at the Cirque d'Hiver (1953)
 Image:Ifni_Sahara_Troupe_c.1955.jpg|Ahmed (bottom) with the Ifni Sahara Troupe (c.1955)