Kamikaze Heart

The HyWy, a friend, and I went to the circus last night.  I know the images that conjure up in people's head when one says the word circus: a big tent, elephants, clowns, etc.  This wasn't quite that kind of circus.  It was closer to Cirque de Soleil than it was to Ringling Brothers.  Really though it was something entirely different.  This was City Circus' Kamikaze Heart.  There was a two person live precussion band, there were breakdancers, there was clown type entertainment (not clowns for those of you who dislike clowns), there were acrobats, and then there were aerial acrobats (that's what I decided to call them, because they use rope or scarves to do amazing acrobatic stuff). 

There was a sense of a story that went along with the show and in typical San Francisco fashion it was part fantasy, hearts flying to the moon, and part reality, boy falls in love with grantwriter.  The story was a bit strange and hard to follow, but I didn't need the story at all.  The performers were had my attention the whole night.  The performers ranged in age from about 10 to 30.  I remember seeing Cirque de Soleil as a kid and being fascinated by the things people did.  At the time I thought it was because I was a kid, but last night City Circus was certainly able to recapture that sense of amazement.  The performers that blew me away the most were the aerial acrobats that would do things with ropes, hoops, and scarves that I can't even begin to convey here.  There was also this inherent joy on all their faces that showed how much they loved doing this.  It was particularly evident in the face of the youngest castmember, an acrobat.  Kamikaze Heart is in it's second weekend of performances and you could still see the excitement just overflowing from this young girl.  As if all the performers weren't enough the music was wonderful.  Part of the soundtrack was prerecorded original pieces, part were mainstream songs that must have been licensed, and part were live pieces.  The website promised beatboxing, which was so seamlessly integrated into the soundtrack that I had to think just to pick out the parts.  The reason the percussion duo was so great was because they got to interact on occasion with the performers.  I also can't remember if I have ever seen breakdancing performed to live music, which in a way reminded me of classical Indian dancing accompanying classical music. 

Overall I highly recommend this circus if for no other reason than to remember the awe of seeing something really cool as a child.  The tickets were 17 bucks total for unreserved general admission seats and the theater is the right size so that there are no bad seats.