Last night my wife and I attended, along with a group of  ten or so with connections to Canada, the preview / dress rehearsal of Cirque du Soleil’s “Ovo,” which opens its regular shows in Atlanta today.  As with so many Cirque shows, the insect-themed “Ovo” features incredible acrobatics that are amazing to watch both for the highly practiced skill of the performers and the colorful creativity of the costumes and dance routines.  The accompanying music was high energy and Brazilian in flavor.  There were so many terrific performances that it’s difficult to choose highlights, but the standouts for me were the “loose string” balancing performance, the rock wall climbing- jumping-dancing number and, for its wonderful freakiness factor, the “slinky” creature.  While the trailer above doesn’t do the show full justice, it provides a good sneak peek.

For those that don’t already know, Cirque du Soleil, like many other mainstays of American entertainment (William Shatner, Celine Dion, Barenaked Ladies, Shania Twain, Alex Trebek, etc.), is a Canadian import.  Formed in the early 1980s in Montreal and still based there, the troupe struggled financially for more than a decade before it found stable footing.  As a testament to the perseverance of its founders and creative visionaries, Cirque du Soleil is so popular now that multiple shows can now be seen in numerous cities throughout the world at any given time.  C’est fantastique!