Disco music is pulsing, spotlights are flickering and acrobats are sprinting across the stage. What could they be running from? Whatever it is, it’s surely no match for performer Sam Letch who opens proceedings by lifting no fewer than six of the cast at once. In this piece, named after the most feral forest predator, Australian company Circa are here to demonstrate who the alphas of the circus pack are, and they are not messing around. 

The choreography, by Yaron Lifschitz and the cast, never lets up its pace. In Libby McDonnell’s slash-patterned costumes, they take turns to pounce, climb and cling to each other. It’s balletic and athletic, tender and fierce. The balances are wildly creative, and the control the performers display is near immaculate. There are stumbles at the performance tonight, but their recovery is always swift; and is it any wonder when they are pushing themselves to such insane feats? 

One acrobat summits and descends another like they are a mountain. They make pillars of bodies and tilt them together, locked in an A-frame. Christina Zauner dances a thrashing aerial-strap solo, with splayed feet at gnarled angles. There’s a rough, cub-like play to the inventive acrobatics, and sometimes the impact with which the dancers throw themselves at the movement (and each other) looks as painful as lupine fangs biting flesh. All of this is set to a fight-or-flight, throbbing soundtrack from DJ Ori Lichtik, making for a thrilling, savage ride. 

Circa: Wolf, Underbelly Circus Hub, until 23 August, 6.20pm.