Cirque du Soleil's "Corteo"

I haven't yet mentioned on this blog that I'm a big fan of Cirque du Soleil. On Tuesday my wife and I saw their traveling show Corteo, which is currently set up in a big tent in the parking lot of the Forum in Inglewood, and will soon be going to Orange County and San Diego before heading up to the Northwest. This was the fourth CdS show we've seen (we'd previously been to Dralion, Mystère [my wife's favorite], and KÀ [my favorite]), and they've all been nothing short of spectacular. Tickets are always pricey - this was $90 a pop - but the shows are such amazing, truly beautiful combinations of incredible physical feats and showmanship that I don't mind the price.Luckily, I was able to get tickets in the very front row, which was all kinds of awesome. Corteo had more emphasis on traditional circus skills (acrobatics, balancing, juggling, etc.) than the others, but was, as always, wrapped up in CdS costuming, music, timing, and general spectacle. Most memorable was a sort of trapeze-less high-flying act, but there wasn't a single act in the two-hour show that failed to dazzle me. I don't think it was nearly as mind-blowing as the two shows of theirs we've seen in Vegas, but it's impossible to be jaded when seeing live human bodies move in ways most of us could only dream of.One of the weirdest bits was the "Helium Dance," where the troupe's little woman came out floating in a harness from several big balloons, balanced so she could just tiptoe on a big guy's outstretched hand. Then he sent her out into the audience, where her feet would land on audience members' hands and they could then pass her around like a floating beach ball or something. That's something I hadn't seen before.