Going digital: Cirque du Soleil performer brings flexible fingers

Sometimes, hands just have to dance.

Nico Baixas, a performer in Cirque du Soleil’s KURIOS-Cabinet of Curiosities, took his flexible, expressive fingers to Herbert Marcus Elementary School on Thursday in front of deaf and hearing-impaired students. His show was not only entertaining, but his moves showed another way of how hands can be used to communicate beyond sign language.

“You can use your hands to do big things, strong things,” Baixas said. “But you can also use your hands to do little things, like painting.”

The contrast also works to describe the difference between the small, tabletop performance at Marcus to the stage-filling KURIOS show, which runs through Sunday, March 26, at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie.

After performing a couple of hand-dancing routines set to music, Baixas showed students a series of finger-bending poses they can do on their own.