If you missed Cirque Vertigo last week at Busch Gardens’ Real Music Series during the park’s 60th Anniversary, don’t panic! It is coming back at the end of the Real Music series. This highly popular limited engagement was a packed house at each show. For those who miss the touring Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus for all its death-defying acrobatics, then you are in for a treat! Returning for the final week of Real Music Real Masters series, Cirque Vertigo featuring the famous Wallenda Duo March 11-16. As none of the Real Music Real Masters shows run on Sunday, for those of us whom work Monday-Friday, make sure you catch the show on Saturday at either 11:30 or 1:30. Seriously, this show fills up faster than Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. And with good reason. It’s a limited run and is an absolutely spectacular extravaganza.

I cannot mention enough the importance of picking up a FREE show ticket (that essentially means you have A seat) before the show. The show WILL FILL UP. I imagine that the second run of the show will be even more popular because of all the Twitter and Instagram activity during the first run. So, you have a few weeks to plan your next visit.

At approximately 45-minutes, this is a long theme park show, but it is high impact the whole time. Cirque Vertigo has it all–comedy, acrobatics, audience interaction, and adrenaline pumping music! The show opens with a hilarious monologue and giant ball-spinning act by the emcee. This is a great transition from arriving at the theatre to the show because some tensions were high with the chaotic loading of the theatre. Comedy is a great way to calm down those who may be frustrated that they didn’t get the seat they hoped they would get. Throughout the show, the emcee proves audiences with some laughs between the balancing and acrobatic acts. Although much of his humor is self-deprecating, there is no question that he has some great talent for balancing large objects, Chinese yoyo tricks, and more.

The first act involves spinning lights lots of mindblowing balancing acts. All are fascinating to watch! As the lights fly by, the trail left behind the lights displays the Real Music series logo. This act is a combination of light spinning and gymnastics. Following the light spinning, another acrobat brings out a huge wire frame cube and spins and balances it. Pretty sure that cube was taller than the performer. By far the most impressive routine in the opening was the balancing act on the silver cylindrical shapes. As I am not a circus performer, I am not certain of the proper name for those elements of the act.

The second act takes extreme hula hooping to the next level! I have difficulty just hula-ing with one hoop let alone dozens! The first part of the routine involves juggling hula hoops in a fantastically choreographed routine followed by hula-ing dozens and dozens of hula-hoops.

The third act takes you to the sky as the silks falls from the ceiling and the acrobat ascends! Silk routines are among my favorite at Cirque or Circus shows. There is an incredible beauty to how the acrobat moves up and down the silks. It is clear where the show got its name because of all the vertically aligned acts that reach for the sky. More so than the other acts, this one stands out as aerial interpretive dancing–an experimental ballet suspended above the stage.

Act four starts on the ground, then towers to the rafters. The same acrobat that balanced the giant cube before is back with a different geometric shape. This time, he impresses the audience with incredible feats of balance and movement with the ring. There is literally nothing that this guy can do with the ring. Personally, my favorite routine was spinning on the round and rolling around the stage in it. Following the ring routine, the next acrobat stacks chairs more than 30ft in the air (maybe even higher) and does a handstand! Phenomenal! Such a magnificent display of acrobatic prowess.

The fifth and final act before the finale features the Wallenda Duo! I’ve seen trapeze routines, high-wire acts, and other circus staples, but I’ve never seen a circus act like this one before. With a vertically aligned bar suspended from the trusses, the Wallenda Duo mesmerizes the audience with a gravity-defying routine act that will hold you in suspense as death-defying acts are on display before your very eyes. No CGI, no fly system, no safety net–just world-class acrobats that are (if I remember correctly) fourth generation circus performers.

You do not want to miss a single epic moment of Cirque Vertigo!

Visit the Busch Gardens website for more information on this and the other exciting acts coming to the Real Music Real Masters series!