Circus Couture combines circus acts, fashion show, more to help children’s cancer clinic

Considering Circus Circus and Cirque du Soleil's multiple incarnations on the Strip, Las Vegas has always qualified as a circus town.

And on Sunday at the Hard Rock Hotel's The Joint, one more circus comes to town: a circus that celebrates the spirit of giving.

That's Circus Couture, a second annual extravaganza that combines silent and live art auctions with a cocktail party, a runway fashion show featuring avant-garde designs and circus acts spotlighting a variety of Strip performers, from acrobats to aerialists.

There's even a live head-shaving planned to benefit the locally based St. Baldrick's Foundation, which supports childhood cancer research.

The St. Baldrick's connection seems particularly fitting, considering that "Ka" aerialist Erica Linz , Circus Couture's artistic director and president, made her charity debut as a founder of Cirque du Soleil's Cirque du SoBald head-shaving team, which raises funds for St. Baldrick's.

As Linz became aware of pediatric cancer needs in Southern Nevada, however, "we really needed to find a way for a bunch of performers and entertainers -- who didn't have a lot of money but had tons of talent -- to put together a really great fundraiser," she explains.

That fundraiser became Circus Couture.

Last year's inaugural edition, which she says attracted a standing-room-only audience to the Palms' Rain nightclub, raised $80,000 for the Children's Specialty Center, the only clinic in Nevada to treat kids with cancer -- regardless of their family's ability to pay for services.

This year's goal: $110,000, which Circus Couture organizers hope will take care of the clinic's deficit and fund the hiring of a much-needed doctor.

"Through the recession, it's been difficult to maintain funding" at the clinic, Linz says, in part because officials receive "more and more requests" from families who need the services but have no way to pay for them.

This year's Circus Couture, themed "The Revolution," will be even bigger than last year's inaugural event, Linz promises, thanks in part to The Joint's "huge and great stage."

At a concert venue with sophisticated stage technology, "it will be easy for us to put in aerial rigging" to accommodate the aerialists on the bill, she says.

Overall, "it's a blank canvas that we can paint with charitable beauty," Linz says.

But "The Revolution" will begin even before the performers go to work, with hula hoopers and jugglers setting the circus atmosphere as guests arrive.

"From the moment they walk in, the goal is to provide a full experience for guests," she explains, citing a red-carpet entrance leading to the cocktail party and silent art auction featuring 60 donated works from local and national artists.

The "crazy couture" portion of Circus Couture features such designers as Jenny-Leigh DuPuis , Wendy Eberhardt and Paul Franklin.

"Expect a lot of feathers and rhinestones -- and yards and yards of fabric," Linz says of the over-the-top creations designed to reflect various "Revolutions," from French to feminist to industrial.

After the fashion show, Circus Couture's volunteer performers will hit center stage, taking a break from their "day jobs" in shows up and down the Strip.

"Individually, we're just acrobats doing cartwheels across the stage," Linz acknowledges. "The whole of our efforts is much greater than the sum of our parts."

Or, as one designer described Circus Couture to Linz, " 'Last year was awesome -- this year is awesome on steroids.' "

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.