VIDEO + REVIEW: Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco

Before the show Wednesday night, Festiva was allowed inside the Cirque du Soleil rehearsal. Click here to watch the video!

Last night the performers from Cirque du Soleil took the stage at Dodge Arena and gave a performance of Saltimbanco unlike anything I've seen offered in the Valley and completely worth the ticket price.

For those unfamiliar with Cirque du Soleil, they're a Montreal, Canada-based acrobat troupe that has been around for over 20 years. Their stage shows, of which there are 18 varieties, are performed on tour and in permanent venues (most in Las Vegas).

Wednesday night was the first of eight performances the group will be giving during their five-day run. As promised, the performers delivered a show that set new standards for entertainment in a city that just five years ago wouldn't have been able to host such an event.

If Cirque du Soleil gets high marks for anything - besides the obvious lauds for their mind-boggling aerial work and acrobatics - it's for audience participation. Before the show started, a few characters walked around the floor poking fun at audience members with clown like activities. Two of them even flipped one unsuspecting, female attendee. Another teased a muscular man before stealing his shirt, which the audience didn't seem to mind. They also got the audience involved during the show, putting spotlights on some people during the clown act. Mid-show, they also brought one man on stage for a highly entertaining mime skit.

The highlight performance wise had to be the duo trapeze act, where two women in shimmering outfits performed an aerial ballet with so many intensely dangerous part that it had the audience gasping. For one of their stunts, the women were up in the air swinging and one released right over the audience (wire-free) only to be caught by her feet on the way down by the other performer. It was amazing.

This outstanding piece of performing arts was supplemented with more traditional circus acts, like a juggler and hand to hand (where two men use each other to do stunts that would put any bench pressing-guy in the gym to shame).

The only damper on the evening occurred early on in the performance, when some audience members arrived tardy and continued to talk about their late arrival. They didn't seem to understand what it means to have respect performers and spectators by arriving on time. For a show like Saltimbanco, promptness is second only to conduct during the show. During the first segment of the show - which I'm sure was stunning - a large group who arrived late blocked my view as the group nearby (who also arrive tardy) spoke loudly as they got themselves settled. I cringed for not only the missed opportunity to see the introduction to the show, and for the performers, who must have gotten a terrible impression of our region.

When I watched the Cirque du Soleil show Mystere in Las Vegas about 10 years ago, the venue closed the doors when the performance began. This prevented any interruptions and allowed you to enjoy the show and delve right into it without having your view blocked. And though I understand that is not exactly possible at Dodge, I would hope that future audiences have more tact.

 Saltimbano is truly a show to get lost in. At one point, as I stared toward the arena ceiling, slack-jawed in awe of the artistic and touching bungee act, I forgot where I was. I felt like I was 11 years old again, watching from my seat in Las Vegas as four performers defied gravity to a beautiful opera tune. And judging by the reactions from children as I walked out, I think some kids had just been given memories that they too would carry with them for years to come.

Click here to Festiva's coverage of Saltimbano and here to read about ringmaster James Clowney.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF SALTIMBANCO?