Lyra Cloth Dancer

As the mischievous clowns finish their act with a flurry of hilarious puns, I grab the microphone again and announce the next act in my velvety voice. As for Kibble, he is having a great time and taking advantage of my new status as Madame Loyal to clown around far too much. After making a top hat appear, he plunges his head into it and pulls a small martengale in his teeth. And then they start to chase each other underneath the huge and colorful big top. But the intermission is already over, and the clowns leave, taking with them their huge balloons, hoops, pogo sticks, trampolines and red noses. After my little speech introducing the incredible, the extraordinary, the astounding Ehuang, all the spotlights converge at the top of one of the poles and on the slim silhouette waving to the crowd from on high. One of her hands reaches up to the heavens, while the other holds a trapeze.

When the drum roll suddenly stops, Ehuang launches herself into the void, without net or harness. An audible gasp can be heard from the audience as the trapeze sweeps through the air. From the second pole, another acrobat sends her a different trapeze so she can catch it. Ehuang lets go of the first trapeze while jumping towards the second. But as her hands grasp the second horizontal bar, the ropes snap and she starts to fall to the ground, desperately clawing at the air for something, anything to hold onto. The people in the audience rise, horrified. But they don't have time to avert their eyes. Using Alteration, Ehuang manifests long coils of fabric that wrap around the poles and grip them strongly. And as she plummets down, she wraps herself in the cloth, slowing her fall, then spins round and round with grace and great skill. When she finally stops, hanging upside down with her hands outstretched towards the crowd, the applause breaks out like thunder.