Hang Time

Like its other eye-popping shows, Cirque du Soleil's Delirium features luminous sets and over-the-top acrobatic feats. This time, the performance (which comes to town this weekend) centers on Bill, a guy who's fed up with cube-dwelling reality. So he retreats to a dream world, where he discovers a friendlier, less-internet-savvy society. "Bill finds out about being close with others and how to fulfill his dreams when he's awake," says Carmen Ruest, the show's creative director.

Ruest, an original member of Cirque du Soleil, is a Quebec-bred stilt-walker who helped lay the troupe's foundation in 1984. She's been performing and mapping death-defying stunts for its new-wave circus stars ever since. In Delirium, the main character is suspended from a hot-air balloon, while more than three dozen performers jump, leap, and twirl below him. Dreamlike images on four massive screens add to the euphoric mood. "Ever since we were 25 and crazy, we've wanted to make people say, 'Wow! I never thought I'd see something like that," says Ruest. "Twenty-two years later, we should never forget where we came from."
Fri., Aug. 4, 8 p.m.; Sat., Aug. 5, 2 & 8 p.m.