THE BALLOON MAN

Cat Circus Coming to San Francisco

from: blogs.sfweekly.com

By Jessica Nemire

Apr. 17 2014 

The Rock Cats

Samantha Martin has taken being a "cat lady" to a whole other level. Inspired by her lifelong love of animals, as well as her dream of being an animal trainer for movies and TV, feline behavioral expert Martin founded the Acro-Cats, which is, yes, a cat circus!

All of the performers are orphaned, stray, and rescue cats which Martin has clicker-trained to be able to purr-form amazing acro-cat-ics. Throughout the hour-long show, cats jump through hoops, walk on tightropes, balance on balls, skateboard, and even perform in a rock band (the Rock Cats), which features a chicken named Cluck Norris on the cymbal and tambourine and a gong-playing groundhog.

Martin and the Acro-Cats have traveled around the U.S. in their Cat Car, cat-stounding audiences in many different states with their antics. Also, fun fact, Martin trained the rats that appear in Megadeath's "Go To Hell" video.

The Acro-Cats have also been featured in several Animal Planet programs, been on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and mentioned in an issue of National Geographic.

And now, they're coming to San Francisco.

Beginning in late May, the Acro-Cats will have several shows at the Southside Theatre at Fort Mason Center. The dates for the shows are May 22-25, May 29-31, and June 1. General admission tickets are $24, and some of the proceeds from the ticket sales are donated to animal shelters and cat rescue programs.

In addition to taking in and training over a dozen stray or orphaned kitties, Martin has also found purr-manent homes for over 130 displaced cats.

So if you're feline like you want to see some cats perform some crazy stunts, and play in a rock band with a chicken and a groundhog, then check out the show.

Also, watch this video to get a taste of what you might see if you go to an Acro-Cats performance.