West Valley City » Earth's got talent.

At the E Center Wednesday,more than 50 performers from nearly 20 countries delivered a dazzling, spellbinding and ultimately inspiring "Saltimbanco," the first classic Cirque du Soleil show to be presented in arenas.

A technicolor kaleidoscope of costumes, lights, music, makeup, gymnastics, theater and dance threatened to overwhelm the senses, but you simply could not take your eyes off the circus performers.

In each set piece, the superhuman humans showcased tricks that in every case gradually escalated into grand finales -- making this a show full of grand finales.

The family-friendly "Saltimbanco" debuted in Montreal in 1992 and had a 14-month run under a traditional circus "big top" tent. In 2007, it was reconfigured for arena shows, and the transition appears seamless.

The theme of the two-hour show -- the title means "to jump on the bench" in Italian -- is about exploring the urban experience, from childhood to adulthood. But rather than dwelling on traffic jams, overpopulation and the continuing Industrial Revolution, the show offers an optimistic take on life in the city. Each act showed through performance that inevitable headaches and responsibilities can be juggled with ease and that skyscrapers can be leapt over in a single bound, literally.

For example, during "Adagio," three acrobats contorted their bodies to create complex and gravity-defying figures, and the act symbolized birth, the family unit and the fragility of life. In the next set piece, 24-foot-tall Chinese poles represented skyscrapers, with acrobats climbing them and soaring through the air, 25 feet above the stage. In one of the most mesmerizing set pieces, a juggler began with four balls, and one by one, other balls were thrust at him until he was juggling eight balls at once. You couldn't believe your eyes.

But "Saltimbanco" was more than just death-defying tricks. Although the performers spoke in gibberish throughout, there was much humor in the show, as well as audience interaction providing comic relief, and set pieces featuring a very talented mime.

The bright set, 100 feet long and 65 feet wide, divided the E Center space into a half-circle, effectively positioning the audience, which didn't quite fill the venue to capacity. (This weekend's shows, which include matinee performances, should be more crowded.)

The show was flawed by a 20-minute intermission that stretched too long, and the performers didn't achieve perfect symmetry in every set piece. And with one notable exception -- an operatic aria sung during an aerial trapeze routine that heightened the thrill of the tricks -- the rest of the accompanying music by a five-piece band was bland saxophone-led light jazz that dulled some of the onstage performances.

But those are only small problems, which didn't diminish the overall power of this unique spectacle of a show.

dburger@sltrib.com