Executive producer Andrew Spencer said: "It's the first time this type of entertainment has come to Canberra."

He said the "slightly dark, slightly sexy" show was a collection of circus acts from around the world including Eastern Europe, South America and Canada as well as Australia. Many of the performers had worked for Cirque du Soleil but unlike that show, he said, there was no storyline in Le Noir - "just great act after great act ... two hours of great entertainment. It's spectacular."

One of the highlights, he said, was the skating in the finale by Australian Jessica Anne Ritchie and her Mexican husband Jeronimo Ernesto, who spin at breakneck speed.

Spencer said, "They met on a cruise ship that Jeronimo was performing on and as the story goes she had never done the act before."

He taught her and they became partners both on stage and in life.

One of the other performers, Anna Ostapenko had long dreamed of being a hand balancer. But she knew it was a lot of work: 5½ years of training and maintaining a constant level of fitness with two hours of training five days a week to keep it up.

"The first show I was in there was a girl doing hand balancing," she said.

They became friends and Ostapenko began learning how to balance.

"I started with a circus act when I was 15 years old – 13 years ago," the Ukrainian-born performer said.

"I was an athlete before that, sports athletics, and after that I joined Cirque du Soleil."

She performed in three different acts but had her heart set on hand balancing and kept at it until she had mastered it. In 2014 she left Cirque du Soleil, in which she had performed for 12 years, to become a self-employed artist.

"I can do different kinds of things, different shows."

She said this was her first time in Australia.

"It's amazing, I'm really enjoying it."

Le Noir is on at the Canberra Theatre until May 10. Bookings: canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 62752700.