So I got to see Cirque du Soleil Varekai on Saturday night, with Michelle (who gave me a ticket for my birthday this February, huzzah!) and Michael and Ivy and Susan and Michelle's parents.

It was absolutely incredible. If you've never seen a Cirque show I urge you to go...they have several permanent troups and a handful of touring ones. Varekai was breath-taking. It's total sensory overload. The music is spectacular, the costumes are gorgeous and inventive, the sets are so detailed and busy they can hide all kinds of secrets...it's impossible to see and absorb everything that's happening. There's this amazing sense of story throughout the show--I think I easily absorbed 4 or 5 different story possibilities which may very well wind up coming out in my own work.

I'm left with the feeling of wonder you get from finishing an incredibly good book (or story or poem, or movie even) where you have to forcibly return yourself to the real world, and even then there's still some part of you lost in the fantasy. It was completely enchanting. I definitely have to go to another show.