A traditional circus act is not something most people see every day– especially in Fort Collins. Luckily, The Fort Collins Fringe Festival presented Cirque du Fringe Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery by the performers of Spectra Circus Entertainment.

The show started with a Lyra ring performance which started with some basic twirls, holds and rolls. While the act earned some applause, the energy started lower at the beginning and gained traction throughout the night. 

The same tone carried on to the next two acts: the fire staff and trapeze events. While things were beginning to pick up the pace, these two acts seemed to serve as a preface to the rest of the show. It was not until the fire fan duet that the night’s excitement really started as the audience was enthralled by a swift, eccentric, fiery light show full of amazing twirls, spins and choreography.

When the audience is interactive, it makes it better for us and makes it easier to perform because the moves just come to us and we feel the performance more through the audience reaction.”-Carienne Watson, owner and director of Spectra Circus Entertainment.

The performances kept ramping up after the fire fan duet as the show moved to the fire parasol, a bamboo umbrella with lit ends. From there, the performer moved from the parasol to what the performers called a “haerialist,” which is an aerialist suspension performance in which the performer was suspended by her hair while dancing.

“I thought it was so amazing; I saw some things I’ve never seen before,” audience member Nick Sensemn said.

The last two performances, the fire hoop and silks, were the highlights of the show, both eliciting large reactions from the audience. The fire hoop was a fantastic spectacle of fast-paced twirls and throws. The silks performance was an impressive display of aerial movement with drops, impressive posing and elegant movement.

“I loved the audience,” said Carienne Watson, owner and director of Spectra Circus Entertainment. “They were very interactive. When the audience is interactive, it makes it better for us and makes it easier to perform because the moves just come to us and we feel the performance more through the audience reaction.”

Ty Davis can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @tydavisACW.