How spoilt for circus we have become at the Fringe, when the first human tower of three which the Copenhagen Collective build in The Genesis barely draws a gasp. The bar is high for August acrobatics in Edinburgh, raised by companies like Circa and Gravity And Other Myths, both of whom have now made the shift from the Fringe to the International Festival. But what the global plethora of circuses, all with elite acrobats, have created is a culture that is constantly pushing itself, always evolving, and striving to dream up more challenging and impressive feats, both in virtuosic flashiness and in texture and grace. 

Copenhagen Collective, a relatively new company, announce themselves with a bang in The Genesis which combines jaw-dropping stunts and carefully choreographed beauty. The cast is made up of 17 acrobats: practically a circus chamber orchestra, and a huge number of bodies to move around on stage in multiple dimensions and at varying velocities. But choreographers Patrick King, Johan Silverhult, Daniel Gulko and Britta Oling have attacked the task with endless creativity, originality and curiosity for the shapes, tangles and patterns a group of bodies can make.

We see sequences of synchronised flips, jagged asymmetrical balances (with one acrobat lifting two in different directions at once), lifts and plunges that flow like liquid, and leaps that feel as though they have never been performed quite like that before. The co-operation of the group is astounding, particularly when things go slightly wrong. Their contingency plans, and the focus and care they show for each other are almost as marvellous to watch as the actual acrobatics. It's physics and anthropology in motion at the same time. 

Sometimes the cast work together to make enormous four-tall pillars from which one performer plummets, or a human trampoline for another to bounce off on their way to a higher human tower. At other times they pulse in a circle, squaring up to each other in pairs in the centre, in video game-style combat battles. But this show’s greatest achievement is the ingenuity of its imagery. One acrobat balances on her hands on another’s chest as he backbends, while the backbend itself is echoed in chorus by other cast members. When, towards the finale, two human towers collapse in slow motion it’s like an optical illusion. Here is circus that can still awe even as it moves with the times.  

The Genesis, Assembly Hall, until 25 August, 12.30pm; Peacock Theatre, London, 3-6 September; main picture: David Poznic.