THE kids squirmed in their seats as four Russian acrobats flew through the air, twisting and turning and looking as if they might plunk down on our heads.
I’m a cool mom. I nearly leapt out of my chair.
But Thomas, the 9-year-old who’d been watching till then with studied coolness, said it for all of us: “That was the best!”
The Big Apple Circus is back at Lincoln Center for its 30th – and maybe best – edition with a show titled “Celebrate,” featuring performers dressed as harlequins who dance into the ring in one of the most colorful opening acts ever.
You won’t find elephants or lions here, and this year’s show is short on trapeze acts. But for the kids, this was more than made up for by Yasmine Smart’s dancing, white horses and Irina Markova’s jump-roping dogs. And of course, there are the antics of Grandma the Clown, played by stalwart Barry Lubin in old-lady drag.
It’s a single-ring show – no seat is more than 50 feet from the action. But the intimacy can make mistakes difficult to conceal, which is part of the fun. Daris Huesca, one-half of an Italian acrobatic troupe, tried a triple somersault off his brother Natalino’s feet – and landed on his face.
He shrugged it off, but the kids weren’t buying.
“I think he fell, really,” said 8-year-old Shania.
No such troubles befell Russia’s Kovgar troupe. With astonishing grace and split-second timing, these acrobats performed what I’d call a death-defying leap – my death, that is, since they were above my head – as they climbed aboard stilts, then a teeter-totter, then shot high into the big top.
Then, either gravity or magic or training kicked in, and the troupe landed safely, feet still attached to massive stilts.
Style points go to a trio of gold-painted acrobats who looked alarmingly like statues. That is, until Virgile Peyramaure used his incredible strength to lift Audrey Matchev and Sarah Schwarz into what looked like a three-headed creature.
“You don’t want to turn your head, or you miss something good!” exclaimed Eliza, 8.
Don’t blink.
BIG APPLE CIRCUS
Damrosch Park behind Lincoln Center, through Jan. 13; (212) 268-2500. Tickets $28 to $125.