I’d like to thank the Cirque du Soleil for bringing “Corteo” to Atlanta’s Atlantic Station this month. I needed a good birthday present for my Mom and your fantastic show arrived in the nick of time.
It’s infinitely satisfying to see someone in their 70’s displaying more unrestrained enthusiasm than the entirity of that night’s audience. Unabashed, she alternated between whoops, guffaws and woofs straight out of Arsenio’s Dogpound, bouncing to the music and clapping in (and out of) time with the music – practically roaring along with the show from our spot four or five rows back from centerstage.
More than once she surged to the front of her seat and I was convinced she was prepared to clamber over the few rows people sitting in front of her to make her way onstage, ready to ride giant steel rings around the stage, bounce high in the air on bed-like trampolines or swing out over the audience from beautiful candle-lit chandeliers.
It was the kind of response that every performance artist says they love and I hope that a few of the performers noticed her giving them a sly point with her finger, indicating that they were tops in her book. I feel as if I got to watch two shows at the same time, and so (no doubt) did the people sitting around us.
As Corteo’s tiniest acrobat, Valentyna Pahlevanyan, floated over our heads underneath a cloud of transparent balloons, Momma leaned over and whispered “Is she an elf??” I think she meant to ask if the lady was a dwarf, but was so tickled at the question that I confirmed that yes, she was indeed an elf.
“You bet she is Momma, a Christmas elf. Happy Birthday!”
[tags]corteo, cirque, cirque du soleil, cirk, sirk, doo, solay, circus olay, atlanta, performance, artists, clown, dead clown, chandeliers, beds, trampoline, birthday[/tags]
