I remember my very first Cirque du Soleil performance, years ago, immersed as I was in a different circus, the television newsroom. Sitting in the dark, under the big top, I was awestruck: each act outdid the other, each performer strange and surreal in their miraculous movements.
These people cannot be human was the takeaway. We mortals whistled, applauded, safe in our seats and everyday stance. Leave it those crazy cats, dangling mid-air, we laughed, before heading to the bar at intermission.
I was wrong then, as I was about many things.
Great leaps are possible with trust, from the first steps to waiting hands, to the long walk down the aisle, to the exquisite pain of childbirth.
We can twist our bodies inside and out and back again. We are only rooted by choice.
I love this little film because I no longer look at Cirque performers as beautiful freaks.
They are what we all are with the right cocktail of trust.
