Another circus-inspired delight from Montreal

Set to music ranging from Tosca to the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Sequence 8 includes group dance sections with a heavy dose of aerial acrobatics, a Russian bar routine that's a cross between trampoline and balance beam, and many gravity-defying acts.

What makes 7 Fingers - which brought its Traces to last year's Live Arts Festival - extra-special is the intimacy and humanity of its show. The Merriam is hardly a small space, but compared with a circus ring, it brings the audience closer and magnifies the details.

The simple costumes (mostly dance and workout wear) and occasional small missteps only made the performance more believable, and thus more amazing. If a performer drops the boxes he's juggling or needs a second turn doing a somersault through a hoop because he knocked it down the first time (both happened Tuesday night), he seems more like an otherwise ordinary person with extraordinary talent than a freak of nature.

The show runs through Sunday. See it if you can.