Hundreds of parents, students, teachers and community members filled the Catalina Magnet High School Auditorium for Tucson Unified School District's special Governing Board meeting concerning potential school closures.

Many held signs bearing messages of support and almost 50 people spoke during the two hour call to the audience.

Here are a few images from the night.

• Mariana Dale
• Students, parents and teachers shouted cheers of support as the auditorium filled before the special meeting began. "The meetings never meant anything to me, but now it's affecting me and my family," said 13-year-old Valerie Verdugo, a Pueblo Gardens eighth grader.

• Mariana Dale
• Valeria Verdugo, 11, is a sixth grader at Pueblo Gardens Prek-8 School. Every time a supporter of their school addressed the audience the group stood in solidarity.

• Mariana Dale
• Lyons Elementary School supporters applauded a speaker.

• John de Dios
• House Troupe performers Xia Bin, left, Zhang Delong, Yin Yupeng, Chang Wenfeng and Luo Shaohua rehearse the Dralion sequence where one of the dragons jump onto a giant ball. The performers, 26 in all, are from Shandong, China. Seventeen nationalities are represented in Dralion.

Take a look behind the scenes of Cirque's Dralion, which will be in Tucson until Sunday.

• John de Dios
• Kevin Chung, a prop technician for Dralion, makes opening-day fixes to one of the Bamboo Pole props while the house troupe practice on stage.

More after the jump

• John de Dios
• Dante Adela melds martial arts and ballet in his interpretation of Yao, the representation of Fire.

• John de Dios
• Jonathan Morin plays Kala, a time-keeper of sorts, that performs in the unique Crossed Wheel that he invented specifically for Cirque. Morin joined the stage opening night with more than 50 other acrobats and artists representing 17 different nationalities.

• John de Dios
• Tara Catherine Pandeya, center, portrays Oceane, the representation of Water. Oceane is flanked by acrobats who performed on trampolines. The set for Dralion itself was as big a part of the show as the cast members.

• John de Dios
• The lead characters of Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Little Buddha prepare to welcome the other lead characters at the start of the performance. The cast members wear elaborate costumes specifically designed for their bodies, said Melody Wood, the head of wardrobe.

In a word: breathtaking.

Cirque du Soleil's Dralion, a traveling whiz-bang spectacle captivates and mesmerizes it's audiences with a rich melding of Chinese traditional performances and Cirque's trademark Avant-garde style of acrobatics.

The slightly over two-hour event is a harmonious blend of rich color, texture and a powerful expression of music and song.

Gezile Daka, 24, a local, attended the show with her boyfriend Jhonas Rubalcava, 26. Both have seen Cirque in Las Vegas and were a bit skeptical when they saw that Cirque was traveling to Tucson, they said. But after the first hour before intermission, both Daka and Rubalcava were already blown away what the show had to offer, they added.

And rightfully so: Dralion's 54 performers from 17 nations take the stage unflinchingly diving through hoops, suspended in the air by silk, or spinning in a unique and innovative "Crossed Wheel" contraption made specifically for Cirque by gymnast and performer Jonathan Morin. Morin, himself a sight to see, spins perpendicular or parallel to the ground effortlessly with such grace that he seems to fly across the stage. Then again, it probably helps that he is also built like a comic book superhero.

"It was pretty magnificent," said Georgina Hillman, 33, who brought her son Ben Cañeda, 11, with for his birthday. "(We were having) one of those superhero conversations where if you could have one superpower, poof, you have all the talent it takes to put on a show like (Dralion)."

During the performance, you can see people around us literally cringing and biting their teeth about some of the things they were doing, Hillman said.

"They harmonized really well together," Hillman said about the music and the singing used throughout the show and acrobatics. "It just made me happy."

The show is about harmony, peace and family, said Sean McKeown, the artistic director.

It's the perfect show to bring the family together, Rubalcava said.

Go see it. Consider it an effective and worthy counter programming to all the Black Friday craziness that begins, at some places, as early as 8 p.m. Thanksgiving night.

Cirque du Soleil at Tucson Convention Center Arena
Nov. 22, 7:30 p.m through Sunday, Nov. 25
Showtimes at 7:30 except for Nov. 24, 3:30 & 7:30 p.m. and Sun., Nov. 25, 1 & 5 p.m.

Read the preview for the show written by editorial intern Mariana Dale here.

Visit Dralion's website here.

More photos after the jump.

Hey, remember the Olympics, and ladies' gymnastics Silver medalist McKayla Maroney? Or, more importantly, do you remember this face she made while on the podium?:

• Getty Images

Well, last week she was back—and in the White House.

• Yep. Still not impressed.

I'm not sure what they're not impressed with, but I now feel as if I have to do everything 100 times better.

For more of McKayla Maroney not being impressed, here's a relevant Tumblr. Happy Monday, everyone.

The 93rd Annual Veteran's Day Parade was held on Monday, November 12, 2012 in Tucson.

• Noelle Haro-Gomez
• Catalina High School Air Force Junior ROTC marches downtown in The Veterans Day Parade.

• Noelle Haro-Gomez
• Isa Van Kuiken waves her flag as the parade goes by.

• They're like twin brothers of completely disparate ages!

Seriously, the resemblance is uncanny Representative, and current CD2 candidate Ron Barber looks so similar to Richard Attenborough in these photos that it's silly.

If Barber ends up pulling through in this race, let's hope he doesn't attempt to pull funding toward a dinosaur-themed park full of actual dinosaurs unless, of course, we're that desperate for job creation that we're willing to risk the possibility of being hunted by escaped velociraptors (which, truth be told, look less frightening when covered in feathers).

[H/T to chowderneck at reddit.com/r/tucson]

• Josh Morgan
• Richard Carmona concedes a tough race to now Senator-elect Jeff Flake

Richard Carmona concedes, thanking his family and supporters. In his speech, Carmona talked about his humble beginnings.