The Infidels Go To The Big Top!.......No, I'm Not Talking About My Blouse.

We finally got to experience the awesome Cirque Du Soleil on Friday, live, and in person. I know. As though daily life in the Infidel house isn't a frenetic three ring circus in itself. Our circus quest began two weeks ago while visiting our second home......Kroger's Grocery Store. The mini-Infidels and I went through our weekly ritual of congregating around the rack of tantalizing day old bakery goods. As we stood there, shamelessly squeezing and fondling the discount loafs, we spied two of the most adorable and perfectly tiny people standing in front of the butter case. Later we found out through the magic of youtube, that the couple was none other than Gregory and Valentina, the teeny stars of Cirque Du Soleil's production of Corteo!




In this video, Gregory attempts to tame some wild beasts of burden prancing cavalierly across the stage while Valentina stands side stage with the drummer clown. And in this clip, Valentina bounces and soars across the circus audience with the aid of giant helium balloons. The audience participates, keeping her afloat like a human beach ball. Very cool. Especially her sweet little voice that sounds like she shared a French kiss with the helium tank right before the show. Truthfully, it would require the efforts of a blimp or a zeppelin to attempt to lift this corpulent Infidel butt up in the air. And the audience would probably let me plummet to the ground because they wouldn't want to touch my feet to buoy my fat butt back up again.
Then we discovered that the recently built luxury apartments a few streets away from our house, holds the honor of providing temporary residence for the Cirque performers during their month long stay in Houston. The charter buses sit outside to shuttle them back and forth to practices and performances. We're the nerdiest of the nerdiest. I say this because every time we pass by the bus, we wave ecstatically and blow kisses to the Cirque people. Secretly, I have a fervent hope that their troupe desperately needs the talents of a bearded woman who can bite her own toenails, and they'll offer me a spot on the Cirque team.
Assuming that we could never possibly afford the exorbitant costs of Cirque Du Soleil tickets, we stopped by their amazingly vibrant and behemoth yellow and blue swirled tents for some pictures last week. I wanted the kids to at least get a close up look at the phenomena that prior to now, we'd only witnessed courtesy of DVD's checked out from the library. Look at their disappointed and pitiful little faces. If only I had a tin cup and a sign for them to hold that states, "Will Look Really Sad For Tickets," they might have scored a few on their own volition.
And then..........my Mom and Grandma pulled the ultimate in sneakiness by surprising the entire Infidel clan with tickets of our very own to attend the show! I freakin choked on my own spit when I got those tickets in my hot little hands, people. I stood on tippy-toes, during a blustery, windy day, in the bed of my truck, just to snap this picture. The security guards shook their heads at me in disgust. Life as a Cirque groupie is so hard sometimes....... The dizzying swirls and dramatic spires made me think that this is what Russia could potentially look like if they ever got a sense of humor.
Yes, and here's the Infidel peeps just chillin tent side and waiting for the show to begin! The Corteo theme centers around a clown's journey to Heaven and all the adventures and memories that swell up on the way. When compared to other glitzy and borderline garish Cirque Du Soleil productions, Corteo retains a very refined and understated quality. There's more flying angels in fabulous dresses than you could shake a pitchfork at. Grown men immerse themselves inside gigantic Cyr wheels, where they rotate like spinning tops. I called 'Heads.' Sunbum called 'Tails.' The performers kept their balance, and didn't topple over. Not even once. And the show included an impromptu rubber chicken rain storm. Yes. Now, that's what I envision my own Heavenly ascension(hopefully) to look like. An ocean of rubber chickens as far as the eye can see.

Oh, and my son, Buster, loved the show despite the noticeable lack of people dancing on crotches.