Cirque Du Soleil

1st Mariner Arena, which turns 50 next year, was unharmed after today's earthquake. Building inspectors toured the facility after the earthquake and found only a few cracks on the walls. "The building's infrastructure is in solid shape," said spokeswoman Jamie Curtis. Only Cirque du Soleil experienced a glitch as a result of the tremors. The circus was setting up for Wednesday, the first of five nights at the arena, and had to temporarily pause the installation for the building to be evacuated, like most everywhere downtown.  The circus's engineers also toured the venue after the earthquake and found scant damage.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Many people dream of running away from home and joining the circus. Neil Goldberg had a better dream -- to create his own circus. Tucked away in a cluster of Pompano Beach warehouses are the offices, circus school and design shops for Goldberg's Cirque Dreams Studios, a home-grown operation that has turned into an international entertainment conglomerate. Although he has big plans to branch out into television and the Broadway stage, at the moment Goldberg is content sending his psychedelic European-style circus to college campuses, casinos and performing arts complexes, like the Hippodrome Theatre, where Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy opens for a week's stay Tuesday evening.

The artistic director never dreamed of running off and joining the circus. Neither did the playwright he hired to put his vision of a circus on stage.For "Cirque Ingenieux," the show that opens Tuesday at the Lyric Opera House, that's probably a good thing, because this "cirque" is intended to have more in common with the theater than with the circus."It's a little bit of the 'Wizard of Oz,' a little of 'Alice in Wonderland,' a little bit of a lot of fairy tales," says Neil Goldberg, co-producer of "Cirque Ingenieux" and founder and artistic director of its Florida-based parent company, Cirque Inc.And, unlike the story of its creators, "It's the story of a little girl who decides she wants to join the circus, and by the end of the play she does, and her dreams are realized," explains Washington-based playwright Norman Allen, who wrote the libretto for "Cirque Ingenieux."

With a cast of 50 hailing from 14 countries, Cirque du Soleil's Varekai isn't merely an acrobatic extravaganza, it could serve as a model of international understanding. After all, juggling and balancing acts are often the core of diplomacy. Unfortunately, these feats are well beyond the skill sets of most diplomats. But if they could learn by watching, they'd quickly realize there's nothing "mere" about the acrobatics on display under the blue-and-yellow tent that Cirque du Soleil has pitched at Harbor Point.

The first rule of any civilized society, says Linda Ellerbee, should be to "let the people be different." Yet in the last of three news special for young people on cable's Nickelodeon network tonight, she demonstrates how societies collectively conspire against difference."

You've seen its otherworldly face staring you down from dozens of Baltimore venues for months now. A cacophony of color, fur and feathers, the creature's diamond-encrusted grin effortlessly captures the imagination. You've heard its name on the radio and tried out the smooth, foreign sounding syllables on your own tongue. Finally, Cirque du Soleil's creation, Dralion, has arrived in Baltimore. This dazzling creature that has been decorating posters and city buses exemplifies Dralion perfectly.

"Fool Moon," the wordless hit Broadway comedy starring clowns Bill Irwin and David Shiner, opens a monthlong run at Washington's Kennedy Center on Saturday.The Kennedy Center engagement comes after three Broadway runs, beginning in 1993 and culminating in a return engagement that ended last month. Irwin, an original member of the avant-garde troupe KRAKEN, as well as the Pickle Family Circus, is a 1984 MacArthur "genius" grant recipient. Shiner is a former star of Cirque du Soleil. In "Fool Moon," they are accompanied by the bluegrass string band the Red Clay Ramblers.

Tonight "Dancing with the Stars" viewers were treated to a mish-mash of the classical stylings of Andrea Bocelli, rap by Flo Rida and a pop medley by Cirque du Soleil set to Michael Jackson tunes. Covering all musical bases. ESPN sportscaster Kenny Mayne, NFL great Jerry Rice and DWTS judge Len Goodman revived their DanceCenter spoof this episode, confirming that the show has a good sense of humor. It also provided plenty of jabs at Kim Kardashian's marriage and Maksim Chmerkovskiy's ego. Breezing into the semifinals were J.R. Martinez, Hope Solo and Ricki Lake.

When Stacey Teague graduated from the theater department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County five years ago, she wanted to jump-start her career in costume design. But instead of sending out resumes and portfolios, she took a less conventional approach: She ran off and joined the circus. The Calvert County native joined Cirque du Soleil - the Montreal-based company that has transformed the circus into a modern, gravity-defying theatrical production - as a temporary dresser.

If there were any questions about the relationship between State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy and her newly appointed crime-fighting partner, Police Commissioner Kevin P. Clark, they were answered Wednesday after a public sniping session. Clark, eight weeks on the job, gave Jessamy a five-minute, public tongue-lashing at a meeting of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, which includes about two dozen city players, including the mayor and top judges. The new commissioner was angry that Jessamy's office spoke to the press about lapses in the police drug-testing lab that have caused prosecutors to drop cases in court.