Big cats and acrobats

March 21, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

CLEVELAND

Adventure seekers and extreme- sports enthusiasts will have plenty to unite over at this year’s I-X Indoor Amusement Park, which opens Friday and runs through April 15.

In addition to thrilling rides and a big-cat show, this year’s spring rite of passage includes the Northeast Ohio debut of Cirque Shanghai. This acrobatic troupe, which was created less than a decade ago, appears annually at the Navy Pier in Chicago and is coming off a sold-out run on Broadway.

“At its core, it’s a Chinese circus that draws upon the long tradition of Chinese acrobatics, known as some of the best in the world,” said International Special Attractions Ltd. Associate Producer Jonathan Sanford, whose company is producing Cirque Shanghai. “It is packaged nicely using a lot of lights and sounds in order to make it more tenable for Western audiences. That’s why it has gained so much popularity over here.”

Sanford said in comparison to other traveling shows featuring Chinese acrobats, Cirque Shanghai provides choreography and transitions in its 45-minute show.

“Year to year, we change our shows and tweak things,” Sanford said. “The I-X Center show will be unique because what we’re doing is we’re taking what is normally an hour and a half show and we’re condensing it into a 45-minute power-packed show so the audience can be like, ‘Wow, what am I watching here?’ and then move on to the next thing.”

This year at the I-X Amusement Park that next thing could be the Big Cat Encounter along with more than 20 acres of rides, including the fan favorite Freakout, which swings riders up to 70 feet high. There’s also the flying Cliff Hanger, the aptly titled Spinning Coaster, the G-Force and the Flying Dutchman. All are taking riders to great speeds and heights with promised stomach-churning results.

For those younger visitors, Kidzville has more than 25 rides, a petting zoo and a 3-D haunted house that isn’t too spooky for the smaller ones. And of course, there’s the aforementioned Cirque Shanghai, which boasts attractions that may be familiar but nonetheless are still enthralling and life-threatening.

“It’s funny, we joke that this particular show we’re bringing to I-X is the show of death,” Sanford said. “Several of the acts have death in the title. The Globe of Death is the large globe where you put four or five motorcycle riders in it and they go around and round. You’ll see the Wheel of Death, which is arguably one of the most dangerous circus acts ever. It looks like two giant hamster wheels that go around and rotate. The acrobats who are up there are weightless for several seconds when they do this.”

Overall, Sanford said the entire Cirque Shanghai approach is nothing short of breathtaking.

“It’s one of those things where you don’t want to watch because these people are going to kill themselves,” Sanford said. “Yet, you have to watch because what you’re seeing is ridiculous.”