Cirque du Soleil’s Amaluna

This week I saw my third Cirque du Soleil show.

“Amaluna” is one of Cirque du Soleil’s traveling shows, and its big top has been set up at San Francisco’s AT&T Park for the past couple of weeks.

I didn’t know what to expect from a traveling Cirque show.  Having seen “La Nouba” at Downtown Disney twice in Orlando and “Love” at the Mirage in Las Vegas, the elaborate staging and production required seems like it would be hard to recreate in a temporary setting.

But Amaluna didn’t disappoint.

There were the usual acrobats, contortionists, jugglers, dancers, trapeze artists, intricate costumes and incredible performers.  The stage was small, and the performers set up their own equipment and structures throughout the show while keeping in character.

Dave’s favorite performers were the little acrobats, who stood on top of each other while throwing a lighted rope in the air.  My favorite performer was a contortionist woman, who was fiercely strong and flexible, and who did her entire act balancing by hand off a four-inch square on a pole.

The show took place in a large blue and yellow tented structure in the parking lot of the Giant’s stadium.  There was a little area for food and souvenirs under the tent and a big seating area with raised stadium seats around a circular stage.

Item of note:  There were also fancy traveling port-o-potties, which I just love to use.  (Something about upscale port-o-potties makes me think fun event!)

Let me just say, they are not strict with checking bags at a show like this.  Usually concerts and shows are very particular about outside food and beverages coming inside, but at Amaluna, I saw a woman eating a home-made salad out of Tupperware, and I walked right in with a water bottle complements of our Uber driver.

They were, however, very strict about phones and photography.  Dave snapped one shot of the stage area as we went in, but we were quickly told to put away the phones.  Twice, an usher came over to scold people around us.  Cirque needs to protect its secrets I guess …

I love watching shows that are so mesmerizing you can’t look away.  Amaluna does just that.  It’s a love story, which takes place on an enchanted island.  The show features a primarily female cast, as well as an all female rock band. Girl power!

Surprisingly, the crowd skewed younger.  There seemed to be a lot of teenagers, which I wouldn’t expect of a Cirque show on a Thursday night.  And even though we had only purchased our tickets about a week-and-a-half ahead of time and had no problem getting good seats, every seat in the house was full once the show started.

It’s quite rare for us to be out and about during the week.  If Dave doesn’t have a basketball game and I don’t have a class to teach, then we can usually be found eating dinner at home and watching Netflix.  But sometimes, you just have to get out on a school night and go see a show.

Here’s our feeble attempt at an illegal photo in the tent before the show started. Weird face shadows to say the least.  I promise to start taking better photographs.

In addition to seeing my third Cirque show, I also completed my third week of work at the new job.  This week will be a short one, and then we enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday here in San Francisco as a twosome.

What’s in store?  A turkey trot and a Michael Bublè concert.  Pass the stuffing!