Karaoke might be the Gladstone's biggest night, but that's not what draws this mixed bag of arts hungry bohemians to the hotel's ballroom. Congregating around small cabaret tables they huddle to warm up from the chill outside and anxiously glance at the bar waiting for it to open. No this isn't any normal Sunday night, any conventional night of underground arts and entertainment on Queen West. The hipsters are twittering with a particular brand of pretension tonight. The circus is in town.

Cabaret for a Cause to be exact.

And, while stilt-walking comedians weave through the modest audience coaxing smiles from the most stoic of arts nazis. It hardly evokes the feeling of when flint first struck stone in my panties whence I first glanced upon CK Model Freddie Ljungberg. It does however, pique my curiosity to know I will be sampling similar performances that will be taught to children in South Africa.

Yes, South Africa. The plot thickens. Stick with me here, it's the back story that really what makes it for me.

Enter Circus performer/Aerial Dancer, Stacey Clark's mother on a trip in Lesotho (Luh-soo-too), Africa. Charmed by the strong community spirit of villagers she is particularly rattled by the disturbing truth that penetrates the community. Namely the children who are accustomed to surrender their childhood prematurely in order to contend with poverty, hunger and the pervasive threat of HIV/AIDS.

Mama Clark picks up the phone calls her daughter Stacey and proposes she bring her troupe (High Strung Aerial Dance) and her partner, Dean Bareham's group (Green Fools) down to Lesotho. The thought itself wasn't an awesome epiphany. In fact, for the past three years Stacey and Dean have forayed into the spiritually rewarding realm of workshops and education. With experience working with both children and adults in remote Canadian communities, inner cities and on reservations, Lesotho's children posed a surmountable challenge.

They were ready to teach the kids how to play.

But before they could pack their diabolos and show the kids how to build self-esteem, while fostering an ongoing culture of HIV/AIDS education through performance, they needed to find equipment to give to the kids. Diabolos, balls, stilts, sneakers, you name it, they needed it in addition to their airfare. With generous donations from New Balance sneakers and similarly philanthropic circus equipment suppliers, Stacey and Dean were pretty much set.

But, travelling expenses, personal expense, random unexpected expenses had to be accounted for and this is where were join, back story to foretale. Enter Cabaret for a Cause.

While the entertainment was a random tableau of stupid human tricks, alluring juggling and bemusing acrobatics, I felt like an over enthuse three year old clapping incessantly partially through the amazement of the entertainment and partially through the joy of discovering the sound one's hands make when clapping.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

50/50 tickets were purchased and though I boasted that my tickets had numbers that could not lose, I ate humble pie twice over. Once for not winning, and secondly for imagine the digital camera I would buy with the funds when the real winner donated his winnings back to the cause.

Cabaret for a Cause was the most entertainment I had in the Gladstone that didn't involve an inebriated rendition of "I Touch Myself". Yep, with Dean Bareham acting as the flamboyant Spanish MC in a red unitard, enjoyment was ensured where the alcohol left off. While, a small amount was raised that night, they did get the message out.

There are kids.
They don't have time to play.
We can help them.
For 10 dollars and an hour and a half of entertainment-
We all did.