I’m a big sucker for “circus arts” theater. Tell me a show has fire play, contortion, acrobatics, and I’m there. I blame it on the time I spent around the SF bay area, where you can find small events like that just about every weekend. This weekend I heard about a show that sounded promising on Sunday night (Sunday night?!). Sounded promising, though even after reading the venue’s website, I still didn’t have much of an idea what to expect. Which is not all bad; walking into a show with no expectations or pre-conceived notions can be a good thing.
The venue was new to me, the Someday Lounge in Chinatown of downtown Portland. It’s a smallish venue, but with enough wide open space that it doesn’t feel claustrophobic. There’s even a little balcony area that provides some additional seating, though on a damp Sunday night, there weren’t enough people to overflow up there. The act was Cirkus Pandemonium, a local troupe of circus performers. Our master of ceremonies was a stilt-walking fire breather who introduced the acts.
The various performers included…
– a pair of aerialists working from a single trapeze bar
– a pair of women swinging fire poi
– a matador swinging red-caped poi to entice a “bull” on a unicycle
– an aerialist working from silks hanging from the tall ceiling
– an assortment of jugglers
It was an unexpected “find”, and great fun. I’ll definitely look for some future shows from this troupe.
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