BMX and Blue-Topped Bro-Tagonist Command Stage in Cirque du Soleil's VOLTA at Atlantic Station

During media night for VOLTA -- Cirque du Soleil's latest big top showcase visiting Atlanta -- the stage action kept prompting memories of my ninth birthday.

That year brought resolution to a long-sought upgrade from red "kid" Schwinn to a more rugged, Huffy-style bike with knobby tires.

When we reenacted scenes from "CHiPs" or "The Dukes of Hazzard" riding in the neighborhood, I just knew my fourth-grade air time was epic, even though most of my jumps were more like Napoleon Dynamite's.

Packed with freestyle BMX tricks and other extreme moves, VOLTA left me thinking "Tony Hawk meets the Sun Circus." 

And thanks to some sweet hooks in the show's excellent soundtrack -- masterfully composed by M83's Anthony Gonzalez and performed live -- a guitar-riff ear worm brought to mind a slight nod to Cirque's fellow-Canadian artist, Avril LaVigne, and some of the strings in her hit "Sk8er Boi."

To be clear, VOLTA does not include skateboarding.

The production does, however, showcase more amazing BMX moves than I could count, and elements of at least two other Olympic sports: trampoline and gymnastics (specifically, rings). 

I asked the tour publicist whether VOLTA features Olympians (it doesn't), and learned the production includes a six-time Artistic Skating World Champion of senior women's solo skating (as close to Olympic-level as a roller skater can get). 

VOLTA also features many elements traditional to a Cirque du Soleil experience: modern dance, juggling and jumping, and vivid costumes -- in this case by three-time Emmy Award winning designer Zaldy. A clown-like character for comic relief, and many high-flying or gravity-defying elements each get their due. Only a high wire act seemed noticeably absent in this production, but VOLTA is grounded in other strengths.  

It took me longer than in other tours to catch on to the story line, which goes something like this:

The performance opens on the set of a game show with a live studio audience greeted by an aptly-named, gold-sequined host "Mr. Wow." 

His contestant du jour is a blue-topped sportsman crowned with feathers (about 1,500 hundred of them), and the show's press kit outlines the dilemma for VOLTA's pro-, er, bro-tagonist. 

WAZ is a game show contestant who lost touch with himself. He's ashamed of who is is because of his difference, and he enters the show in search of fame, thinking this will bring him love and acceptance. 

What he finds is something else -- fame is not the answer -- and if fame doesn't provide freedom and acceptance, then what does? And will WAZ reconnect with his true self, standing up for all that makes him truly unique?

Each of the acts that follows introduces events or choices from WAZ's past with a dollop of social commentary in the form of The GREYS, a marching representation of the masses too self-absorbed to look up from their glowing mobile screens. 

I loved the energy VOLTA brings right out of the gate, and its earnest introduction of other characters, including the free-spirited ELA (the aforementioned Italian roller skating gold medalist) and a Canadian duo who emerged as show-starting favorites performing hand to hand on a unicycle.

Some may recognize these performers, Phillippe Bélanger and Marie-Lee Guilbert, from appearances on "America's Got Talent."

The part when Guilbert stands atop her pedaling partner's head -- WHOA!

Many in the audience also gasped during the "Mirage" segment also known as the "hair suspension" act, in which Brazilian aerialist Vanessa Ferreira Calado opens her segment in a seated yoga position only to levitate and perform the remainder of her solo while suspended by a single pony tail braided to a simple chord and silver ring. 

OUCH!

And YIKES!

And breathtaking.

I mentioned VOLTA's comic relief, performed in this tour with great timing and a slight Russian accent by Andrey Kislitsin, who shares a battle royale with a trio of laundry machines. 

Watch closely for a climbing act reminiscent of Georgia O'Keeffe's painting "Ladder to the Moon," and a wake up call via the "Rise & Shine" trampo-wall performance. 

And the bikes. Many, many bikes.

VOLTA is a different kind of Cirque du Soleil show, and I recommend it for anyone looking to reunite with the Sk8er Boi or Gal inside each of us. Check it out at Atlantic Station now through Jan. 5.

Photos via Cirque du Soleil. All costumes by Zaldy Goco. Image credits include work by Matt Beard (WAZ, Mr. Wow, Unicycle, Trampowall), Michael Kass (The GREYS), Patrice Lamoureaux (BMX, ELA) and Benoit Z. Leroux (Mirage).