Zumanity

I've seen several of the Cirque du Soleil shows: O, Quidam, Dralion, and now Zumanity, which is one of four Cirque du Soleil shows on the Las Vegas strip.

Unlike many of the X rated shows in Vegas, I'd categorize it more like NC-17, a classy topless show in comparison. I always knew the bods in Cirque were quite hot considering their amazing feats of gymnastics and body control. Zumanity has this too, but unlike the other shows that emphasize the form over gender (people seem genderless in Cirque shows), Zumanity brings the male and female forms to the forefront as well as innuendo every fetish and form of sexuality there may be from S&M, to midgets, to genderbending and well bending. And unlike alot of Vegas shows, it looked like just about everyone were natural sizes.

The show is full of humor, as they must always have the clowns, who flirt and make their way through the audience both clothed and not, up and over and through the seats. As one commenter put it on the Zumanity website, "what exactly is it about Vegas that causes staunchly conservative type tourists to suspend morality, when arriving in Vegas?". If there's a show that brings this out, it would be Zumanity. Near the end they pulled and polled various people in the crowd asking them if they came, got horny, or were a bit hot and bothered from the show. In their finale, they brought up a knitted sweater granny from Illinois and got her into a few compromising positions that were hilarious.

For someone in the bay who are familiar with Castro at Halloween, and various drag king, drag queen, and erotica performance art, Zumanity is not new and is actually a show that one is a natural step forward for the Cirque franchise.

While the other Cirque shows create an awe from the incredible possibilities of the human body and form, and we ooh and ah because there's no way we could possibly do those things but are inspired nonetheless. Zumanity shows a side of the human body that does include these impossible feats, but also gives us the layer of passion and seduction that is capable in all of us no matter what our form. In the end we are struck not by the abilities of the people on stage, but of the abilities within ourselves we may have not yet tapped into.