With Halloween nigh and the holidays approaching, it’s time for The Cabiri’s annual celebration of pagan mythology, part of its ongoing Ghost Game series. Winternacht is a collection of seven folk tales and myths enacted via the local company’s signature combination of aerial work and acrobatic dance. These stories recall dark, cold olden times, when danger is always close by. At its best, Winternacht is like a pocket version of Cirque de Soleil, as we watch fantastical gymnasts spinning above us. But unlike Cirque, whose productions are more fanciful, Cabiri’s stories derive from ancient foundation tales. The evening is part grad thesis, part cabaret show. (Absinthe, champagne, and dessert options help put you in the mood.) One of the challenges of using aerial choreography is finding a theatrical reason for performers to hang from the ceiling. Here, the flying and swinging help transform Cabiri dancers into superhuman gods and monsters. If one dancer has both feet on the ground, and another hovers overhead, it fits the mythic realm where men grovel and gods fly. Winternacht is full of the scary stories we loved to hear as children, plus the fantasy role-playing that fascinates some adults. The show brings to mind Comic-Con, steampunk, and The Society for Creative Anachronism. Considered as part of the same historical/fantastical tradition, putting the Hittite gods on a trapeze makes perfect sense. SANDRA KURTZ

Fridays-Sundays; Mon., Oct. 31. Starts: Oct. 21. Continues through Oct. 31, 2011