Such is how traditions, be they Handel's "Messiah" or Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker," get their start.

If one show is a special event, and two is a return by popular demand, three years in a row is where nostalgia begins.

Cirque de la Symphonie, the troupe of acrobats, contortionist, jugglers and aerial artists, returned to DeVos Performance Hall for its third "Cirque de Noel" with the Grand Rapids Symphony.

What's more, Tuesday's show was only the first of three through Thursday.

A feast for the eyes is what happens when Alexander Streltsov and Christine Van Loo, wrapped in red silk, twirl and spin, intertwined together, 20-feet above the stage. A treat for the ears is what comes from David Lockington leading the Grand Rapids Symphony in the "Waltz of the Flowers" from Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" as Streltsov and Van Loo circle above them.

Music for the season plus movement to match the music is what Cirque de la Symphonie delivers with "Cirque de Noel."

Some of the Cirque de la Symphonie's show is the same. Elena Tsarkova's contortionist routine, to a waltz from Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty" Suite, is familiar. Still, when Tsarkova perches on one leg, lifts her heel to her shoulder from behind and then bends forward perpendicular to the floor, you have to see it to believe it.

Her husband, Vladimir Tsarkov, a juggling, mimicking, mime, maneuvered three, then four, then five, and finally six rings in the air, leading you to suspect he also could do seven or eight, given another chorus of Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride."

If I'm any judge of audiences, strongmen Jarek and Darek can keep on doing the same moves, and folks still will be awed over how Darek does a one-handed handstand on Jarek's head while Jarek rises from a seated position to a standing. The ominous sounds of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor added to the suspense.

New faces and new acts arrived with multi-talented acrobat Vitalii Buza, who never tired of winking at the audience while swinging on aerial straps, twirling a spinning cube, or spinning himself in a Cyr wheel, a metal ring, fully as tall as himself. Once positioned inside, Buza had the wheel and himself spinning in varying revolutions, about once per second, swing dancing with himself to the "Peanut Brittle Brigade" from Duke Ellington's "The Nutcracker Suite."

Irina Burdetsky, an irrepressible spitfire if ever there was one, worked a series of hula hoops at high velocity to a set of Hanukah dance tunes, beginning with one, twirling on most every part of her anatomy from feet to topknot, finally ending with more hoops than could be counted, covering every inch of her from neck to kneecaps.

The newest newcomer was Kai Newstead, just 13 years old, but spinning on aerial silks more than 13-feet above the stage. His routine to Schubert's "Ave Maria" didn't bite off more than he could chew, and as he grows in strength and experience, he will continue his ascension as a noteworthy performer.

Grand Rapids Symphony played heroically on several, full-bodied, festive arrangements of holiday music as well as more meaty fare such as the Troika from Sergei Prokofiev's epic "Lieutenant Kije Suite," a glittery showpiece for orchestra.

Georges Bizet's Farandole from "L'Arl�sienne" was a wonderfully cheery opening to Act II, and Gioachino Rossini's "The Magic Toy Shop," magic supplied by Ottorino Respighi's orchestrations, did the trick rather nicely.

It doesn't even have to be holiday music to say happy holidays.