Cirque du Soleil is bringing its maniacal, subversive take on a circus to the MetroCentre in Rockford for a week of performances beginning Tuesday, Feb. 24 and capping Sunday, March 1.

Performing Saltimbanco, a show first performed in 1992 and inspired by the hustle and bustle and diversity of a modern metropolis, Cirque du Soleil awed the opening night crowd with its dazzling technical precision and perfect synchronization while performing high-flying acrobatic maneuvers.

The visually impressive stunts were tempered by comic sequences featuring a number of bizarrely dressed jesters, including a mime whose oversized suspenders and dorky red shirt resembled the garb of Steve Urkel.

According to the Quebec troupe’s Web site, Saltimbanco was its first major touring act and also the first to tell a specific narrative. Each group of performers, depending on whether they wear shabby-looking rags or the luxurious clothing of an aristocrat, is supposed to represent a specific population on the social hierarchy in the city, each at odds, jousting for their piece of the action on the center stage.

All of the details were lost on me, however – partly due to the insane $15 asking price for a program. What I witnessed were a bunch of muscle-bound gymnasts and fluid, graceful female performers dressed to the nines, taking turns one-upping each other in a series of jaw-dropping routines.

The performance featured ground level gymnastics, percussive mastery, rafter-grazing trapezery and even semi-traditional juggling, all performed amid a surreal, kaleidoscopically-colored set that I assume was intended to resemble a city street.

The clowns took their cues from a live rock band similarly dressed in nightmarish jester outfits, performing on a platform at the deep end of the stage. The band wailed on cheesy guitar and saxophone solos during the goings-on and occasionally even participated in the scenes.

The fact that I was ignorant of Saltimbanco’s haughtier ambitions didn’t really bother me that much, as I understood what everybody goes to see at Cirque du Soleil: complicated stunts executed flawlessly and flamboyantly by consummate professionals.

Highlights for me included a series of amazing feats performed on a yellow bike by a yellow clown. The clown, obviously conscious of his considerable talent, judging from the smirks and poses he passed the audience, did headstands while the bicycle was in motion and at one point actually rode the bike sitting on one wheel, while pedaling the other. It is hard to describe or even recall, but I’m positive that I witnessed it.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter what is really going on up on the stage, as everybody is sitting too wide-eyed, mouths agape, to care. I went to Cirque du Soleil to be entertained and, boy, was I.

I’d never seen a giant green Clown King jump 30 feet into the air off of a seesaw into the arms of his reliable followers and probably never will again, but thanks to these people, I did tonight.

Go see them before Sunday and have a good time.