by David Taub

Cirque du Soleil began a six-show, four-night run Thursday at the Save Mart Center. “Toruk-First Flight,” inspired by the movie “Avatar,” certainly was a feast for the eyes. The stage encompassed the entire arena floor, providing excellent sight lines for all the action that unfolded. At times, there was so much going on so fast, the audience didn’t know whether to stop and clap.

The story, which was sometimes hard to follow amidst all the action, follows two Na’Vi (the blue people from “Avatar”) around their home world of Pandora, searching for five sacred items that could save their people.

The arena-floor sized stage allowed for numerous dance and acrobatic numbers with the nearly 40 cast members. A world-class projection system seamlessly transitioned the stage into the Pandoran world of land, sea and air.

For Cirque fans, “Toruk” was more of a storyline oriented show than most other performances.  There were fewer flips and mid-air tumbling stunts compared to other shows. “Toruk” featured more rope and pole climbing acrobatics.

Click here for remaining show times and tickets.