(VIDEO) Cirque Italia dazzled on opening night
Sep. 24—With an international cast, old-timey showmanship and 35,000 gallons of water, Cirque Italia dazzled its opening night crowd in Mankato Thursday.
The traveling circus, which spends 11 months out of the year making stops in cities around the country, parked its big tent in the parking lot of River Hills Mall this week and kicked off a seven-show run that ends Sunday. (Tickets are available online or at the event site near Barnes & Noble.)
Cirque Italia comes up with a new theme each year, and this year's theme was the 1950s.
"Come along for the ride when a 1950s-obsessed adolescent falls asleep and dreams of living in this revolutionary era," a Cirque Italia press release says. "This high-octane show is guaranteed to captivate and engage every kiddo and Daddy-O in the audience."
In addition to an Elvis impersonator, 50s-style hoop skirts and a Transformer character brought in for photo ops, the show included an impressive water feature: The circular stage ascended 30 feet into the air, and water cascaded to the floor below from the edges of the ring.
Jugglers, aerial performers — and a guy doing handstands on seven stacked chairs — performed inside the ring of falling water.
Cirque Italia is a European-style circus, ringmaster Alex Acero said, and its cast members hail from Mexico, Portugal, Russia and many other countries.
Visit cirqueitalia.com for more information about the show and the organization.
