It’s a creative and strange delight that is not to be missed.

For anyone who’s ever been to a Cirque du Soleil show, it’s tough to encapsulate the experience in words. The performance is an explosion of color and movement, often times overcoming the human eye. So in lieu of sending a reviewer to pen a conventional review of CDS’ OVO show at the Plateau at National Harbor, we thought we’d enlist Kevin Carroll — who last week checked out the raising of the Grand Chapiteau where the performance is held — to deliver a photographic review of the show that, at times, defies verbalization. While he was there, Kevin even managed to fenangle a rare glimpse into the preparation for the show. The OVO show runs through October 24; tickets are available here.

Surely, you’ve seen the advertisements — Cirque du Soleil is coming to Maryland early this month for a limited engagement at the Plateau at National Harbor. Yesterday, the Cirque finished raising the massive enclosure which will house the performance. The Grand Chapiteau, as it’s known, is 66 feet high and is 167 feet in diameter. Each mast of the structure is 80 feet tall, and 550 pegs hold the Chapiteau to 4,500 square metres of asphalt. The tent — though it’s really not fair to call it simply a tent — can hold 2,600 people. DCist staff photographer Kevin Carroll was on the scene to document the big top’s ascension.

Not all circuses were created equally. Cirque du Soleil often most closely resembles a play, opera, or dance about a circus, rather than a circus in its own right. Cirque abandons many components of the traditional circus that many people take for granted: you won’t find any animals in here, and all the music is live. Cirque peformances seem to always carry a narrative component that resides somewhere between the surreal and the fairy tale…

Editor’s Note: We’re trying out a new end-of-the-day feature this week, affectionately called Go Home Already, which gives us the chance to point out any important headlines we might have missed during the day, great posts from the local blogosphere, a fun photo, and of course, remind you to get the heck out of your office because there are enough workaholics in this city as it is. It’s just a trifle, but we’re sure you’ll…

The Southwest Waterfront exemplifies one of the District’s most obvious failings — the city’s inability to exploit property along the shores of the Anacostia and Potomac rivers. Much like the dismal, though improving Georgetown waterfront, the Southwest Waterfront is a soul-starved stretch of concrete and uninspired architecture. Shut off from the rest of the city by federal lands and a highway, the area has never much taken on a life of its own. That’s…

Although it’s a bit expensive, we here at DCist thought we should note that the Cirque Du Soleil production “Varekai” opened here in D.C. this weekend. The show runs Tuesday through Sunday until Oct. 24 on the grounds of R.F.K. stadium, and tickets range from $55 to $75, or – if you can afford it – $195 for VIP seating, reserved parking, and gourmet hors d’oeuvres. The show, set “deep within a forest, at the…