Go and do

WHAT: Cirque Sublime

WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10

WHERE: Androscoggin Bank Colisee, Birch Street, Lewiston

TICKETS: $44 for floor seating, $38.50 for bowl seating, $25 for children 12 and younger. Tickets can be purchased at the Colisee box office, by calling 1-877-GO-TIX-GO, and online at www.thecolisee.com. Tickets are $5 off for groups of 10 or more. For group tickets, visit the box office or call 783-2009, extension 208.

“Seeing the way these performers move their bodies into different shapes and angles is amazing.” – Kellie Morris

Artistry and athleticism Cirque Sublime performers will extend their bodies horizontally, swing from the rafters at Lewiston’s Colisee

In a production like Cirque Sublime, there is a fine line between athlete and artist.

Both talents will be on display when this acclaimed Canadian troupe of world-class athletes-turned-artistic performers appears Sunday, Feb. 10, at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.

“This show is for anyone who enjoys theater, dance, martial arts and gymnastics,” said Kellie Morris, event and marketing director at the Colisee. “Seeing the way these performers move their bodies into different shapes and angles is amazing.”

For this theatrical show, the stage will be set half-way up the floor, and seating will be on the floor level and in the stands, Morris said.

Cirque Sublime is smaller but similar to the shows of Cirque du Soleil, which are widely known through numerous PBS television appearances.

The show coming to Lewiston promises to deliver the same high quality for a mesmerizing auditory and visual experience, Morris said. “Lights will be set up across the top of the arena. There will also be performers swinging and hanging from the rafters right above the stage.”

Colorful costumes, imaginative make-up, lights and sounds are essential elements in a Cirque Sublime performance, with artists creating moments of beauty, strength and comedy in trapeze acts, silk routines and displays of acrobatic skill.

As an example, performance artists, using two tall poles, extend their bodies horizontally. This world-class act has won six gold medals at festivals around the world.

Another particularly exciting act is hoop diving, a unique and creative routine said to be done only by Cirque Sublime performers. A stainless-steel cylinder hoop is used in another acrobatic act; and in yet another, a performer manipulates a 6-foot-square cube of stainless steel.

An aerialist relies on silk fabric for a graceful act high above the audience, and in “Candle Opera,” performers create a beautiful scene featuring contortion and fire.

Another performer’s display of movement and contortion is called “Equilibrium.” It’s the result of her 10-year effort to perfect her craft. She is rated as one of the strongest hand-balancing performers to come out of China.

Cirque Sublime was founded in 1997 by Decker LaDouceur, who has been working with circus acts for about 20 years. He started training with a flying trapeze artist in Mexico and later worked with a circus school in France. In the past decade, he has worked with teams of 35 to 40 artists at the Toronto School of Circus Arts, where Cirque Sublime originated.