Circus Ole!

We went to Cirque Du Soleil this past weekend. Their show "Kooza" is touring the country under a big top and graces the streets of Atlanta currently. If you've never seen a Cirque Du Soleil show, you must go. There's tons of shows to choose from, but unless your city is on the tour plans for one of the traveling shows, you have to go to Las Vegas, Orlando, New York, Tokyo or Canada to see one. But again, lots of shows means lots of cities so if you're not jet-setting to Japan or Vegas anytime soon, keep your eyes open for the big top to hit your streets. And then get your tickets in plenty of advance. We bought ours about two months ago.

Leading up to the show, my son would talk about it from time to time and I noticed he was calling it Circus Ole! which I find hysterical. That's apparently the Mexican version, which is a lot LIKE Cirque Du Soleil but with salsa.

So Saturday afternoon we raced downtown, running late for the 4:00 showing. Tardiness is ridiculously typical for me but this time we weren't running on typical "Cullingford-time" (loosely translated: 5-10 minutes late--juuuuust late enough that I think if I drive like a maniac and hit the steering wheel a bunch, I'll be able to catch myself up to being ON time) but this time, even having known for two whole months what time the show would be and what time we needed to leave to get there in time to park, walk in, find seats, etc, we were actually running LATE late. That was new. Also new? Not my fault.

My sister in law and her 4-year-old daughter who can be...you know, 4-year-oldish...arrived 30 minutes late to my house and whatdya know? No amount of maniacal driving or steering wheel banging was catching up that kind of time. Through the miracle of a God who wanted me to see this show from start to finish, we walked in the tent about 2.5 minutes before the show began. It was me, my husband, my son, his best friend, my sister-in-law, her daughter and my mother-in-law. And the show did not disappoint. For those of you who are familiar with the old standby Barnum & Bailey, this is not that. As was evident from the solo trapeze artist (that's right: one) who made some odd Russian hand gesture and threw out some 'tude to the audience when we failed to deliver the kind of applause she felt she deserved. Yep, this ain't Barnum, baby.

Instead, think: awe-inspiring acts of unique ability that often involved the danger of plummeting to the floor interspersed with humor-infused antics, and all wrapped up with cool music and theatrics with unique make-up and costumes. Whew! That's quite the definition, huh? I'm exhausted from just typing it. All the acts were really tremendous with plenty of stunts, jumps, twists, turns, etc. that never fail to thrill. There were contortionists who made every man in the audience sit up a little straighter and clowns who were actually funny. No slapstick, no water-spitting flowers, no humongous bow ties or volkswagons full of 15 full size clowns plus a midget. Instead, there was plenty of jokes, gags and inneundo geared more to the adult audience but not obvious enough to be a concern for the younger crowd. And who doesn't love the total embarassment of the volunteer they sucker on stage, provided that volunteer isn't YOU? (My son was dying to be one; I was under my chair to make sure I wouldn't be.) Plus there's always a sort of hidden storyline with some recurring characters. Now that part is tough to read into--Kooza has a child-like character who starts and ends the show with a kite. Profound, right? I thought so. I tell ya, from moment one, this show redefines a circus.

After a couple hours of oohs, aahs and laughter, $23 for two sodas, a hot dog and a popcorn (and you thought movie theaters price gouged for snacks), $7 for a beer (that's right: 7 whopping dollars for one standard bottle of 12 oz beer and it was Budweiser at THAT) and outstanding behavior from my 4 year old neice who, other than the time she removed a bandaid from her finger which caused crying-jag amounts of pain, had done amazingly well, the show concluded. All in all, a spectacular night, even if there wasn't any salsa.

Oh, and my neice now has a new ambition: to be a contortionist. Here, she shows off her already amazing ability: