CONTENTS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE CIRCUS SUMMARY

The article draws attention to the need to analyze spectacular art as a socio-cultural phenomenon, conditioned by the need to deepen the notion of the sociocultural and aesthetic significance of the circus as one of the most popular spectacular types of artistic creativity. It is noted that the circus show captures the crisis phenomena in the culture of a particular country, expressed in a departure from the ancient values or their rejection. An artistically organized circus show exists as a game action, that is, a system of operations and, at the same time, a symbolic action. As one of the forms of culture, the circus spectacle accumulates certain functions, the most important of which today are aesthetic, compensatory, communication and emotional-psychological. It is noted that the circus show, as a polyfunctional phenomenon, exists in any society as a cultural phenomenon, representing a kind of regulation of human activity. It is a dynamic structure, the development of which is conditioned by the historical and cultural environment, which determines its character and content.