Flashing lights, dazzling costumes and smiling faces will fill the Baton Rouge River Center this week when Cirque du Soleil’s Saltimbanco Arena Tour makes a stop in the Red Stick.Cirque du Soleil shows borrow elements from theater, dance and music to create a circus worlds apart from their big-top predecessors.The Saltimbanco show is based on the urban experience and stresses diversity as a cause for hope. Saltimbanco explores the people who live in a city, the hustle and bustle of the street and the towering heights of skyscrapers.The show features 49 artists from a variety of countries and professional backgrounds.”There is a little bit of ourselves in all our shows,” said Senior Artistic Director Richard Dagenais. “I really enjoy this show because of that personal touch that each artist brings.”Saltimbanco premiered in 1992 and toured for 14 years under a big-top tent, visiting 75 cities on five continents. In 2007, the show was reconfigured for larger arenas and now each show is able to seat 4,000 to 5,000 spectators. It is the longest-running of the Cirque de Soleil shows.Dagenais said the show does not tell a narrative story from beginning to end, but instead expresses the emotions and scenes associated with life in the city.The show combines circus staples like acrobatics, juggling and trapeze with more untraditional performances like bungee jumping, artistic bicycling and a Chinese discipline which features 26 acrobats performing at more than 25 feet above the stage.The Baron, a striking figure dressed in a black and white striped cape, long red gloves and a top hat, is the guide through Saltimbanco. He leads the audiences through a dream-like city where the impossible is often not only possible but likely.Popular scenes include the Russian swing, Adagio and bungee jumpers.The Russian swing catapults performers up to 30 feet in the air, where they execute breathtaking aerial jumps before falling either on their feet, on the shoulders of their partners or atop a human pyramid.Adagio, inspired by a discipline called acrosport, features three acrobats whose bodies meld together to create astonishing figures in a show of strength, flexibility and balance.The show ends with artists flipping, swaying and bouncing in time with each other in perfect synchronization while attached to bungee cords.”I love the finale,” Dagenais said. “It’s very dream-like and lyrical and just very beautiful.”Dagenais said he still enjoys watching the show even though he’s seen it hundreds of times.”All our shows have their own certain personality,” Dagenais said. “I got attached with the show and every time I watch it I notice something new.”Performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Friday at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $35 to $90 and are available at www.cirquedusoleil.com.—Contact Jack LeBlanc [email protected]