This amazing circus is one of Montréal's great success stories. The company -- founded in 1984 by a pair of street performers -- has revolutionized the ancient art of circus. Its shows, now an international phenomenon, use no lions, tigers, or animals of any kind. Instead, colorful acrobatics flirt with the absurd through the use of music, humor, dance, and glorious (and often risqué) costumes, The cirque has four resident companies in Las Vegas, one in Orlando, but none in Montréal. However, every couple of years -- usually odd-numbered ones -- one of its international touring companies returns to where it all began, the Vieux-Port, and sets up the familiar blue-and-yellow tent for a summer of sold-out shows.