As much as I love seeing countless productions of holiday shows like A Christmas Carol itis nice when something different is offered, and this is exactly what you get with Cirque du Soleil’s new offering at Eccles entitled Twas the Night Before Christmas.

I am not a dance critic or knowledgeable to give any kind of critique on the various performers of the night. The aerialists, acrobats, and jugglers make it all look easy, which of course it is not, but that’s how one knows they are doing a great job. I’m sure someone more familiar with these type of performance acts would be able to give a more nuanced critique but that’s not me.

The setup for the show is a little girl is listening to hip-hop Christmas music when she is taken to a winter wonderland after reading Twas the Night Before Christmas. We then get various ‘acts’ as they are referred to in the playbill including aerialists on various apparatus, roller skaters, acrobats, jugglers and dancers. The artistic director is Melissa Colella and she lets the performers shine and do what they do best. The sparkly decor that surrounds them along with lighting by Greg Groeszinger make the experience more memorable but at the end of the day it’s the quality of the athletes on display which are first rate talents.

My only complaint would be that the production feels a little small for what it’s trying to do. Most of the time there are only one or two performers for every act. I haven’t been to any other Cirque du Soleil shows, but I feel like usually it is bigger with more performers. The few times they made any mistakes (like a juggling pin being dropped or hoops falling over) it stands out because there are so few doing the acts on stage, which is a bit of a shame.

Still, if you are looking to do something different this holiday season I recommend Twas the Night Before by Cirque du Soleil. It is playing through December 14th and is something one could take the whole family to enjoy. Tickets can be purchased here.

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