With popcorn and cotton candy priced to support life on the road, Cirque Italia, a company based out of Brandenton, Florida, sends four touring companies of the “Paranormal Cirque” across the United States and Canada every fall since 2017. Advertised as a fusion of “theatre, circus, and cabaret with European flare,” performers from the Americas and Europe stage acrobatic spectacles, magic routines and comedy interludes against booming music and laughter. On Friday, Oct. 10th, the circus came to Aurora, Colorado.
Left: Audience members laugh while attending the Paranormal Cirque in Aurora, Co., Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova) Top: Judith España performs a “Ringu” inspired aerial hoop act above the crowd of the Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
Clean up between shows at the Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. Stray popcorn is blown under the risers for later sweeping. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
Employees of the Paranormal Cirque close out the register between shows, Aurora, Co., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
Performer Leo Nacarado prepares backstage to portray “Leatherface” in a comedic dinner scene at the Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
Yury Belaus performs on the horizontal bars as the opening act of the Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
Leo Nacarado and Laura Vargas Salguiero embrace as the lights go down at the Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. During the show, the couple perform in a sharpshooting act with crossbows. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
Laura Vargas Salguiero, Leo Nacarado and their son sell chocolate covered strawberries during intermission at the Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
A young person in a Pennywise costume gets their photo taken during intermission with performers dressed as horror icons Art the Clown, Freddy Kreuger, and Jason Voorhees. Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
Gabriel Morales winds a music box up for a jump scare during a scene change at the Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
A child in the audience wears a “Purge” style LED mask and pajamas to the Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
Margarita Denysova performs at the Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. Denysova dances through the audience before stopping to elicit a reaction from an unresponsive man. After she performs a handstand split, she leaves the spotlight and the man pulls out a cane for the blind. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
Leo Nacarado brings an audience member on stage for a dinner scene at the Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
Dancers pose before Luigi Hernandez performs on “The Wheel of Death.” Double exposure, Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
Dancers dressed as clowns throw beach balls to the audience of the Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
Melany Portugal Fong performs a “hair hang” at the Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
Andrei Sizonenko stretches before performing once more on the horizontal bars with his group of Belarusian gymnasts, Aurora, Co., Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
The audience rises to meet a large beachball thrown by a clown, Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
An emergency exit at the Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
A car exits the Town Center at Aurora parking lot as the show concludes for the night. Paranormal Cirque, Aurora, Co., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (Radio 1190/Payton Cordova)
