"Opus"

"Opus": Australia's Circa Combines Circus Arts & Classical Music

With incredible physicality, razor-sharp precision and boldly inventive choreography, the Australian performance troupe Circa takes the concept of "embodying" a work of classical music to an electrifying extreme in its production "Opus", swooping into Cal Performances' Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley. The instrumentalists of the Debussy String Quartet join the troupe's balletic acrobats as cast members, performing three Shostakovich string quartets. As they play, the nimble members of Circa will create a counterpoint to the emotionally tumultuous music -- springing, snapping, flying, twirling and stacking themselves in masterful feats of balance and strength. This is, as "The Telegraph" puts it, "cut-glass, caviar circus. It's black tie and ball-gown circus...graceful, bombastic, profound."