Alegr\u00EDa, Cirque du Soleil\'s eighth production, is a Spanish word that expresses elation, jubilation and exhilaration. This is just what I felt during this spectacular performance.

My birthday was coming up in July. I was on summer holidays in Sydney\'s winter, in Australia. My husband kept asking me what I wanted\u2026a ring, a nice necklace? I couldn\'t decide. Then we took our son to see the Imax production of The Journey of Man, a 3-D miracle of Canada\'s Cirque du Soleil (Circus of the Sun). Well, what an experience! I then discovered the very troupe was in Sydney, performing their latest creation, Alegria. Ah ah, my birthday present! Eagerly I called for tickets\u2026.ALL SOLD OUT\u2026.except for VIP seats\u2026.$180!! This was prohibitively expensive for the whole family\u2026but hang on, it was MY birthday\u2026so, you guessed it, I went alone! I parked right next to the tent, I got a wonderful lunch, refreshing drinks, and 1st class seats, to witness the pinnacle expression of the human body and spirit.

The performers did things I never knew the body was capable of. They twisted and contorted and leaped and swirled and knotted and balanced and flew\u2026.yes, FLEW. I could hardly keep my breath! The clown scenes were also entertaining, mainly because a 2 year old behind me was shrieking with laughter at them! He was funnier than they were!

Officially this circus is Canada\'s wonder child, but the troupe has Russians, Poles, Mongolians, you name it, in their numbers\u2026.there was even an Aussie girl!

Oh, and the music! I bought the CD, and now I re-live my experience nearly every day in my Abu Dhabi lounge room. It is in French, and takes you far away to the exotic\u2026

Oh please, please, come to Abu Dhabi! I simply must see everything they ever do.

Linda Moctezuma

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'; var Buttons = ''; var Buttons1 = ReplaceStuff('[Num]', '1', Buttons); var Buttons2 = ReplaceStuff('[Num]', '2', Buttons); var GetAnswerOpener = ''; function GoBack(){ var BackSkip = history.length - PreviousPage; if (BackSkip > 0){ history.go((BackSkip+1)*-1); } else{ parent.history.back(); } } function ShowReading(){ if (ReadingFrame != null){ if (ReadingURL.length > 0){ ReadingFrame.location.href=ReadingURL; } else{ ReadingFrame.document.clear(); ReadingFrame.document.open(); ReadingFrame.document.write(ReadingText); ReadingFrame.document.close(); } } } function BuildExercise(){ var OutString = ''; var Temp = ''; var GridStuff = GridOpener; for (var i=0; i 0){ Temp = NumLetterCell; Temp = ReplaceStuff('[ClueNum]', C[i][j], Temp); //Add location info Temp = ReplaceStuff('[x]', i, Temp); Temp = ReplaceStuff('[y]', j, Temp); } //Otherwise add a blank cell else{ Temp = LetterOnlyCell; } //If the cell is already answered, add the letter from the Guess array if (G[i][j] != ''){ Temp = ReplaceStuff('[Letter]', G[i][j], Temp); } //Otherwise, put in a non-breaking space else{ Temp = ReplaceStuff('[Letter]', ' ', Temp); } GridStuff += Temp; } } GridStuff += GridRowCloser; } GridStuff += GridCloser; //Put the final pieces together OutString = GridStuff; BuiltExercise = OutString; } function WriteFeedback(Feedback) { if (is.CRAPBrowser){Feedback=ResolveAllURLs(Feedback);} //Build the output string var OutString = ''; OutString += ''; OutString += ''; OutString += ''; OutString += NavBar; if (Feedback.length>0){ OutString += '' } OutString += '

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'; //Write it to the frame TopFrame.document.clear(); TopFrame.document.open(); TopFrame.document.write(OutString); TopFrame.document.close(); } function DisplayExercise(){ //Build the output string var OutString = ''; OutString += ''; OutString += ''; OutString += ''; OutString += TitleCode; OutString += Buttons1; OutString += BuiltExercise; OutString += Buttons2; OutString += BuiltClues; OutString += NavBar; OutString += '

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' + DownClues + '' OutString += ''; BuiltClues = OutString; } function ShowClue(ClueNum,x,y){ var OutString = ''; var AnsLength = 0; var i; var j; CurrBoxElement = ClueNum; if (A[ClueNum] != null){ OutString = OutString + 'Across: ' + ClueNum + '. ' + A[ClueNum]; OutString += GetAnswer; OutString = ReplaceStuff('[BoxName]', 'BA'+ClueNum, OutString); //Find out how long the answer is AnsLength = 0; i = x; j = y; while (j 0){ OutString += '
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