Impossible standards of beauty

Last weekend we went to see the amazing Cirque du Soleil while it is in Portland. If you haven't heard of it before, it's an amazing circus comprised of acrobats, gymnastics, contortionists, and really funky, artsy stuff--although what else would you expect from those funky, artsy Québécois? Some of the routines are so over-the-top you can't believe that humans can actually do what you're seeing with your own two eyes. One of the performers was so flexible that she could balance on a tiny platform raised on a pole and bend herself backwards so far that her butt was resting on the top of her head!!! In another one, a pair of twins did these aerial maneuvers that had us closing our eyes thinking that they were going to go flying off into the audience. That's them in this picture and notice that the only thing holding them up is two straps around their wrists (and the only thing holding up their outfits is evidently a tiny bit of lycra). Aside from this routine, the costumes are so over-the-top that it is a recipe for a spectacle more engaging than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performing at the grand opening of the Victoria's Secret flagship store in Amsterdam. If you ever have a chance to go see one of their performances, be sure and go (Cirque, not the Tabernacle Choir--well, I guess if you're in Salt Lake and happen to be on the Temple Square tour and they HAPPEN to be performing I wouldn't dissuade you from going in--I'm just saying that Cirque du Soleil TOTALLY tops people singing hymns)!

Although I have to forewarn you that once you see the perfect specimens of the human form at Cirque, you'll want to go straight to the gym. I've gone to the gym twice since seeing the performance and can now bend so far back that I can look at the ceiling while I'm standing up! Woo hoo! only 3 feet to go...