Cirque Du Soleil

This time around, Cirque du Soleil is all about joy. The Grand Chapiteau is back on the Avenue of the Arts, playing host to "Alegria. " The word means "joy" or "jubilation" in Spanish, and this Cirque du Soleil spectacle provides two hours of fast-paced acrobatics, athleticism and artistry. "It's a big, big celebration," says Luc Ouelette, the artistic coordinator of "Alegria. " "It's a very light, very magical show. " The show is different in tone from "Varekai," the last Cirque production to stop in Philadelphia.

Flexing their muscle again over Philadelphia's entertainment business, labor unions halted setup operations yesterday for a Cirque du Soleil show in South Philadelphia. The union representing ushers and ticket-sellers, reportedly upset about wage levels, called for an "informational picket" near the site at Washington Avenue and Broad Street where the Canadian-based show was preparing to raise its "big top" tent. Then other union members joined the action after an alert was sent by Patrick Eiding, president of the Philadelphia central labor council of the AFL-CIO.

At first glance, the majestic vista of a forest of towering redwood trees in Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man seems no more than a typical Imax image. Then the remarkable Quebec-based troupe Cirque du Soleil arrives, cascading from the highest branches in an aerial bungee ballet. The troupe's celebrated fusion of artistry and acrobatics has long seemed an ideal candidate for the Imax treatment, and Journey of Man soon shows why. From an underwater sequence that offers an astonishing blend of symmetry and synchronization to the visual razzle-dazzle of Cube Man atop an ancient rock formation, its act is made for the big screen and the bigger setting.

Cirque du Soleil, one of the biggest tourism events in Philadelphia this fall, will perform here Thursday for the first time in its 17-year history. But the show got off to a rocky start. The city's building-trades unions complained last week that the Montreal-based traveling circus was excluding them from setting up the show's $20 million worth of circus tents, stages and lighting. Members of Laborers Local 332 picketed Thursday morning at the performance site, an empty lot on the northeast corner of Broad Street and Washington Avenue.

Contortionists Ekaterina Bogdonova (top) and Valentin Ganey of Cirque du Soleil perform for 2,000 international meeting planners at a cocktail party at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel yesterday.

Conan (11 p.m., TBS) Actor Adam Sandler; chef Christina Tosi; Joe Jonas performs. Late Show With David Letterman (11:35 p.m., CBS3) Melissa McCarthy; Anthony Bourdain; Joan Baez performs. The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (11:35 p.m., NBC10) Ellen Barkin; Henry Cavill; Cirque du Soleil performs. Jimmy Kimmel Live (12 a.m., ABC6) Taylor Lautner; Herman Cain; Junip performs.

Matt Greenfield wasn't the first 12- or 13-year-old to go to the circus and quickly figure out what he wanted to do when he grew up. His, though, wasn't a typical adolescent ambition, one fueled by bulbous noses and floppy shoes. Greenfield fell in love with the intricacy, not the lunacy, of the performance. The show was Mystere , by Cirque du Soleil, and Greenfield, a 2006 graduate of Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, began a dream that never faded. Barely a decade later, it might become quite real.

The Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus will soon be coming to Philadelphia. I ask all caring Philadelphians to not buy tickets to this event which profits off the torture of animals. Instead, take your family to see only animal-free circuses, like the Cirque du Soleil or the Pickle Family Circus. Circus animals are essentially slaves being cheated of life so that others can profit. And the animals suffer a lot of pain while "learning" their tricks. The only way to stop this evil is for good people to say it is wrong.

KIRK DOUGLAS, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Pat Riley all asked Judge Richard M. Berman to go lenient on Michael's son, Cameron Douglas, but their kind words couldn't keep Cameron out of prison. But facing a mandatory 10 years in the clink for a charge of conspiracy to distribute drugs, Cameron did catch half a break. Berman sentenced him to five years in the hoosegow yesterday, announcing the sentence after hearing Cameron, 31, apologize and admit that he had squandered a lot of opportunities to turn his life around.

HAVE YOU grown accustomed to Cirque du Soleil spectaculars that seem less like a circus and more like a surreal aerial ballet or Asian action movie fantasy? You know - shows that come saddled with some convoluted, mystical plotline (at least in the program book) about the quest for truth, beauty and humanity? Or maybe you've come to think of Cirque for its permanently installed mega-productions in Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla., where the tens of millions of dollars spent on high-tech stage machinery often dwarfs the mere mortal performers.

Question: I need some help. My friend and her husband have been extremely good to me this last year. It has been a difficult year for me personally and they have opened their home to me and their friendship has been unlimited. As a token of my appreciation, I recently purchased two tickets to Cirque du Soleil La Nouba in Orlando for them. They booked a hotel and planned on making it a fun-filled weekend. The tickets state on them to arrive at least 30 minutes early.

For folks who vow that the New Year will include more exercise and fewer calories, Las Vegas can be a place where good intentions disappear like a $20 bill into a slot machine. However, for those determined to keep those resolutions, a few resorts and restaurants have come up with ways to make it more fun and tasty to honor those earnest pledges of better fitness and nutrition. At the Mirage Resort and Casino, guests can keep themselves in a self-improvement groove by attending yoga while focusing on the graceful and soothing movements of the dolphins who reside in the resort's dolphin habitat.

Cirque du Soleil, the international circus troupe noted for eerie live music and spectacular feats of human strength and daring, is making a brief stop at Temple University's Liacouras Center on its national tour. Quidam is one of many Cirque shows, and although it seems diminished from their circus shows I saw five or 10 years ago, including an earlier version of Quidam , there are still some reasons to gasp or murmur, "Amazing!" The show attempts a narrative: A little bored girl at home with her parents is suddenly spirited away to a place of wonder.

Conan (11 p.m., TBS) Actor Adam Sandler; chef Christina Tosi; Joe Jonas performs. Late Show With David Letterman (11:35 p.m., CBS3) Melissa McCarthy; Anthony Bourdain; Joan Baez performs. The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (11:35 p.m., NBC10) Ellen Barkin; Henry Cavill; Cirque du Soleil performs. Jimmy Kimmel Live (12 a.m., ABC6) Taylor Lautner; Herman Cain; Junip performs.

TEDxPhilly is a local branch of the annual think-tank conference at which speakers don't just talk - they expect attendees to engage with their ideas. This year's theme is our city, with speakers like artists Haas & Hahn, who painted the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Saturn Never Sleeps; and Yael Lehmann, executive director of the Food Trust. Temple Performing Arts Center, 1837 N. Broad St., 9 a.m.-6 p.m., tomorrow, $100, 215-204-9860, tedxphilly.com. WHEN YOU'RE A JET On Dec. 23, 1961, the film version of the groundbreaking Broadway musical "West Side Story" was released.

HALLOWEEN BUG OFF Raab Himself, of "Jackass" fame, hits Six Flags Great Adventure for a gross-out Halloween event that should be avoided by katsaridaphobics. (Not up on your Latin? That's fear of cockroaches.) Fright Fest wraps up this weekend with a Mouthful of Misery cockroach-eating contest. The first 20 guests to consume a Madagascar hissing cockroach will get free entry to the Mortuary Manor terror trail. FYI: The Madagascar hissing cockroach is one of the largest species of'roach, growing about 2 to 4 inches in length.

There are only a handful of well-known circuses in the United States: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Cirque du Soleil, Big Apple, and UniverSoul. Cedric Walker, 58, owns one of them, the one that features first-rate performers from all over the world. Hint: It's not Cirque du Soleil. Walker is the chief executive officer and founder of UniverSoul Circus. Once considered a "black circus," UniverSoul has outgrown that categorization. Walker wants everyone to know that UniverSoul has far more to offer than just hip-hop under the big top. "UniverSoul originated as an idea to present family entertainment relevant to the urban experience," Walker explained in an interview from his hotel room in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - The Twin Cities boast a major attraction that is not even inside their borders: a mall. A big mall. Last year, about 42 million people visited the Mall of America, officially in the suburbs, at the end of Minneapolis' Hiawatha high-speed trolley line, about 25 minutes from downtown. The light-rails, as they're called, leave you off inside one of the parking garages, only feet from a mall entrance where the newly renovated Sea Life aquarium, wholly different from the old aquarium, greets you. About 18 million of those visitors were out-of-towners.

The top DVD choices this week include the remake of a western classic and a long list of TV shows. True Grit, Grade A: Sibling directors Ethan and Joel Coen combine the grandeur of a traditional western with their quirky sensibility. It takes an actor of Jeff Bridges' caliber to step into the big boots of Rooster Cogburn, a role that earned John Wayne his only Oscar. With strong supporting performances from Hailee Steinfeld and Matt Damon, the film is one of the best of the West to come moseying along in years.

"GO AHEAD, fool, jump. " I swear, that's what onlookers had to be thinking last Friday afternoon as they gazed up at me as I trembled in terror 25 feet above Broad Street. I wanted to holler, "Get me offa this thing!" But I'd already climbed all the way up that wobbly ladder, and I sure as heck wasn't going to embarrass myself by crawling all the way back down. No way. Besides, this was my big moment - a once-in-a-lifetime chance to live out the fantasy of being a circus performer on a flying trapeze.