Inside Out

The Big Apple Circus is a traditional treat for kids, but some young connoisseurs might think they’ve been there, done that. Enter Inside Out, a surreal, cirque nouveau spectacle that mixes avant-garde circus arts with theater, dance, music and street culture.

Presented by the Swedish performance troupe Cirkus Cirkör this month at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the piece follows two people who feel trapped by success and logic, and as a result, are consumed by anxiety and fear. The pair’s worries dissipate when they meet a gang of circus folk who dazzle them (and the audience) with stunts: A balance artist tiptoes across champagne bottles, acrobats do handstands on the backs of chairs, and a juggler coordinates his improvised set to a drummer’s beat. Electropop band Irya’s Playground provides musical accompaniment onstage in the midst of the madness.

The performers gradually build a case for why the protagonists—and the rest of us—should embrace daring arts. As creator Tilde Björfors puts it, the production aims to inspire viewers to "learn to take their fear by the hand and leap." And it seems that goal is being met: After the show, Björfors says, "we see children juggling with mittens and turning cartwheels on their way home."—Blair Tidwell

Inside Out plays at BAM Howard Gilman Opera House Nov 12–15.

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