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"A Perfect Circo
Food with the floor show
By Nirmala Nataraj
Photo: Randy Fisher

Circo Romani.
The spirit of the circus is nomadic, so Circo Romani: A Gypsy Dinner Circus shouldn't come as a surprise. After all, the Roma have been known as skilled acrobats, dancers, singers, and carnies for hundreds of years. Whether that reputation is deserved or simply due to the caravan's mystery (like that of a big top) is anyone's guess. Circo — comprising local clowns, contortionists, aerialists, and other zany talent — transforms a cavernous warehouse into a makeshift grand chapiteau in which waitstaff serve a four-course feast. Roller-skating bears with a penchant for picking on audience members share the stage with stilt-walking ringmasters and aerialists gliding from impossibly high rafters.

The stars of the show include Fleeky Flanco, contortionist and fixture at the Exotic Erotic Ball, and vaudevillian Mike Templeton. The Gypsies, a "polyethnic" strolling dance band from Houston, provide the soundtrack — a blend of swing, klezmer, Middle Eastern music, country, and other genres banged out on an assortment of instruments from balalaika to guitar. Food is provided courtesy of caterer Julia Pecak, an honest-to-goodness Romani chef and owner of Bistro E. Europe, a former Gypsy cuisine outpost in the Mission District. The delectables include potato pogacsa, veggie kebabs, and meat-stuffed cabbage.

Expect the romance and wonder of Teatro ZinZanni blended with the surrealist absurdity of Pee-wee's Playhouse.