iLuminate takes to the stage with the electric buzz of neon lights.

Think back to elementary school art class, you scrape away tarmac black with a shiny penny to reveal the breathtaking rainbow of crayon colors underneath. That's how iLuminate made me feel.

Costume-lit performers dance in the dark like electrified colored gas in artfully curved tubes. Flickering, color-changing LEDs pop the characters from the dark, sometimes at the top of jump - so you only see them land, appearing out of the aether, like fireflies. The dances are sweetly choreographed, while the flicker and color patterns add a second layer of poetic choreography.

A loosely woven narrative appears between sets of dances, while this dialogue serves to enrich some of the characters, it's less engaging than the dance and spectacle of light.

I appreciated the music mined from the most recent 4-5 decades, but it was not as well matched to the sound system as I would have expected and the mix could have used a bit more sweetening.

That said, iLuminate is a treat! Inventive, exciting, creative, inspirational, and of course, illuminating. Actually, just seeing all those humans and tech sync almost seamlessly is exhilarating.

Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts is a wonderful venue. It's surrounded by a generous supply of good free parking, and located walking distance from a plethora of eateries (I enjoyed Pielogy). There's even a Trader Joes.

The facility goes vertical, its lobby has the feel of a decked out cruise boat lobby. Inside the venue's main hall, seats climb vertical as well. Because of the robust pitch, even the last row isn't so far from the stage.

-- Books by Author/Illustrator Ross Anthony --