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Fascination Issue 157
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T h e U n o f f i c i a l
C i r q u e d u S o l e i l N e w s l e t t e r
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http://www.CirqueFascination.com
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VOLUME 17, NUMBER 2 February 2017 ISSUE #157
=======================================================================
Welcome to the latest edition of Fascination, the Unofficial Cirque
du Soleil Newsletter.
It's been another busy week here behind the scenes at Fascination,
but we wanted to throw a shout-out to THE BEATLES LOVE this month:
they celebrateted their 5,000th performance on January 11, 2017! A
video was created video to celebrate this momentous occasion; watch it
here: < https://goo.gl/N7ege6 >.
Last issue we mentioned that Alexey Turchenko, who was performing the
cube act in Mystère, had left the show and was being replaced with a
new mixed duo straps act by Stu McKenzie and Luba Kazantseva. Meet
these two in a new video - "The Making of Duo Straps" - on Cirque's
YouTube page: < https://youtu.be/KsxGKvEEX4g >.
There's an article within this month's featured pieces in which Robin
Leach interviews TORUK's Fabrice Lemiere. It's a great read, but, many
of you have been wondering where TORUK's tour would be taking it after
the United States. Well, at the end of that article Fabrice lets the
cat out of the bag! Toruk: The First Flight is in Wichita, Kansas,
this weekend, followed by New Orleans, Guadalajara, Monterrey and
Mexico City, Mexico, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Hartford, Connecticut,
and Dayton, Ohio. After a brief vacation, the cast and crew embark on
Asia. They begin in Taiwan in June, then its Japan, Australia and New
Zealand.
* * * CIRQUE DU SOLEIL... QUARTZ? * * *
A couple of weeks ago across its social media sphere, Cirque du Soleil
highlighted a number of job postings and other openings they were
looking to fill for projects all across their spectrum - from Cirque
du Soleil at SEA to 45 Degrees events and much more. One such item
caught my attention because it indicated a project I didn't know had
even existed at that point - a project called QUARTZ. Furthermore,
it appeared that whatever the project was to be, it was going to be
another arena show. Well, a couple of hours after I saw the posting
it was taken down, and the wording for each (Wardrobe Assistant,
Tour Production Coordinator, Tour Accountant, Therapist, and Lighting
Technician) were all scrubbed to remove the name QUARTZ from them.
Kuriouser and Kuriouser as they'd say. Since then we've been somewhat
enlightened to what QUARTZ is shaping up to be, but alas, I am under
a gag order not to say what it is. I'll let Cirque du Soleil make
that announcement, but I hope they do it soon!
* * * SCALADA 2017 is STELLAR * * *
The folks at 45 DEGREES are now hard at work to bring spectators in
Andorra the final production in the SCALADA series - Scalada: STELLAR.
In this latest edition, Cirque du Soleil invites you to discover a
parallel world between the sky and the earth. It will lead you into
the unknown, to touch the clouds and see beyond!
"Is there any of us who hasnt once stopped to watch the clouds for
hours on end? Have you ever dreamed of touching them and passing
through them? In STELAR, you will meet a dreamer, like many of us,
who has always fantasized about what is hidden in the clouds. We have
all imagined at one time or another that we could fly high enough into
the sky to sit on them and see the world from another perspective. A
journey into the beyond, where the unexpected will set the stage for
the new Scalada: STELAR in Andorra show. Are you ready to unravel the
mystery? Dont wait to be told about it later on!
o) WHERE: The event will be located in the public car park of Parc
Central, in the centre of Andorra la Vella, and will have a
capacity of 5.000 people per performance. As with the previous
edition, THE SPACE WILL BE ENTIRELY UNDER COVER. There will be a
catering area on-site where food and drinks can be bought.
o) WHEN: STELAR will be perform on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays,
Fridays and Saturdays from 1st to 30th of July, 2017, with a
final performance on Sunday 30th. Performances will be 60 minutes
long, starting at 22:00 hours. There will also be a 30-minute
animation presented before each show with the characters of
Scalada: STELAR by Cirque du Soleil.
o) HOW: There are three kinds of tickets to Cirque du Soleil in
Andorra: 1) Free tickets will provide access to the area in
front of the stage, where there is standing room only. 2) Paid
tickets include a numbered seat in the stands. 3) If you prefer,
you can choose a hotel pack that includes a one-night stay at
the chosen hotel plus a seated ticket in the stands.
Check out the visual and a video teaser for this upcoming show here:
< http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=9536 >.
* * * PARAMOUR STILL CHUGGING ALONG * * *
And last, but not least, we're still keeping an eye on Paramour's
weekly grosses. And to be honest they're not doing that badly. Sure,
the show could be grossing a lot more, but, it's doing fine. I do
hope that we'll soon hear whether the show has found a new home in
New York City, will go on a North American Tour, or whether it has
a home somewhere in Europe in the coming weeks. Remember, the show
has it's final performance on April 16, 2017.
Week This Week Potential Difference Seats % Cap
Ending Gross Grosses in Dollars Sold
------------------------------------------------------------------
04-Dec $927,404.50 $1,805,456.00 -$151,130.50 10,356 68.28%
11-Dec $1,029,466.15 $1,805,456.00 $102,061.65 11,102 73.19%
18-Dec $1,039,208.90 $1,805,456.00 $9,742.75 11,230 74.04%
25-Dec $1,100,772.00 $1,805,456.00 $61,563.10 10,615 69.98%
01-Jan $1,908,018.00 $1,805,456.00 $807,246.95 15,125 99.72%
08-Jan $1,218,860.80 $1,805,456.00 -$689,158.15 14,491 95.54%
15-Jan $999,968.70 $1,805,456.00 -$218,892.10 11,683 88.03%
22-Jan $903,287.95 $1,805,456.00 -$96,680.75 11,528 76.00%
29-Jan $935,804.25 $1,805,456.00 $32,516.30 12,257 80.81%
Well, that's all I have time for this month. Let's get to the rest!
/----------------------------------------------------\
| |
| Join us on the web at: |
| < www.cirquefascination.com > |
| |
| At CirqueCast: |
| < http://www.cirquecast.com/ > |
| |
| Realy Simple Syndication (RSS) Feed (News Only): |
| < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?feed=rss2 > |
| |
\----------------------------------------------------/
- Ricky "Richasi" Russo
===========
CONTENTS
===========
o) Cirque Buzz -- News, Rumours & Sightings
* La Presse -- General News & Highlights
* Q&A - Quick Chats & Press Interviews
* CirqueTech - The Technical Side of Cirque
o) Itinéraire -- Tour/Show Information
* BigTop Shows -- Under the Grand Chapiteau
* Arena Shows -- In Stadium-like venues
* Resident Shows -- Performed en Le Théâtre
o) Outreach -- Updates from Cirque's Social Widgets
* Webseries -- Official Online Featurettes
* Videos -- Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds
o) Fascination! Features
* "Dance Like Everybodys Watching: Behind-the-Scenes of
the Dancing With The Stars 'Cirque du Soleil Night'"
Written By: Keith Johnson Seattle, Washington (USA)
* "'TORUK-The First Flight' Comes to Las Vegas"
A Special to the Fascination! Newsletter
* "Casting Q&A's - Meet an Artist, Part 6 of 6"
Edited By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
o) Copyright & Disclaimer
=======================================================================
CIRQUE BUZZ -- NEWS, RUMOURS & SIGHTINGS
=======================================================================
---------------------------------------------------
LA PRESSE -- General News & Highlights
---------------------------------------------------
Cirque Tackles New Realities for New Year
{Jan.08.2017}
-------------------------------------------------------
One door closes and another one opens.
No, really. Its not a cheesy metaphor at Cirque du Soleil.
Last year, Cirque closed Zarkana, only the second time it
shuttered a Las Vegas title. But the first one, Viva Elvis,
was in the same theater at Aria, making it hard to question the
decision to make convention space out of a second-floor theater
distanced from casino traffic.
Still, its about as closed as a door can get. But at nearby New
York-New York, people beat a new path through the casino to get
to the new T-Mobile Arena and surrounding restaurants. Where
Zumanity used to be at the back of the property, now theres a
main entrance out to The Park, says Jerry Nadal, who oversees
Cirque du Soleils resident shows in Las Vegas.
We actually had a really good year in 2016, Nadal said. Weve
seen an uptick across the board in all of our shows.
It figures: All the shows that closed helped out the ones that
didnt.
Cirque is almost a self-contained world under its seven-show big
top. After Zarkana closed in April, we picked up, we figure,
statistically about 50 percent of the people who were going (to
Zarkana), Nadal says. Theyve flowed into our other shows,
from what we can track. Theres definitely a redistribution
going on.
Nadal goes back to those traffic patterns. Concert nights at the
T-Mobile or Park Theater tend to bring a crowd into that whole
Park area. On concert nights, Zumanity is full because there
are people hanging out and looking for something to do, he
says.
And if T-Mobile is full at the expense of the older MGM Grand
Garden arena? Nadal says business has picked up for Ka there,
because traffic on MGMs casino floor doesnt flow away from the
Ka theater, toward the arena, on as many nights as it used to.
Cirque attacked the new realities of marketing.
Nadal says Cirque did a lot of analytical work, including a
whole strategic shift on how were going after consumers. That
included a study of how millennials consume entertainment.
Theyre not necessarily pre-planners. They want to see
something and theyre not price averse. They just havent made
up their mind on what they want to do.
So Cirque put more focus on street teams working between 4:30
p.m. and showtime. Its been paying off for us.
{ SOURCE: Mike Weatherford, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/86yNpY }
See Avenged Sevenfolds Cirque Production Come to Life
{Jan.09.2017}
-------------------------------------------------------
In December of last year, front man M. Shadows revealed that
Avenged Sevenfold would be taking the name of their new album,
The Stage, to the next level at upcoming showspartnering with
theatrics giant Cirque du Soleil for the production.
Avenged Sevenfold unveiled that production for the first time
this weekend at their Jan. 7 show in Dublin.
A lot of bands live, breathe and die the 2016 metal scene, but
we just live in our own world and try to do things different
than everyone else, Shadows says to Metal Hammer.
He continues, The production thats being built is different
for us, different for anyone Ive ever seen, the people weve
hired dont do tours, they do Cirque du Soleil.
This is gonna be drawn out into different types of touring,
were not going on tour for six months, itll be two weeks on,
two weeks off. Itll be a longer cycle but were gonna roll with
the punches.
According to The PRP, Avenged Sevenfold also debuted new songs
from The Stage at their Dublin show, including Paradigm,
Angels, God Damn and Sunny Disposition. Check out footage
below.
o) PARADIGM
- https://youtu.be/v3mYd3ajGg0
- https://youtu.be/CZcWyAqCcOA
o) ANGELS
- https://youtu.be/gSxd-wMMSAY
o) GOD DAMN
- https://youtu.be/c2ul2KFUCrE
- https://youtu.be/eLBMWmGKzfE
o) SUNNY DISPOSITION
- https://youtu.be/5NPUu_wknD0
Avenged Sevenfold are touring with Disturbed and In Flames in
Europe and the UK.
The Stage was surprise released on Oct. 28. On why they
surprise-dropped the album, Shadows says to Rolling Stone,
Everyone else is dropping the breadcrumbs, having four or five
singles before their record comes out. It completely takes away
the mystique of the record; by the time it actually comes out,
youve already done 50 interviews about what the records about
and is going to sound like. Its 2016; peoples attention spans
are so short at this point, who has time for three months of
lead-up?
The Stage an AI-themed record would go on to chart at No. 4.
We wanted to write about artificial intelligence, not really in
a sci-fi way, not in a Terminator sort of way, but in more in,
like, a scientific way. The album is talking about things that
are right around the corner that could potentially be changing
the world, Shadows continues to Rolling Stone. We have this
yearning to know the answers to the big questions about space
and why were here; we cant evolve fast enough to figure these
answers out on our own, but we can do it through artificial
intelligence. But theres also some very scary downsides that
could come if we dont put the right safety precautions in
there.
Upcoming Avenged Sevenfold UK/European tour dates:
o) Jan 10: Glasgow SSE Hydro, UK
o) Jan 12: Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, UK
o) Jan 13: Birmingham Genting Arena, UK
o) Jan 15: Sheffield Arena, UK
o) Jan 16: Manchester Arena, UK
o) Jan 18: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, UK
o) Jan 19: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, UK
o) Jan 21: London O2 Arena, UK
o) Jan 22: London O2 Arena, UK
o) Feb 12: Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany
o) Feb 13: Hamburg Sporthalle, Germany
o) Feb 15: Berlin Arena, Germany
o) Feb 16: Dusseldorf Mitsubishi Electric Halle, Germany
o) Feb 18: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands
o) Feb 20: Stuttgart Schleyerhalle, Germany
o) Feb 21: Milan Forum, Italy
o) Feb 23: Vienna Wiener Stadthalle, Austria
o) Feb 25: Munich Zenith, Germany
o) Feb 26: Zurich Halle 622, Austria
o) Feb 28: Lille Zenith Arena, France
o) Mar 01: Luxembourg Rockhal, Luxembourg
o) Mar 02: Paris AccorHotels Arena, France
o) Mar 04: Copenhagen Valby Hallen, Denmark
o) Mar 07: Helsinki Hartwall Arena, Finland
o) Mar 09: Stockholm Ericsson Globe, Sweden
o) Mar 10: Oslo Telenor, Norway
{ SOURCE: Alt Press | https://goo.gl/L9BUpD }
Residents of Jarretaderas Fear Being Forced from Homes
{Jan.09.2017}
-------------------------------------------------------
The construction of a theme park for Cirque du Soleil is
underway in Nuevo Vallarta a project in partnership with
Vidanta Group and Mayan Palace, with an investment of $16
billion pesos has the residents of Jarretaderas on high alert,
who fear being forced to sell their homes or land or be evicted.
The residents with a large population of Chiapas families,
remember how the hotel group Vidanta seized entire streets in
Nuevo Vallarta, located in a federal zone, and of lands
bordering the Ameca River, which divides Jalisco and Nayarit.
Residents claim that the land is being graded to create flooding
into their neighborhoods by the Ameca River and forcing them to
flee their homes. Stating Vidantas strategy is to surround the
village and flood it to force its inhabitants to sell their
houses and lands, and thus take over the area located in front
of the Bay and the Ameca River, where the Island of Birds is
located, which already has under its control.
According to environmentalists, residents of Jarretaderas could
experience what happened in the town of Corral del Risco, in
Punta de Mita, where fishermen were evacuated and threatened by
state agents over 20 years ago, forcing residents to flee for
the development of Punta de Mita.
Vidanta group is offering money to the owners of the farms and
has already acquired some of strategic location, but the fear is
that those who do not sell will be forced out by government or
Vidantas plan to flood the community using the Ameca River.
Last November, the governor of Nayarit, Roberto Sandoval
Castañeda, announced the investment of $16 billion pesos in the
theme park and predicted that it will generate between 5,000 and
10,000 thousand jobs.
{SOURCE: Vallarta Daily | https://goo.gl/lmclJE }
Russia: Send Out The Clowns!
{Jan.11.2017}
-------------------------------------------------------
The public council of the Ministry of Culture has proposed
limiting the activity of foreign circuses operating in Russia,
with a view to protecting the nations unique brand of big-top
entertainment.
Announcing the proposals, the chairman of the council, Pavel
Pazhigailo asked why Russia should protect gherkins and
tomatoes but not culture a reference to agricultural measures
taken by the Russian government in response to international
sanctions against the country.
Our circus culture is highly professional, it hasnt developed
along the lines of light entertainment, objectively it is more
precious, he continued. Pozhigailo also noted that Russian
circuses could not compete with the budgets of famous foreign
brands like Cirque du Soleil. In 2008, the French company
announced long-term investment in the Russian market, with its
partner company Cirque du Soleil Rus now active in Russia,
Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
The proposals, which include a legal limit on the number of
performances by foreign circus companies per year as well as
stricter regulation of non-Russian performers, were submitted in
December 2016 and set for ministerial consideration at the end
of this month.
{ SOURCE: The Calvert Journal | https://goo.gl/fDFQO2 }
One Night Inspired by a Lifetime of Nights
{Jan.11.2017}
-------------------------------------------------------
The scene is that of a little boy, gazing from the wings of an
old vaudevillian theater. Through the lights descending on that
stage, he watches in fascination as the ringmaster introduces an
act in that nights circus.
For now, this act exists only in the memories of Nicky Dewhurst.
But it will be performed for the masses soon enough at New York-
New Yorks Zumanity Theater on March 7 during the annual One
Night for One Drop charity production. A segment of the show,
its first costumed rehearsal, was unveiled Wednesday at NY-NY.
The idea is to go back into a vintage circus, and a lot of
those memories are definitely from my childhood, said Dewhurst,
the son of circus-clown legend Brian Dewhurst, who at age 84
still performs regularly as the clown character in Mystère at
TI. One moment in the show, we have a little boy almost peeking
through the curtains, looking out at the show. We are still
figuring out how to achieve that image, but that was from my
childhood, sitting on the stage, looking out at the world.
Brian Dewhurst joined his familys circus troupe when he was 13.
Nicky was even younger when he began hanging around the stage.
He currently plays the smarmy co-host of Zumanity and has been
summoned to co-direct the fifth annual One Night For One Drop
show with his wife, Laetitia Dewhurst.
The storyline follows an aged ringmaster, played by Brian
Dewhurst himself, looking back on his life in the circus, along
with his onstage assistant (played by Alan Silva of Zumanity).
The elder Dewhurst was not onstage the segment of the show
performed Wednesday, but he will be the lead performer on March
7.
Thus, the One Drop show is a family endeavor, for Cirque (with
dozens of performers from the Strips seven Cirque shows
volunteering their time and talent) and also for the Dewhursts.
Laetitia Dewhurst and the Dewhurst boys opened the show at New
York-New York. Her brother, Perry Ray, plays The Timekeeper in
the show, and Sally Dewhurst (daughter of Brian, sister of
Nicky) is also on the One Night For One Drop events committee.
Nicky and Laetitia also are developing an under-the-carriage
look at circus acts for this production.
Were trying to create some of the drama backstage that doesnt
come onstage, Laetitia said. We have a teeter-board act
performed backstage, like a rehearsal, so it is more free. The
guys are bantering, egging each other on, and that is beautiful
to see.
Nicky, who has seen that act played out countless times, says of
the co-directing partnership with Laetitia, We have worked very
well together.
{ SOURCE: John Katsilometes, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/HvrdoW }
Multi-Platinum Vocal Group The Tenors to Star in ONOD5
{Jan.12.2017}
-------------------------------------------------------
On Friday, March 3, JUNO Award-winning vocal super-group and
Canadian heartthrobs The Tenors will partner with One Drop to
present the fifth anniversary of One Night for One Drop, an
extraordinary, one-night-only experience supporting safe water
access programs worldwide.
Taking place exclusively in the Zumanity Theatre at New York-New
York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, the event will feature a
special performance of iconic rock songs by the award-winning
trio, who will share the stage with the world-renowned artists
of Cirque du Soleil.
It is an honour and a thrill to be working with One Drop in
such a creative way, said The Tenors. The incredible
imaginations of everyone involved are absolutely inspiring, and
were looking forward to performing legendary rock music for
this spectacular show.
Krista Monson, director of creation for the show, said, With
their unique style, unforgettable charm and outstanding vocal
talent, were incredibly thankful to have them on board. Not
only will they bring their sublime artistry and talent to the
show, but the directors have given The Tenors roles that propel
the story to add yet another level of meaning and powerful
significance to their performance. With the added creativity of
The Tenors, the result will be truly momentous.
Presented by MGM Resorts International, One Night for One Drop
2017 will focus on the concept of time, drawing inspiration from
one pivotal phrase: We are the first generation to feel the
impact of climate change and the last generation to do something
about it. Centering around the idea that time is running out
for humanity to right its wrongs, the show will build on this
concept through the journey of an ill-tempered circus Ringmaster
and his loyal assistant.
Nicky and Laetitia Dewhurst, writers and directors for the show,
said, We created the old Ringmaster to represent humanity and
its treatment of Mother Earth. He is given the opportunity to
travel back in time to witness his younger self at the center of
a magnificent, vintage circus. Once there, he begins to realize
his mistakes and, in a sensational twist of events, wishes to
fix his feelings of regret. But is it too late? Thats the
question we want to ask our audience.
Once back in time, the audience will be a part of a highly
theatrical, comedic and daring spectacle, with breathtaking
circus acts to propel the story. Elevated by the outstanding
powerhouse vocals of The Tenors, the event will feature songs
performed live by the trio, culminating in a dazzling finale.
{ SOURCE: VegasNews.com | https://goo.gl/ZvYlgJ }
Cirque to Advise on Exporting Canadian Culture
{Jan.13.2017}
-------------------------------------------------------
Ottawa has convened an advisory group with representatives from
media companies that have a significant presence in China as it
seeks to develop a creative export strategy it will unveil some
time in the coming year.
Minister of Heritage Mélanie Joly says companies such as IMAX
Corporation, Cirque du Soleil Inc., Minority Media Inc. and
Torontos Sheridan College will meet with her department
regularly to discuss how to support cultural businesses that
want a piece of the growing market in China.
Its indicative of our vision about the sector, which is linked
to innovation and growth, Joly said in an interview from
Shanghai, where she is on a foreign visit. She said the federal
government has invested $1.4 billion in arts and culture, but
expects to see a return on that investment as Canadian companies
produce content for foreign markets.
China is particularly important to that endeavour. Consultancy
McKinsey & Co. last year forecasted that Chinese consumers will
increase spending by an average of 10 per cent per year to 2020,
in line with rising incomes. While trade and currency numbers
have fluctuated in recent years, consumer spending in that
country has remained mostly stable, with the think tank Demand
Institute forecasting that consumer spending could reach as high
as US$6.4 trillion by 2025.
In August, IMAX completed the biggest deal in its history
through its Chinese subsidiary, in which it has a 68 per cent
stake, to open 150 new theatres with Wanda Cinema Line, the
countrys largest cinema operator.
However, while Chinas box office market grew 48.7 per cent to
44 billion yuan in 2015, following years of similar astronomical
growth, 2016 saw a significant cooling in the market, which grew
just 3.7 per cent to 45.7 billion yuan, or about US$6.6 billion.
Joly said that having an ear to the ground in China will improve
Canadas competitive position.
The minister did not say whether the advisory group approach
will be used in other key markets, but is set to meet with
global economic stakeholders next week when she becomes the
first Heritage minister to attend the World Economic Forum in
Davos, Switzerland.
Well be talking about the fact that were open for business,
Joly said of the trip. Im the first Minister of Canadian
Heritage whose thinking is export first, and thats because I
think our creative ecosystem is mature and providing a lot of
quality content.
Joly said Canada is the third biggest exporter of musical
talent, the third biggest producer of video games and that
Toronto is the third biggest television and film production
centre in North America. The reason we care about this is
because tapping export markets will lead to really good, really
well paying jobs, she said.
The minister acknowledged that the Trans Pacific Partnership
Agreement, signed but not yet ratified by the 12 Pacific Rim
countries including Canada and the United States, is in jeopardy
with the incoming Trump administration having pledged to abandon
the treaty. In particular, TPPs failure would prevent Canada
from gaining easier access to Japan, the worlds third-largest
economy.
However, she said new International Trade Minister François-
Philippe Champagne will continue discussions with the other
countries who signed the agreement last year.
One issue that experts, including the University of Ottawas
Michael Geist, said Canada would have to confront should TPP be
ratified is a ban on limitations of consumer access to foreign
video products. That would mean Ottawa could not impose a tax on
services like Netflix.
A Privy Council report from November revealed that the federal
government last year conducted surveys testing the appetite of
Canadians for a potential tax on foreign content providers, and
that there was some support for making domestic telecoms and
foreign companies contribute to support Canadian content
production.
However, Joly affirmed her previously stated position against a
foreign levy.
Weve already said were against a Netflix tax, she said. At
the same time we are studying all the potential economic
scenarios that were submitted by stakeholders in the public
consultations we held last year.
{ SOURCE: Calgary Herald | https://goo.gl/pzwMz2 }
KURIOS Hand-Puppet Artist Entertains Deaf Youngsters
{Jan.14.2017}
-----------------------------------------------------
Nico Baixas of Spain, a hand-puppet artist who performs nightly
in Cirque du Soleils KURIOS at Hard Rock Stadium, brought his
handiwork to Gulfstream Elementary School on Thursday. Baixas,
who is the KURIOS accordion man, entertained deaf and hard-of-
hearing students at the school.
VIDEO /// < https://goo.gl/rGh6nz >
After his performance, Baixas taught the kids how to use their
hands to express themselves and challenged them to create
stories using hand-puppetry. I was captivated by the dancing
scene with the two hands, said third-grader Michael Horvath,
who is now inspired to learn how to pantomime.
Baixas routine consisted of pantomiming with his hands on top
of a table, where he re-created different dance routines, from
tango to hip-hop, as well as exhibiting different storylines to
the kids by making different shapes with his hands. I want to
show the kids that using your hands can be a way to express our
feelings and intelligence, said Baixas, who performs with
KURIOS at Hard Rock Stadium until Jan. 29.
The students responded well to the show, attentively watching
Baixas hand movements and mimicking them as he performed.
Gulfstream Elementary School is one of the few schools in Miami-
Dade County with a deaf and hard-of-hearing program. I am
always looking for different activities to keep the kids
engaged, principal Yubeda Miah said.
Check out pictures here:
LINK /// < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=9514 >
{ SOURCE: Miami Herald}
PARAMOUR Stars Will Be Headliners at BROADWAY AT W
{Jan.16.2017}
-----------------------------------------------------
This Sunday, January 22nd, Broadway at W kicks off the 2017
Season with the high-flying return of Broadways Cirque du
Soleil Paramour.
42 Seven Productions, W Times Square and IndieFork welcome Ruby
Lewis, Ryan Vona and cast members of Paramour for the 10th
installment of the hit Sunday night acoustic experience
Broadway at W, featuring Broadways hottest shows and their
talented casts in a raw, up-close, and acoustic environment in
the exquisite Living Room of W Hotel.
Ruby Lewis currently stars as Indigo, the leading lady in the
Cirque du Soleil production. Joining Ruby Lewis are Co-stars
Ryan Vona (Once) starring as Joey, Bret Shuford (Amazing Grace)
starring as Robbie, Sarah Meahl as Gina, Hannah Florence (Gigi)
as Lili, and Blakely Slaybaugh. Special guests for the evening
will be Marcus Paul James (In the Heights, Rent) and the cast of
Disney Royals. Guest host will be Colin Cunliffe (Pippin,
Finding Neverland). Alex Ortega serves as guitarist/music
director and Martin King on cajon/percussion.
Show starts at 7:30pm. Doors open at 7:00pm. Following the show
at 9pm the After Party begins with live DJ until close. Reserved
seating can be purchased online only at www.broadwayatthew.com.
VIP Ticket/Bottle packages available. Standing room is FREE.
42 Seven Productions is comprised of Mekia Cox (Secrets and
Lies, Chicago Med, Michael Jacksons This is It), Mike
Evariste (Tony Award Winning Book of Mormon, Tony Nominated
Disgraced, Tony Award Winning South Pacific), Tiffany
Evariste (Aladdin, Motown the Musical, Tony Award Winning
Memphis), Victor Hawks (Tony Award Winning Urinetown, Tony
Award Winning South Pacific, Les Miserables), Detra Hicks
(Once Familiar), Vivian Nixon, Associate Artistic Director of
Debbie AllenDance Academy, and Daniel J. Watts (Tony Award
Winning Hamilton). This is the team behind the hit series
BROADWAY AT W at W Times Square, which has featured the Broadway
casts of Hamilton, Waitress, Aladdin, On Your Feet,
Jersey Boys, Holiday Inn, Something Rotten, Motown, and
Kinky Boots. In Los Angeles they have produced the yearly hit
BROADWAY MAINSTAGE SHOW at the Loft at W Hollywood, and the
continuous BROADWAY UNPLUGGED series at W Hollywood. Beginning
this month they will begin programming The Handy Liquor Bar on
Broome Street, alongside the Live In The Living Room Series on
Mondays at W Times Square. For more information, visit
www.42sevenproductions.com.
{ SOURCE: Broadway World | https://goo.gl/jWJEaD }
---------------------------------------------------
Q&A - Quick Chats & Press Interviews
---------------------------------------------------
Engineering student performs at Cirque in Las Vegas
{Jan.15.2017}
-----------------------------------------------------
Running off to the circus might be considered a unique choice to
some. However, for University of Calgary Schulich School of
Engineering student Jason Chen-Leung, the decision was an easy
one to make when it came to his audition with Cirque du Soleil.
I practise Wushu; its a type of performance martial arts,
says Chen-Leung, who trained at the Calgary Tai Chi and Martial
Arts College. I went to a performance at a very young age with
my mom. She saw that I was excited and she suggested enrolling
in a class.
Chen-Leung immediately liked the flips, choreography and
tumbling of Wushu. It is also an excellent way to stay
physically fit.
It is very energetic, he says. Its almost like halfway
between gymnastics and karate. In Wushu we emphasize fluidity
and power.
Athletics and artistry combine in gravity-defying Las Vegas
Production.
Years of training and competitions lead to an audition for KÀ by
Cirque du Soleil. The elite performance entertainment
organization has delighted more than 155 million spectators
worldwide. KÀ is a gravity-defying production featuring an
innovative blend of acrobatic feats, Capoeira, puppetry,
projections and martial arts.
I play an officer and a spearman, performing 10 times a week:
two shows a day, five times a week, explains Chen-Leung. I
would say there is a certain amount of pressure on stage. You
have to be at your best but everyone is super helpful and we
cheer each other on.
KÀ tells the coming-of-age story of a young man and a young
woman through their encounters with love, conflict and the
duality of KÀ, the fire that can unite or separate, destroy or
illuminate.
Student centre and associate dean provide support for student
success in all its forms
Chen-Leung is taking time off from his third year of mechanical
engineering studies to perform in Las Vegas. He started with
Cirque du Soleil in August and continues to perform weekly.
The school has been very supportive, he says. Engineering is
very structured and I thought I would fall through the cracks,
but I received help to plan out my courses.
The Engineering Student Centre and Marjan Eggermont, associate
dean (student affairs) offered guidance in course planning and
support to allow Chen-Leung to take advantage of this incredible
opportunity. We try to support student success in all its forms
at the Schulich School, says Eggermont.
Cirque experience opens Chen-Leuns eyes to a myriad of
engineering possibilities
Chen-Leung has always made time for both martial arts and
engineering; however, performing on the heavily engineered set
of KÀ has broadened his perspective on the possibilities of
engineering. The set features a sand cliff deck, moving
platforms, cranes and five stage lifts used to move props and
artists during the show. In addition, a post-and-beam structure
extends from the stage area into the audience, to create a
continuous performance space that defies traditional theatres.
This experience has opened my eyes up a bit, Chen-Leung says.
Engineering is so much more than I thought. Theres a ton of
opportunities available in the entertainment industry, from the
rotating stage construction, the need for specialized equipment,
and creating industrial pieces like the wheel of death.
Jason Chen-Leung performs in KÀ by Cirque du Soleil at MGM Grand
in Las Vegas.
{ SOURCE: Lisha Hassanali, Schulich School of Engineering }
Meet Varekais Emily McCarthy and Sam Sturt
{Feb.02.2017}
-----------------------------------------------------
The age-old adage of running off to join the circus rang true
for two British gymnasts who are now touring the world in a
globally popular show.
Emily McCarthy and Sam Sturt are two of the stars in Cirque du
Soleils Varekai, which reaches the Metro Radio Arena in
Newcastle from February 15 to 19.
I caught up with the pair in Paris after watching the
spectacular, high-flying show, and, yes, it really was a case of
running off to join that circus!
In fact, Emily, who grew up in Wakefield, joined the show at the
age of 16, straight from school, while Sam joined Cirque at the
age of 18 after taking two years out from gymnastics.
Two months after finishing high school I went into Cirque,
explains Emily, who recently turned 21. My parents knew I
always wanted to go there but I didnt expect it to happen so
young.
The guy I worked with in competition was going to retire as he
was going to join Franco Dragone (founder and artistic director
of Dragone, and also known for his work with Cirque du Soleil
and Celine Dion) so it was a case of `youre leaving, what am I
going to do? so I was going to wait in the gym but Cirque
called at the same time he left.
This opportunity doesnt just fall out of the sky, I had to
take it. It was hard for my parents but they wouldnt and
couldnt have stopped me.
I actually havent had a break since I was six.
Thats about to change for Emily though, as the Glasgow dates on
the final leg of the UK tour of Varekai will be her last with
the show.
Theres nothing set in stone as of yet, I would like to stay
with Cirque, with the company, in a different show and setting,
not an arena tour, maybe a resident show, she tells me.
Ill probably go home for a little bit. Im just taking it as
it comes. This is my first ever job.
Emily is one of the Slippery Surface Flyers in Varekai, while
Sam, 24, is part of the Russian Swing Flyers and their
performances are astounding, as is the show as a whole.
Deep within a forest, at the summit of a volcano, exists an
extraordinary world a world where something else is possible.
A world called Varekai.
Having caught the show in December in Paris I would recommend it
to all. It has everything you would expect from a Cirque
spectacle, and then some.
Varekai itself involves a cast and crew of 95 and it takes 22
trucks to transport the show from venue to venue. Once at each
venue, it then takes 12 hours to assemble the stage, which
includes a forest of 330 trees eight of which are climbable.
Varekai boasts an international cast, including our two
performers from the UK and all put in hours of practice each day
to keep their bodies and muscles in shape for their performances.
I finished competing in gymnastics and took two years out, aged
16, says Sam. I needed a break. I had started gymnastics at
nine and I started to not enjoy my sport and started to not have
fun and dreaded going to training.
But I was bored and didnt know what to do and mum suggested
going back into gymnastics and go and join the show, so it was
down to her.
I started training again, teaching myself again, then I sent a
video to a company and thats how it all started.
Ill always try and do a workout in the middle of the day
specific to my act or whatever I want to improve on, my
handstands or posture. Then Ill do a stretch to really loosen
up my muscles. By the time it comes round to the show, rather
than just immediately stretching the muscles and going straight
on stage, I dont really like that too much, I like to have a
bit of time to adjust.
By the time of the show Ill do a bit of cardio to get the
blood flowing and because Ive already done my big stretch Ill
just do a few limbering up exercises to make sure the muscles
are ready to go. In the middle of the show we have time on the
swings backstage to practice our skills before we go on so its
fresh in your mind.
With new routines, you have to be confident in yourself and in
the people pushing you and catching you. You have to be
completely aware of what youre doing.
{ SOURCE: Chronicle Live | https://goo.gl/X82Pho }
---------------------------------------------------
CirqueTech -- The Technical Side of Cirque
---------------------------------------------------
Cirque and Felix & Paul Studios Launch DREAMS OF O'
{Jan.09.2017}
-------------------------------------------------------
DREAMS OF O explores the many facets of the breathtaking
aquatic masterpiece, O by Cirque du Soleil. The 12-minute
360°, 3D experience submerges the user into a virtual reality
universe comprised of aerial acrobatics, daring dives, fire and
surreal amphibious characters. DREAMS OF O is the first-ever
VR experience to combine simultaneous underwater and slow-motion
shooting, which required significant technical advancement to
accomplish using Felix & Paul Studios proprietary camera
technology. As part of the studios continued creative
expansion, Felix & Paul Studios again tapped filmmaker François
Blouin to co-direct this piece, following a successful
collaboration on KÀ The Battle Within.
DREAMS OF O is now available on Samsung Gear VR powered by
Oculus, the leading mobile VR solution enabling an incredible VR
viewing experience. Viewers can download DREAMS OF O in the
Oculus Store, or watch a 360 video of the experience at the
following link: http://cirk.me/2hSKkPr.
Im delighted to be here in one of the entertainment capitals
of the world to see firsthand this incredible content
partnership between two of the best that Canada have to offer
Felix & Paul Studios and Cirque du Soleil, said The Honourable
Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic
Development for Canada who is speaking at CES. Together with
the global reach of Samsung, this partnership takes interactive
digital content and virtual reality to new heights, and serves
as a brilliant example of Canadian innovation in action.
This is the third collaboration between Cirque du Soleil and
Felix & Paul Studios. The companies previously produced the
critically acclaimed Inside the Box of Kurios, which won a 2016
Emmy Award in the Outstanding Interactive Media Original
Daytime Program or Series category. In October 2016, KÀ The
Battle Within was introduced at the Oculus Connect 3 conference
in San Jose, California and was featured at the Toronto
International Film Festival as part of the official selection of
the festivals Cutting Edge POP VR line-up.
Cirque du Soleils O is one of the worlds most innovative
theatrical productions inspired by the infinity and elegance of
waters pure form and delivered by world-class acrobats,
synchronized swimmers and divers, said Sebastian Sylwan, Chief
Technology Officer at Felix & Paul Studios. To immerse viewers
in the same ethereal, dreamlike mood in an original VR
experience, we combined simultaneous underwater and slow-motion
shootinga feat that required us to significantly modify our
proprietary camera technology, merging the two techniques to
more poignantly evoke the artistry, surrealism and theatrical
romance of O.
(VR) is a format to enhance the audience experience whether
theyve seen the show or not. It presents the shows in a whole
new light and gives our fans, as well as new audiences, access
to unique views of the acts that the live show experiences
feature, says Sébastien Ouimet, senior manager content,
partnerships and distribution for Cirque du Soleil, to
realscreen. It is important to Cirque to maintain its position
on the cutting edge, and we need to ensure we are targeting new
audiences with the use of new technologies. (Theyve) been a
great promotional tool for our shows.
All Cirque VR experiences, including Dreams of O, are also
available as free downloads on the Occulus store.
There are plans to transform one of Cirques newer touring
productions, Luzia, into a VR experience by this spring.
To immerse viewers in the same ethereal, dream-like mood in an
original VR experience, we combined simultaneous underwater and
slow-motion shooting a feat that required us to significantly
modify our proprietary camera technology, merging the two
techniques to more poignantly evoke the artistry, surrealism and
theatrical romance of O, said Sebastian Sylwan, chief
technology officer at Felix & Paul in a statement.
Were proud to release DREAMS OF O to celebrate the success
of one of our most popular shows in Vegas, said Jerry Nadal,
Senior VP of Cirque du Soleils Resident Shows Division. Our
partnership with Felix & Paul Studios highlights Cirques
leadership in pushing the boundaries of creating outstanding
immersive experiences. Virtual reality allows us to explore
state-of-the-art platforms to complement our live show
experiences.
CES attendees and the general public can experience KÀ The
Battle Within in the MGM Grand hotel lobby January 2 through
January 12. DREAMS OF O will be on view in the Bellagio hotel
lobby from January 4 through January 8.
{ SOURCE: Felix & Paul, Cirque du Soleil }
=======================================================================
ITINÉRAIRE -- TOUR/SHOW INFORMATION
=======================================================================
o) BIGTOP - Under the Grand Chapiteau
{Amaluna, Koozå, Kurios, Luzia & Totem}
o) ARENA - In Stadium-like venues
{Varekai, TORUK, OVO & Séptimo Día}
o) RESIDENT - Performed en Le Théâtre
{Mystère, "O", La Nouba, Zumanity, KÀ, LOVE,
MJ ONE, JOYÀ & Paramour}
NOTE:
.) While we make every effort to provide complete and accurate
touring dates and locations available, the information in
this section is subject to change without notice. As such,
the Fascination! Newsletter does not accept responsibility
for the accuracy of these listings.
For current, up-to-the-moment information on Cirque's whereabouts,
please visit Cirque's website: < http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/ >,
or for a more comprehensive tour listing, visit our Itinéraire
section online at: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?page_id=6898 >.
------------------------------------
BIGTOP - Under the Grand Chapiteau
------------------------------------
Amaluna:
London, UK -- Jan 12, 2017 to Feb 26, 2017
Vienna, AT -- Mar 9, 2017 to Apr 17, 2017
Rome, IT -- Apr 30, 2017 to May 28, 2017
Koozå:
Melbourne, AU -- Jan 20, 2017 to Mar 26, 2017
Perth, AU -- Apr 13, 2017 to May 7, 2017
Manila, PH -- Jun 25, 2017 to Jul 30, 2017
Kurios:
Dallas, TX -- Feb 17, 2017 to Mar 26, 2017
Houston, TX -- Apr 6, 2017 to May 21, 2017
Winnipeg, MB Jun 2, 2017 to Jun 25, 2017
Portland, OR Aug 28, 2017 to Oct 8, 2017
Vancouver, BC Oct 19, 2017 to Dec 31, 2017
Luzia:
San Jose, CA -- Feb 9, 2017 to Mar 19, 2017
Seattle, WA -- Mar 30, 2017 to May 21, 2017
Denver, CO -- Jun 1, 2017 to Jul 9, 2017
Chicago, IL -- Jul 21, 2017 to Aug 20, 2017
Phoenix, AZ -- Sep 22, 2017 to Oct 22, 2017
Totem:
Fukuoka, JP - Feb 3, 2017 to Mar 19, 2017
Sendai, JP - Apr 6, 2017 to May 21, 2017
Sochi, RU -- Jul 1, 2017 to Jul 30, 2017
Brussels, BE -- Aug 31, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017
Paris, FR -- Nov 2017
VOLTA:
Montreal, QC -- Apr 20, 2017 to Jun 11, 2017
Gatineau, QC (Ottawa, ON) -- Aug 3, 2017 to Aug 27, 2017
Toronto, ON -- Sep 7, 2017 to Nov 26, 2017
------------------------------------
ARENA - In Stadium-Like Venues
------------------------------------
Varekai:
Sheffield, UK -- Feb 2, 2017 to Feb 5, 2017
Dublin, IR -- Feb 8, 2017 to Feb 12, 2017
Newcastle, UK -- Feb 15, 2017 to Feb 19, 2017
Leeds, UK -- Feb 22, 2017 to Feb 26, 2017
Birmingham, UK -- Mar 1, 2017 to Mar 5, 2017
Nottingham, UK -- Mar 8, 2017 to Mar 12, 2017
Glasgow, UK -- Mar 15, 2017 to Mar 19, 2017
Copenhagen, DK -- Mar 23, 2017 to Mar 26, 2017
Lyon, FR -- Apr 13, 2017 to Apr 16, 2017
Amsterdam, NL -- Apr 20, 2017 to Apr 23, 2017
Bratislava, SK -- Apr 27, 2017 to Apr 30, 2017
Bucharest, RO -- May 3, 2017 to May 7, 2017
Budapest, HU -- May 12, 2017 to May 14, 2017
Prague, CZ -- May 19, 2017 to May 21, 2017
Sofia, BG -- May 26, 2017 to May 28, 2017
Ljubljana, SL -- Jun 2, 2017 to Jun 4, 2017
Vilnius, LT -- Jun 8, 2017 to Jun 10, 2017
Helsinki, FI -- Oct 5, 2017 to Oct 8, 2017
TORUK - The First Flight:
New Orleans, LA -- Feb 1, 2017 to Feb 5, 2017
Guadalajara, MX -- Feb 10, 2017 to Feb 12, 2017
Mexico City, MX -- Feb 16, 2017 to Feb 19, 2017
Monterrey, MX -- Feb 23, 2017 to Feb 25, 2017
Cleveland, OH -- Mar 3, 2017 to Mar 5, 2017
Philadelphia, PA -- Mar 8, 2017 to Mar 12, 2017
Hartford, CT -- Mar 15, 2017 to Mar 19, 2017
Dayton, OH -- Mar 22, 2017 to Mar 26, 2017
Taiwan June 2017
Japan TBA 2017
Australia TBA 2017
New Zealand TBA 2017
OVO:
Spokane, WA -- Feb 16, 2017 to Feb 19, 2017
West Valley City, UT -- Feb 22, 2017 to Feb 26, 2017
Rio Rancho, NM -- Mar 1, 2017 to Mar 5, 2017
Lubbock, TX -- Mar 8, 2017 to Mar 12, 2017
Cedar Park, TX -- Mar 15, 2017 to Mar 19, 2017
Laredo, TX -- Mar 22, 2017 to Mar 26, 2017
Corpus Christi, TX -- Mar 29, 2017 to Apr 2, 2017
Oklahoma City, OK -- Apr 6, 2017 to Apr 9, 2017
El Paso, TX -- Apr 12, 2017 to Apr 16, 2017
Tuscon, AZ -- Apr 17, 2017 to Apr 23, 2017
Cincinnati, OH May 11, 2017 to May 14, 2017
Columbus, OH May 17, 2017 to May 21, 2017
Pittsburgh, PA May 24, 2017 to May 28, 2017
Toledo, OH May 31, 2017 to Jun 4, 2017
Hamilton, ON Jun 7, 2017 to Jun 11, 2017
London, ON Jun 14, 2017 to Jun 18, 2017
Jacksonville, FL -- Aug 2, 2017 to Aug 6, 2017
Salzburg, AU -- Oct 18, 2017 to Oct 22, 2017
Leipzig, DE -- Oct 25, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017
Hamburg, DE -- Nov 1, 2017 to Nov 5, 2017
Berlin, DE -- Nov 8, 2017 to Nov 12, 2017
Mannheim, DE -- Nov 15, 2017 to Nov 19, 2017
Cologne, DE -- Nov 22, 2017 to Nov 26, 2017
Stuttgart, DE -- Nov 29, 2017 to Dec 3, 2017
Nuremberg, DE -- Dec 6, 2017 to Dec 10, 2017
Munich, DE -- Dec 13, 2017 to Dec 17, 2017
SÉPTIMO DÍA NO DESCANSARÉ:
Buenos Aires, AR -- Mar 9, 2017 to May 14, 2017
Cordoba, AR -- May 25, 2017 to May 31, 2017
Lima, PE -- Jun 17, 2017 to Jun 24, 2017
Santiago, CL -- Jul 19, 2017 to Aug 6, 2017
Bogota, CO -- Sep 3, 2017 to Sep 23, 2017
Mexico City, MX -- October 2017
Guadalajara, MX -- November 2017
Monterrey, MX -- December 2017
Select US Cities -- 2018
---------------------------------
RESIDENT - en Le Théâtre
---------------------------------
Mystère:
Location: Treasure Island, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark: Thursday/Friday
Two shows Nightly - 7:00pm & 9:30pm
2017 Dark Dates:
o January 7 - 19
o February 5
o March 8
o May 6 - 10
o July 12
o September 9 - 13
o November 8
Special Performance Dates:
o Fri, Dec 30, 2016
o Fri, Jan 20, 2017 | Dress Rehearsal 7:00 pm
o Thu, Apr 6, 2017
o Thu, Aug 17, 2017
o Fri, Nov 24, 2017
o Fri, Dec 29, 2017
o Sun, Dec 31, 2017 | 4:30pm & 7:00pm
2017 Single Performance Dates:
o Fri, Jan 20 | 9:30 pm
o Sun, Jan 29 | 7:00 pm
o Fri, Mar 03 | 9:30 pm
o Sat, Mar 11 | 7:00 pm
o Sun, Mar 26 | 7:00 pm
o Sun, Apr 02 | 7:00 pm
o Sun, Apr 09 | 7:00 pm
o Sun, Apr 16 | 7:00 pm
o Sat, Jun 17 | 7:00 pm
o Sun, Aug 13 | 7:00 pm
o Sun, Oct 01 | 7:00 pm
o Fri, Oct 20 | 7:00 pm
o Sun, Oct 22 | 7:00 pm
o Fri, Dec 08 | 7:00 pm
"O":
Location: Bellagio, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Wednesday through Sunday, Dark: Monday/Tuesday
Two shows Nightly - 7:30pm and 9:30pm (as of Aug 12, 2015)
2017 Dark Dates:
o February 5
o April 5 - 9
o June 11
o August 2 - 6
o October 8
o November 29 - December 12
La Nouba:
Location: Walt Disney World, Orlando (USA)
Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday
Two shows Nightly - 6:00pm and 9:00pm
Zumanity:
Location: New York-New York, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark Sunday/Monday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
KÀ:
Location: MGM Grand, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark Thursday/Friday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
LOVE:
Location: Mirage, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Thursday through Monday, Dark: Tuesday/Wednesday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
MICHAEL JACKSON ONE:
Location: Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Two Shows Nightly - Dark: Wednesday/Thursday
Schedule: 7:00pm & 9:30pm on Friday, Saturday, Monday & Tuesday
4:30pm & 7:00pm on Sunday
JOYÀ:
Location: Riviera Maya, Mexico
Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday
One/Two Shows Nightly:
9:00pm (Weekdays)
7:00pm & 10:15pm (Fri, Sat & Holidays)
PARAMOUR:
Location: Lyric Theater, Broadway, New York City
Performs: Wednesday through Monday, Dark: Tuesday
*** CLOSING APRIL 17, 2017 ***
One/Two Shows Daily:
2:00pm (Wednesday)
7:30pm (Thursday & Monday)
8:00pm (Friday)
2:00pm & 8:00pm (Saturday)
2:00pm & 7:00pm (Sunday)
=======================================================================
OUTREACH - UPDATES FROM CIRQUE's SOCIAL WIDGETS
=======================================================================
o) WEBSERIES -- Official Online Featurettes
o) VIDEOS -- Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds
---------------------------------------------------
WEBSERIES: Official Online Featurettes
---------------------------------------------------
*) VOLTA - "FREEDOM MOMENTS"
"Freedom Moments" is a new series about how the artists from
Cirque du Soleil's NEW 2017 Big Top show, VOLTA, found their
free. VOLTA is a story about the FREEDOM to choose and the
thrill of blazing your own trail. Get up close and personal
with VOLTA's artists, discover their "Freedom Moments and
share yours with #FindYourFree!
o) EPISODE 1: ELENA - BALLERINA
January 6, 2017
Freedom = dance for VOLTA's s ballerina Elena, who
says being onstage is the best feeling in the world.
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/23DBoIQU6cI >
o) EPISODE 2: DINA - TIGHTWIRE
January 13, 2017
In this weeks Freedom Moment meet Dina, a tightwire
artist. He finds freedom in the middle of nature, back
home in Cambodia.
o) EPISODE 3: RIKKI - FREE RUNNER
January 27, 2017
In this weeks Freedom Moment we meet Rikki, a free
runner. He finds freedom by escaping the 9 to 5 and
hitting the road, traveling wherever his heart takes
him.
LINK /// < https://goo.gl/NpU2IL >
o) EPISODE 4: PAOLA - ROLLER SKATER
February 3, 2017
In this weeks Freedom Moment we meet artistic roller
skater, Paola! She expresses what she does to feel
connected with herself.
LINK /// < https://goo.gl/ikvrm6 >
*) LUZIASELF - THE WEBSERIES
o) EPISODE 2: CYR WHEEL
January 18, 2017
In episode 2, LUZIAself with our Cyr Wheel artists from
Los Angeles and New York! Get to know those 2 ladies who
turn their life around!
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/X5QuVpsdXU0 >
o) EPISODE 3: CONTORTION
February 1, 2017
In episode 3, LUZIAself with our contortionist Aleksei
Goloborodko! Get to know how he became the most flexible
human in the world!
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/OO1afRLMNgc >
*) AMALUNA OUR ISLAND AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL
o) EPISODE 1: NEW SURPRISES
FEBRUARY 1, 2017
Discover Our Island at the Royal Albert Hall and get an
insider look at our London adventure!
< https://www.facebook.com/Amaluna/videos/1422978034430158/ >
---------------------------------------------------
VIDEOS: Official Peeks &Noted Fan Finds
---------------------------------------------------
*) CIRQUECAST
CirqueCast is a Vodcast (thats video podcast) for Cirque fans
by Cirque fans featuring artist interviews, Cirque headlines,
and the inside scoop to your favorite Cirque du Soleil shows!
Join your hosts José Pérez (TheChapiteau), Richard Richasi
Russo (Fascination!), Ian Rents (Hardcore Cirque Fans), and Dario
Shame (a big 'ol fan), as we bring you a behind-the-scenes look
into Cirque du Soleil, complete with discussions and the latest
Cirque news.
o) EPISODE 12 - Special Fan Episode w/ Surprise Guest RJ Owens
January 14, 2017
On this very special episode of CirqueCast, four Cirque du
Soleil fans join us as we go over Cirque du Soleil media
news, Paramour's closing at the Lyric Theatre, and the new
Big Top show VOLTA. And to top it all off, RJ Owens, Baby
François in Mystere, makes a very special and unexpected
appearance to answer some of our guest hosts' questions!
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/r_t2Kup1yVQ >
o) EPISODE 13 - Interview with Daniel Crispin
January 28, 2017
Daniel Crispin (Crispy) is an Australian artist currently
performing the principal role of "Entu" in Cirque du Soleil's
Toruk - The First Flight. Join us this episode as Crispy
gives us an insight into what it is to be part of this
spectacular Cirque du Soleil show, including his experience
of auditioning for a role he later found out would be a
principal character.
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/UJnELB2WTvA >
=======================================================================
FASCINATION! FEATURES
=======================================================================
o) "Dance Like Everybodys Watching: Behind-the-Scenes of
the Dancing With The Stars 'Cirque du Soleil Night'"
Written By: Keith Johnson Seattle, Washington (USA)
o) "'TORUK-The First Flight' Comes to Las Vegas"
A Special to the Fascination! Newsletter
o) "Casting Q&A's - Meet an Artist, Part 6 of 6"
Edited By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
------------------------------------------------------------
"Dance Like Everybodys Watching: Behind-the-Scenes of
the Dancing With The Stars 'Cirque du Soleil Night'"
Written By: Keith Johnson Seattle, Washington (USA)
------------------------------------------------------------
When we previously reviewed the Monday, October 3, 2016 broadcast of
the ABC TV show, Dancing With The Stars, (DWTS) encompassing a
first-ever Cirque du Soleil theme night (our review can be read here
< http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=9141 >, highlights from the
broadcast can be found here < https://goo.gl/7GYRGd >), we marveled on
how much work and negotiation from both the DWTS and Cirque sides must
have occurred to bring this collaboration forward.
Which made us curious to know more, since a show of this scope and
scale must have required much more coordination than an appearance on
a late-night talk show or local morning television. So we reached out
to Ann Paladie, PR Director, Resident Shows Division, Cirque du Soleil
to provide some insight. Ms. Paladie enlightened us to the history of
Cirque/DWTS collaborations, how this one came about, and what it took
to make it happen.
FOXTROT
-------
Cirque du Soleils relationship with Dancing With The Stars began
years ago. We've had a relationship with Dancing With the Stars for
years, Ms. Paladie explained. We did a special appearance with
dancers from Viva Elvis (May 4, 2010). And there was a special
performance from Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour (November 14,
2011).
But it was back in August of 2014 that a producer from DWTS first
contacted Jerry Nadal, Senior Vice-President of Resident Shows in Las
Vegas, and asked if they could do a Cirque du Soleil-themed night in
the way they did their Disney-themed nights. We started having the
conversation in 2014 and were trying to figure out how to make it
work. And it just didn't come to fruition at that point. When we had
the opportunity in November, 2015, to have the collaboration with The
Beatles LOVE and their dancers (for the November 9 broadcast), that
really solidified the concept of how we could work together and
collaborate, incorporating our show elements with their dancers.
It was in August, 2016 that the decision was made to proceed with the
collaboration, taking the experience with LOVE and applying it to an
entire broadcast centered around Cirque shows and content. It was then
given to Ms. Paladie to be the point person on Cirques end, which she
was prepared for. I've been with Cirque for 15 years. We've done a
number of TV appearances but I don't think I've ever done anything to
this extent.
TANGO
-----
The first step was to present producers at DWTS with the smorgasbord
of Cirque shows and content that might fit. We had their team come to
Las Vegas, a couple of executive producers, and they watched all of
the shows they could in a weekend. And they put together a wish list
of what they wanted to use, what they were interested in in terms of
content or elements, or performers or characters, or set pieces and
like that.
Then they had to listen to all of the soundtracks and select music
based on the type of dance style that they needed to use. So that was
a process on their end. And then they came back with what songs they
wanted to use and the different styles associated with each number.
The selected songs musical charts were then provided by Cirque and
were arranged by DWTSs Musical Director, Ray Chew. The live
performances by Ray Chew Live during the show were in many cases
eerily close to the actual Cirque band sound, an impressive feat.
Once the wish list was in hand, it fell to Cirque to determine what
was possible. At that point we met with our two Senior Artistic
Directors who oversee all of the shows. We also had our head of
Technical Show Support (who oversees the technical aspects of all the
shows) in that meeting. Once [DWTS] determined which acts they wanted
to use we had to get Rigging involved. We have a Technical Manager at
our office here at the Resident Shows Division who oversees Rigging,
and we have a Technical Manager that oversees Automation. So I sent
the Head of Rigging to do a site visit (to the DWTS set at CBS
Television City in Hollywood, CA) to see where they could put the
winches and hang the points and all of the technical aspects, and he
worked directly with their production team to determine all of that.
And of course [we] worked with all of the production managers at the
different shows that had aerial involved in the performances. We also
made sure that technical specs would work for each of the individual
acts.
But the scheduling and rehearsal requirements of a television show
broadcast live on Monday afternoon (5pm Los Angeles time for an 8pm
Eastern Time slot) meant not everything could be accommodated.
Because their show rehearsal and camera blocking is on Sunday, and
all of our shows perform on Sunday, we were somewhat limited with the
things and people that we could send without having a huge impact on
the shows that need to be performed that night. So we did some
negotiation that way like, Can we send three artists? No but we can
send two. Those types of conversations.
A total of 15 artists, including acrobatic/circus arts performers and
characters, were involved on-camera. And there were show props used
throughout the show, such as the tricycle train from LOVE. Again,
there were things that they wanted that we didn't have spares of that
we couldn't send because we needed them for the show. But there were
things that we could spare. It was those conversations, Well, we can
do this but we can't do that. And, We can send you this but we
don't have that. Things like that.
QUICKSTEP
---------
From August 2016, when Cirque committed to the collaboration, to show
air date, Monday, October 3, was just three months, a compressed
amount of time. Absolutely, and honestly it came down to that last
week, because it's a competition show. They didn't know who the 11
contestants were going to be until after the elimination on Tuesday
(September 27).
The Cirque shows to be represented, music, artists and set pieces had
already been negotiated. And DWTS had some idea of what shows would be
right for their cast, such as using Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte in a
number from the water-inspired O, and Olympic gymnast Laurie
Hernandez in a number inspired by her hero Michael Jackson. Exactly.
And I think they had that in mind but just couldn't share that
information with me early on. Another piece of the puzzle was that
their contestants have other projects going on, they couldn't all
travel to our theaters, to have that experience. They were only able
to send a couple of their people. Partner Val Chmerkovskiy (with
eventual champion Laurie Hernandez (via FaceTime)) went to Michael
Jackson ONE, Ryan Lochte (with partner Cheryl Burke) went to O,
actress/singer Jana Kramer (with partner Gleb Savchenko) went to LOVE,
and race car driver and eventual runner-up James Hinchcliffe (with
partner Shauna Burgess) went to Paramour in New York City.
The week of the show was a flurry of activity. We found out Tuesday
night who the 11 stars were going to be. And we knew we wanted to host
Laurie Hernandez and her partner Val at Michael Jackson ONE. The only
time that they could come to the theater to meet with the cast and to
see the number that they were going to be doing was after the results
show on Tuesday. So Val came to Las Vegas to visit the Michael Jackson
ONE Theater and met with the team, and talked to the Artistic Director
and Dance Master and the two performers that were going to be part of
the number. Lori was on via FaceTime. So that happened right away
Tuesday night.
So we did that shoot, and I want to say it was Wednesday or Thursday
that [James and Shauna] went to Paramour. Thursday [Jana and Gleb]
came to LOVE; Friday [Ryan and Cheryl] came to O. So all of those
arrangements were made pretty quickly. I mean we had an idea of what
dates they were going to be coming, but then finalized them on Tuesday
night and Wednesday.
And it was Friday that we loaded up a truck with all of the props,
and we ended up needing a second truck. Two trucks full of props and
equipment and everything were driven out to LA. Some of the team flew
in on Saturday and some on Sunday. We did the rehearsals on Sunday,
and then Monday was dress rehearsal and the [broadcast]. They got
everything loaded out right after the show on Monday night and drove
the trucks back on Tuesday. And we all flew back on Tuesday.
It was actually a fairly small group that was there on-site. In
addition to the performers we had a very small support staff. But a
lot of people were involved leading up to it for sure.
VIENNESE WALTZ
--------------
The result of this whirlwind of work was a broadcast that several
times powerfully invoked the Cirque ethos. And I really give the
Dancing With The Stars team credit for that. They were so respectful
of our brand and really made us look great.
It was a collaboration that greatly benefited both sides. We were
just happy to have the exposure; to be able to showcase the individual
shows in the way that we did. It's such a well-produced show, and it's
got such a huge following. Plus the social media exposure; the show
tends to trend most nights it's on, so just to have all the chatter
and exposure was really key for us.
Something we wondered about in our original review was why there was
no ad buy from Cirque that could make the point that the shows
represented were all different, and that the various Cirque elements
could all be seen live in context on tour and in resident theaters.
This was an intentional decision. Usually when we do major national
TV appearances we look at doing an ad buy, but I think the consensus
was that this was basically a two-hour commercial, so having that
additional exposure wasn't entirely necessary.
And the impact was significant. I know that our ticket agents were
getting more calls from people, and I want to say our sales were a bit
higher on that Tuesday than they normally were.
In a show that was essentially two hours of pure Cirque! Ms. Paladie
did have some highlights. In my opinion, the highlight for me was the
intro, where all of our individual logos came up on the screen behind
the contestants. There was that recognition and that pairing. That was
really a true highlight for me.
As for a favorite performance, It's hard for me to say. I feel the
way they used the projections and the screen content from KÀ, it
really made you feel like you were there, that was really strong. I
thought the Paramour number was really strong. I loved the aerial act
in the La Nouba number, that act is just jaw-dropping. The aerial act
in Kurios was great. Gosh, it's really hard to say.
For such a special show, which we dont think has even been done to
this extent before, big kudos go out to all involved and to Ms.
Paladie for being the producer. An effort for which she is still
enthusiastic. I just want to do it again next year! So hopefully
there will be a Cirque night next fall. Not that shes giving us a
scoop. No. It was so much hard work, but it was so worthwhile that
the minute it was over it was like, let's do it again. (Laughs.)
It truly was a really amazing opportunity for us. It came together so
beautifully and we were just thrilled with the outcome.
The show was the 21st most popular show in the US the week of its
airing, garnering 10.73 million viewers. It would take all of Cirque
du Soleils shows - resident, big top and arena - playing two shows a
night, seven days a week, at 100% capacity for four months to get the
same number of impressions from that one two-hour broadcast.
Now when you put it like that that is amazing. I love it!
------------------------------------------------------------
"'TORUK-The First Flight' Comes to Las Vegas"
A Special to the Fascination! Newsletter
------------------------------------------------------------
The following are a collection of articles published in the Las Vegas
Review-Journal when TORUK-The First Flight appeared in Las Vegas.
Avatar is Coming to Las Vegas
-----------------------------
For one week only to start off the New Year, Cirque du Soleil will
present an eighth spectacular on the Strip, and for the first time the
circus entertainment company will take over T-Mobile Arena for the
production.
Toruk: The First Flight transports audiences as depicted in the
movie to the world of Pandora in a visually stunning setting. The
experience becomes a storytelling odyssey through a new world of
imagination and discovery.
This immersive experience bears the signature of directors and
multimedia innovators Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon. It is a living
ode to the Navi symbiotic coexistence with nature and belief in the
interconnectedness of living things.
Narrated by a Navi storyteller and populated by characters, Toruk:
The First Flight is a mythical tale set thousands of years before the
events depicted in Avatar and before humans set foot on Pandora. The
production is a fusion of visuals, puppetry and stagecraft buoyed by a
cinematic score.
Cirque applies its signature style to James imaginary world and makes
the bond between kindred artistic visions that capture the
imagination. When a natural catastrophe threatens to destroy the
sacred Tree of Souls, Ralu and Entu, two Omatikaya boys on the brink
of adulthood, decide to take matters into their own hands.
Upon learning that Toruk can help them save the Tree of Souls, they
set out together with their newfound friend Tsyal on a quest up the
Floating Mountains to find Toruk, a red-and-orange predator who rules
the Pandoran sky. Prophecy is fulfilled when a pure soul rises among
the clans to ride Toruk for the first time and save the Navi from a
terrible fate.
The creative team for Toruk: The First Flight comprised 13 creators
under the artistic guidance of Cirque founder Guy Laliberte and Jean-
François Bouchard for Cirque du Soleil and James, Jon Landau, Kathy
Franklin and Richie Baneham for film producers Lightstorm Entertainment.
Avatar dates back to 1994 when writer, director and producer James
wrote an 80-page treatment for the film to follow in 2007 his shooting
schedule for Titanic. The director delayed developing the fictional
universe until 2006, saying necessary technology wasnt yet available.
Hollywood insider reports said the budget was about $240 million. No
budget figure has been released for the Cirque touring theatrical
version, but insiders whisper that its close to the $200 million Ka
at MGM Grand.
Avatar had its world premiere in England in December 2009 and on
Dec. 16 in the United States and Canada. It broke box office records
and became the highest-grossing film of all time surpassing Titanic,
which held the record for 12 years. Avatar was the first film to
gross more than $2 billion and was the top film of 2010. It was
nominated for nine Academy Awards and won three. To date, its box
office is $2.788 billion.
James this year confirmed that his partnership with 20th Century Fox
calls for four sequels, with Avatar 2 set for December 2018 and the
others in 2020, 2022 and 2023. Avatar starred Sam Worthington, Zoe
Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang and Michelle Rodriguez.
Toruk was developed in Montreal at Cirque headquarters, but
rehearsals took place at Century Link Center in Bossier City,
Louisiana, because it could hold the massive sets unable to fit into
Cirques studios in Quebec. The stage measures 85 feet by 162 feet.
Toruk is the main character of the show and brought to life along with
the animals of Pandora as 16 life-sized puppets. Ralu, Entu and Tsyal
are the three main protagonists of Toruk narrated by a Navi
storyteller.
Multimedia projections, which overflow the set into the audience,
evoke the landscapes from the movie showing the Floating Mountains,
Omaticaya Hometree, Anurais animal sanctuary and jungle homes of the
Tawkami.
Large-scale effects include an earthquake, volcano eruption and lava
rivers. The projection surface, not including the audience reach, is
more than five times the size of an IMAX screen. Forty video
projectors are used in the production.
There is an island at the center of the stage on which performers
move about that houses a fire pit, circular drum and Tree of Souls, an
inflatable structure in a trench under the stage floor. The tree
structure is inflated as it is hoisted from the trench using cables
attached to the structure above the stage.
The branches of the tree are covered in thousands of LED lights. The
dream catcher is a structure suspended 45 feet above the island. It
houses props and set elements, including a plant 35 feet in diameter
that serves as an acrobatic device.
The costume department produced more than 1,000 items including shoes,
headpieces and necklaces for the 115 costumes, an average of 3.3
costumes per artist. There are 18 kites in the show, one being a 64.5-
square-foot giant traction kite that flies out over the audience
during the scene in the Hallelujah Mountains. Audiences report feeling
a gust of wind as it whooshes overhead. During the Kekunan Clan scene,
12 kite flyers perform simultaneously onstage.
The show, at 2 hours with a 20-minute intermission, could only be
staged at T-Mobile Arena for its Las Vegas stop and not in any Cirque
theater on the Strip. The shows premiere was Dec. 21 in Montreal and
is on a West Coast leg of its North American tour and after the run
here travels to Mexico and China.
Toruk is the 37th production by Cirque since it was founded in 1984
when 73 people worked for the company. Today there are nearly 4,000
employees, including 1,300 artists. More than 155 million have seen a
Cirque show since 1984. This year in addition to Toruk, Cirque will
present 18 shows around the world, six of which are resident
productions here.
The Most Ambitious Touring Production Ever
------------------------------------------
Nine former Las Vegas cast and crew members of Cirque du Soleil shows
will be working in the amazing production Toruk: The First Flight
when it has its engagement at T-Mobile Arena from Jan. 18-22. Its
the most ambitious Cirque du Soleil touring production ever, Cirque
Senior Vice President of Worldwide Resident Shows Jerry Nadal told me.
Our Ka show at MGM Grand is a permanent instillation, but Toruk
has 27 trucks with the show itself covering 15,000 square feet of
full-stage floor. Its all computer-generated. We turn the stage into
the six different worlds of Avatar in the course of the show. Its
really ambitious and crazy because it moves around to a different city
every week.
Jerry, who flew to Montreal for its premiere last year, said Las Vegas
will be even more impressed with the production than the seven shows
already here on the Las Vegas Strip. Its the next step in our
creative process. We take the James Cameron movie, which is the
biggest movie of all time, and bring it to life onstage.
Las Vegas audiences will be knocked out with the full use of T-Mobile
Arena it really does take the entire arena. The main character whos
named for the show, the Toruk, is a huge bird with a 40-foot wingspan
who flies around the whole arena. Its really an impressive piece of
theater.
The other impressive part of the show is all the projection mapping
on the scenery where it turns into different worlds. We havent seen
that in our Cirque shows here yet. Over 40 video projectors are used
to create Pandora. Theres a waterfall effect in there that is mind-
blowing. Its impressive and new to Las Vegas. I was blown away by it.
Its absolutely stunning visually.
One of the shows other standout features is narration, something that
Cirque normally doesnt do. Said Jerry: The characters narrate you
through the story. If youve seen the movie, then youre going to know
the whole thing, but this narration certainly helps move the story
along from world to world.
I dont think that it really needs any explanation, but if you have
not seen the movie, then this just helps you get from one part of the
story to the next in the different worlds that make up Pandora.
Theres all the performance elements that you would expect from Cirque
du Soleil, as well.
Toruk already this year has been one of the top-grossing
production road tours. Several million people have seen it so far, and
its been one of our most successful arena tours ever. Its an
original product specifically built and designed to tour in arenas.
Jerry summed up: Its not just bigger or better than what we have in
Las Vegas already.
Its the performance itself, plus the equipment that theyre using
and the style of the presentation. Its very different. We try to let
the show stand alone, so Im not going to take anything from it for
what we already have here. Well see what we can create totally new
and unique in the future for here.
James Camerons Fanboy Love of Cirque Led to TORUK
--------------------------------------------------
Two fantasy worlds, almost touching.
Toruk The First Flight is the rare Cirque du Soleil touring show
to land on the Strip, which already hosts six resident titles. (The
last one was Michael Jackson The Immortal, five years ago.)
But Toruk is a prequel to Avatar, so it would seem unfair to
deprive Las Vegas of a tie-in to the highest-grossing movie of all
time. Toruk has done Avatar proud on the road, pulling up in the
No. 13 spot (right behind Paul McCartney) on Pollstars ranking of
2016 tours, with a gross of $66.6 million.
Still, it makes sense that Toruk would roll into T-Mobile Arena
where it runs Wednesday through Jan. 22 when Ka is on its annual
vacation. The two shows share a lot of inspiration, and a little DNA.
Both take audiences on a narrated journey through an exotic fantasy
realm. And Avatar director James Cameron is as big a Cirque fan as
they come.
In some aspects hes a big child, says Fabrice Lemire, artistic
director of Toruk. When Cameron would watch rehearsals of the live
show, I could see it in his eyes.
He loves those collaborations and has a lot of respect for
performers. I have never seen somebody with that reputation who is so
down to earth, Lemire added.
Ka opened at the MGM Grand in late 2004. The $165 million spectacle
was Cirques first attempt at a narrative, the story of two separated
twins and the adventures that reunite them. Though visually rooted in
Chinese martial-arts fantasy, the saga is not located in any specific
place or time.
Avatar had been in development for years before its 2009 release.
Cameron has credited Cirque performers for inspiring the physical
movement of the Navi, the indigenous people of the planet Pandora,
who are colonized by human miners who interact with them through
genetically engineered bodies.
Cameron told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that while he was
developing his Fusion Camera System for the movies 3-D, he called up
Cirque and invited executives to check out this 3-D technology. I
want to shoot your shows.
The result was the 2010 feature Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away,
featuring the Las Vegas-based productions. Cameron didnt direct it,
but he did some the 3-D camera work himself.
He would call us over after some of our stunts and say, Have a look
at this, and show us. He was really into it, recalls Peter
Kismartoni, a Ka performer now in Toruk.
Cirque executives were thus emboldened to ask if they could create a
live arena show based on Avatar. Cameron became a consultant on the
arena show helmed by writer-directors Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon,
while continuing with his four yes, four Avatar movie sequels.
Its a partnership that makes perfect sense for Toruk artistic
director Fabrice Lemire. Cirque du Soleil was somewhat avant-garde
and very much ahead of everything else 30 years ago. How do you stay
afloat and still innovative 30 years later? There you have somebody
like James Cameron, he says.
Its a clever way to explore new direction and a clever way to
reinvent yourself
to reach out to a new audience to also to explore
a new artistic vision, while working closely with somebody who is
creative.
Ka and Toruk are both of the same flavor, I would say, with the
narration and the storytelling, Lemire adds. However, Ka allows
you a lot more freedom of interpretation around the narration. We
dont. We really take your hand and lead you through the journey. As
an audience, you watch a lot more like you are watching a movie or a
play.
The creators wanted Toruk to tell a self-contained story that didnt
require anyone to have seen Avatar. And they didnt want to tackle
the height difference between the Navi and the shorter humans, who
come and cause problems in the film.
Instead, separate tribes of Pandora set off on a quest for talismans
that will bring down the titular Toruk, a creature with a 40-foot
wingspan brought to life by the shows puppetry. The action fills the
entire arena floor, and much of the Pandora world is created through
video projections.
The lead actors have live microphones, and were coached in the Navi
language, as well as by a movement coach who worked on the film.
Those who think theyve seen all Cirque has to offer should not
expect to see the most traditional Cirque du Soleil production, where
the acrobatic stunts are at the forefront, Lemire says. Absolutely
not. It is a very different driving force. The acrobatics are there to
support the storyline.
T-Mobile Arena transforms into Pandora
--------------------------------------
A most spectacular Cirque du Soleil show is about to be unleashed on
Las Vegas. Its a multimedia extravaganza where technology is the real
star, so much so that you can download an app to your smartphone and
at certain times in the production add to its visual effects.
Welcome to Toruk: The First Flight, which opens here Wednesday. Its
so big and ambitious that it takes 27 trucks to deliver everything
here. Thats too large for Strip showrooms, so Toruk will be staged
at T-Mobile Arena with 700 panels covering 15,000 square feet of the
floor, turning the stage into the six worlds of the show inspired by
James Camerons Avatar.
Nine former Las Vegas cast and crew members will work in the spectacle
here through Jan. 22. The show is 2 hours 10 minutes, with one
intermission, and is the story of three brave teen boys who seek to
save the sacred Tree of Souls from a volcanic explosion with the help
of Toruk.
Its the most ambitious Cirque du Soleil touring production ever,
Jerry Nadal, Cirque senior VP of Worldwide Resident Shows, told me.
Its really ambitious and crazy because it moves around to a
different city every week.
Jerry said that Las Vegas will be even more impressed with the
production than the Cirque shows already here on the Strip: Its the
next step in our creative process. We take the James Cameron movie,
the biggest movie of all time, and bring it to life.
It takes up the entire arena. The main character whos named for the
show, the Toruk, is a huge bird with a 40-foot wingspan who flies
around the whole arena. Its really an impressive piece of theater.
For the first time, Cirque fans here will witness extraordinary
projection mapping on the scenery turning into the world of Pandora.
More than 40 video projectors are used, and also new to Las Vegas is a
mind-blowing waterfall effect that promises to have audiences in awe.
Toruk has a narrator to help thread the story and because the
players speak to one another in the Navi language to prove that they
are humans and not computer-generated graphics. Note: It is not
necessary to see or have seen the Academy Award-winning Avatar in
advance.
The iPhone app can be downloaded at iTunes.com and at Google.com for
Android phones.
Millions have seen the touring production, which was one of the top-
grossing road productions last year. It is Cirques 37th production
since the Montreal-based circus company was founded by Guy Laliberte.
During that time, more than 155 million people in more than 300 cities
on six continents have seen a Cirque spectacle.
Audiences may well think that T-Mobile looks like a silver, science-
fiction spacecraft to touch down on the Pandora moon. Avatar was a
2009 blockbuster from James, who promises a sequel in 2018 and a third
story in 2020, that stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. Here is a
trailer on YouTube.
Toruk is set on the films moon, Pandora, populated by humanoid
creatures with blue skin and tails. Although a similar story, the
Cirque show is set thousands of years before the film. This is the
First Flight, while the movie depicts the Sixth Flight.
The world of Pandora is video-game immersive, as directors Michel
Lemieux and Victor Pilon use sophisticated mechanics for huge puppets
coupled with multimedia projections to seamlessly transform the
landscape of the set, creating forests, waterfalls and caverns.
Michel said: People dont want to be just in front of something. More
and more, they want to be inside it. We wanted people to go to this
moon, watch these beautiful people and live there for a while.
Two performers from Vancouver, British Columbia, filmed a YouTube
segment with Vancouver Straight explaining the shows intricacies,
including a look at its 115 costumes. The wardrobe department includes
more than 1,000 items shoes, headpieces, necklaces and more.
The acrobatics are stunning: Drummers rise in one circle, and in one
dance routine gigantic fans that look like luminous flower petals fill
T-Mobile. The quest takes the three young heroes high up in the
Floating Mountains to find the mighty red-and-orange predator who
rules Pandora.
Warriors writhe and dangle from motorized poles or dance and contort
on a skeleton that moves like an enormous seesaw. Prophecy is
fulfilled when a pure soul rises among the clans to ride Toruk for the
first time and save the Navi from a terrible fate.
The Toruk has a wingspan of 40 feet and weighs approximately 250
pounds. You will feel its swoosh of wind underneath its wings as it
flies around the arena. There are 40 artists in the cast: one actor,
one singer, one percussionist, one kite specialist, one boomerang
specialist, one contortionist, six puppeteers and 28 acrobats.
About 100 people representing 20 nationalities are on tour full time,
and 16 puppets represent the creatures of Pandora: six Viperwolves,
three Direhorses, three Austrapedes, one Turtapede, two swarms of
Woodsprites and one Toruk. The Viperwolves and Direhorses are inspired
by Avatar, but the Austrapedes and the Turtapede were created by
Cirque.
Jerry summed up: Its impressive and new to Las Vegas. Its
absolutely stunning visually. Its not just bigger and better than
what we have in Las Vegas already. I was blown away by it.
Breathtaking TORUK brings Pandora to life with Color, Majesty
-------------------------------------------------------------
It was absolutely gorgeous and unbelievable visually. Cirque du Soleil
is known for bringing wonder and delight to millions of spectators
across the globe, and it dazzled audiences once again Wednesday night
with the Las Vegas premiere of its newest touring show, Toruk: The
First Flight.
Toruk is breathtaking from start to finish, and the video mapping
special effects make the waterfall, flooding ocean and volcanic lava
eruptions so realistic that the audience felt the effects almost
firsthand.
The production kicked off its limited run at T-Mobile Arena through
Sunday night with more than 3,000 guests transported to the world of
Pandora, bringing the mythical planet to life on a 20,000-square-foot
stage buoyed by technology, acrobatics and cinematic score.
The touring show with 27 truckloads of scenery, equipment and wardrobe
was inspired by director James Camerons Oscar-winning blockbuster
Avatar. It cost Fox more than $230 million to make with actors, but
it earned $1 billion at the box office in 19 days and eventually $2
billion. It remains the top-grossing movie of all time, displacing
James Titanic.
Movies and bestselling books rarely translate into successful stage
shows, or arena spectacles in this case, but Cirque pulled off the
miracle with Pandora. It is a masterpiece of eye candy filled with
wild creatures, incredibly colorful fans and flowers and a highly
emotional finale lighting of the Tree of Souls.
The flight of the giant creature Toruk is amazing. A phone app lets
the audience control fireflies, colors, twinkling lights and other
effects during the production. Jerry Nadal, Cirques senior VP of
Resident Shows Division here, brought along casts and crews from
Mystere, The Beatles Love and Ka to Toruk.
Our thanks to contributing photographer Tom Donoghue, who was given
special permission to shoot the first half of the show. Toruk is the
first touring Cirque show to perform at the arena. Tom also
photographed my advance behind-the-scenes rehearsals look at the
backstage secrets of the spectacular.
I interviewed Brazilian MMA artist Kleber Berto, who performed in Ka
at MGM Grand for five years before joining Toruk as the court
jester, and Shakespearean actor Raymond ONeill, who is the
storyteller helping explain the Navi language that James created for
his film with Dr. Paul Frommer, a professor of linguistics at USC.
I also talked with Fabrice Lemire, who is the shows artistic
director. He told me that his traveling village of 95 performers,
crew and artistic team complete with catering, laundry, dry cleaning
and wardrobe start the Asian leg of the world tour this fall in
Taiwan. Well post my interviews with the trio later.
The cast will stay here for a three-day break after Sundays show to
celebrate with local Cirque colleagues before traveling to Wichita,
Kansas, for next Thursdays arena show. Almost 30 trucks will drive
the amazing scenery and equipment after packing up through the night
Sunday for the load-in that begins Wednesday.
James has confirmed that there are plans for four sequels. Avatar 2
is scheduled for release in December 2018, with the others following
in December 2020, 2022 and 2023. If you cant wait for the excitement
of new Pandora adventures, see Toruk before it ends Sunday.
A World too Familiar for Cirque-savvy Las Vegans?
-------------------------------------------------
When the Cirque comes to your town, its a pretty big deal. Toruk
The First Flight took in almost as much money as Paul McCartney on
the road last year.
But when Cirque du Soleil comes to Las Vegas, its own backyard? Ehh.
Depends on how busy those World of Concrete conventioneers are. And
how much locals care about the Avatar connection to Cirques touring
arena spectacle.
Wednesdays launch of a five-day run had plenty of empty seats in T-
Mobile Arena, even beyond a closed upper deck and the arena floor used
as the set for the sprawling production. (If youre ticket-shopping,
note the horseshoe of sections 8 through 12, usually not your first
choice for concerts, is ideal for this one.)
Cirque-savvy locals may not find the Avatar ingredients strong
enough to avoid a sense of deja vu with Ka and five other Las Vegas-
based spectacles.
Avatar is a double-edged sword. In one sense, its brilliant
branding. Everyone saw the $2.7 billion-grossing movie. But unlike
Star Wars or comic-book franchises, where fanatics come with
impossible expectations, co-creators Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon
have a lot of freedom.
This prequel of sorts comics geeks would call it a shared
universe is more a self-contained story set on the planet Pandora,
before the humans showed up to screw things up.
On the other hand, Toruk could have used some nerd passion to
enforce more action and urgency.
The first of its two acts takes its time in setting our young Navi
heroes (Guillaume Paquin and Jeremiah Hughes) on a quest to collect
talismans to help them tame the feared Toruk, a giant pterodactyl, and
head off a predicted disaster. Their travels become a leisurely
display of pageantry, an excuse to showcase Cirques familiar
acrobatics.
The second act kicks into higher gear with more forward motion. The
blue lads and a chieftains daughter (Giulia Piolanti) who joins the
quest are menaced by cool creature puppets before they face off with
the big bird. If the problem with Cirques arena shows is the fact
that acrobatic humans just cant get any bigger, they can at least do
something about the impressive size and scale of the title puppet.
You can trust Cirque to do this stuff right. The companys usual good
taste and eye for detail are evident from the get-go. As a narrating
Storyteller (Raymond ONeill) sets up the tale, the shadows of his
billowing cloak create moody visuals on the towering set behind him.
And the video projection-mapping is stunning. At one point turning the
set into a waterfall with rivers for our heroes to canoe.
The story isnt Shakespeare. Sample narration: To unite the clans by
convincing them of the common danger will be no easy task. Still,
there are grounded moments when the native blue Navi interact in
their native language, attempting to inject some genuine emotion.
Sure, the whole things a little languid and humor-challenged. And for
locals, a little too familiar. But sports arenas are now a big part of
our entertainment fabric. Technology has opened the door for a new
kind of theater that enables cinematic action. If you picked another
family-friendly arena show this month or doubled down on both
youll at least appreciate that this certainly isnt Disney on Ice.
Behind-the-scenes of TORUK-The First Flight
-------------------------------------------
For five years, Brazilian MMA performer Kleber Berto starred in Cirque
du Soleils Ka at MGM Grand as the court jester and protector of the
twins. Growing up in a poor family in Brazil with an identical twin
brother, Kleber was so small that his mother encouraged him at age 8
to take up martial arts to develop his strength.
Day in and out after school, he practiced his athleticism with friends
on the beach and street corners. I was really skinny, very thin. I
fell in love with Capoeira martial arts, he explained. One spectator
followed his feats for a while, then invited him to join a company
there, Circo del Mundo, the circus of the world.
Cirque du Soleil was really famous in Brazil and because I was in
Circo del Mundo, I was invited to try for an audition with Cirque,
Kleber told me backstage at the touring Toruk: The First Flight at
T-Mobile Arena last Wednesday. (Toruk played at T-Mobile last
Wednesday through Sunday.)
I passed the audition and went to Montreal to prepare for the Ka
show headed for Las Vegas. I loved the time I spent in Las Vegas, and
its been very nice and enjoyable to see all my friends again while
returning here for Toruk. It came as a surprise because I didnt
know we were coming here. Its changed since I was here last, and its
nice to just walk around the streets to see how its grown up and
changed.
In Toruk, Kleber gets to fight in every show with his sticks. Every
night I have to beat up someone, he declared. In the story, we have
two kids who need to find an amulet, and our amulet is a shield. I
have to show him that its not that easy to get the shield.
I enjoy so much working for Cirque. Its where my artistic life
started. I really enjoy being on tour and seeing different places,
getting to a new arena and seeing old friends. Every time we are in a
new city, we rehearse just to keep physically fit and test all of the
equipment once its been unpacked and set up.
We have our own gym that travels with us, so we can keep training in
the little free time that we have. We have a chef and catering staff
who travel with us, but sometimes after a show, I will go out to the
restaurants.
Everybody who comes to see Toruk loves the show, and I do, too.
Its a beautiful story, and everybody who loved the movie loves the
show.
* * *
Shakespearean actor Raymond ONeill, who plays the narrator of the
Toruks Navi-language story, likens it to the current political
differences between new President Donald Trump and his Democratic
Party opponents.
The story here is unless the various tribes unite and work together
to solve a crisis, the world is going down, Raymond told me
backstage. It really is an allegory for our situation on Earth. As
you said, Robin, if we do not come together, we destroy ourselves. We
move forward by working together, not by divisiveness. We accomplish
the task at hand by cooperation.
Thats the central, dramatic tension here. The messenger has to go
out, get all the tribes together, and if he gets them together, are
they going to cooperate and are they all going to show up and are we
all going to throw water on the fire, save The Tree of Souls and live
happily ever after?
To a degree, it doesnt happen in real life, although it does in the
movies. Maybe it hasnt happened in my lifetime or yours, but
hopefully we do move forward. It might take a generation or two to see
two steps backward was countered by three steps forward.
Raymond threads the story together in English while the actors use
Navi created by Paul Frommer, a university linguistics professor in
Los Angeles. Raymond continued: Its not difficult to understand in
our show, but it doesnt make sense to English ears outside the show.
Its a bit like going to a Shakespeare play for the first time. There
may be words you dont understand, but they are being acted in a way
that you understand from what the action is. Im there as the
translator. To a degree, I certainly know whats being said when it is
being said. But Im not really translating directly whats going on.
When Cirque has performers from 95 countries in its shows, they use
Cirque speak. We dont have that in this show because Cirque has moved
into a more narrative storytelling style. Im a Shakespearean actor;
Im a storyteller, but this is a new kind of creature for Cirque.
This show is very much pivotal around a storyteller whose position in
the story itself is revealed as the story goes on. Theres a reason
hes telling the story because in a sense he lived it and was there at
the time it was being told.
We started creation exactly a year and a half ago July 20, on my 64th
birthday. Here in Las Vegas, we will have been running for exactly a
year and a half, and weve been on the road for about 14 to 15 months.
I know Shakespeare started out traveling on the road, but Ive just
never toured week by week by week by week.
Its massive moving almost 30 trucks every week. Cirque takes good
care of us. Were in good hotels. They are organized like you would
not believe. Im gob smacked at their ability to get it done. It feels
really smooth. They really spoil us because its daunting to go out
for 12 weeks, eight to nine shows a week, a new arena, a new hotel, an
airplane, a bus to a new city.
Its keeping me young. Im a senior citizen. Im onstage 100 percent
of the show, and if Im not onstage, there are one or two moments when
I deliver a line from backstage, but my voice is still there. Im
onstage, and I go up and down the stairs into the audience, so I get a
real workout on my legs. Theyre working this old man, but, I tell
you, its good for me.
Theres not two of me. Theres one of me, but one of our acrobatic
performers who has some acting experience has learned the part if I
fail to go on. He is a Spanish-speaking man, and the show will feature
him when it goes to Mexico next week after Las Vegas.
As a Shakespearean actor, Raymond understands why the British
playwright was so successful around the world. He says the secret of
Toruks success is because the touring production is not a version
of the movie but a prequel story.
Raymond commented: It was once said that style in acting is to know
what play youre in. It starts from the feet up, and, as an actor, I
understand the sensibility of that. Ive been a professional actor for
45 years and worked all over the world in film and television.
If you know your soap opera, if you know your Shakespeare play, if
youre doing a Noel Coward, you have to figure out the piece. This
beast is very clearly defined. Its well written. I have tricks up my
sleeve, but I am not a magician. I am a character in the play. I know
where Im seated as an actor.
Its a solid theatrical convention, and Im on the inside. But I can
tell you by the time you get to the end of the story, theres an
emotional payoff. The success is the key to understand what the
theatrical convention is and deliver the goods because the script is
clear and well written and has some good language and cadence to the
language. Its modern English.
Our thanks to contributing photographer Tom Donoghue for his behind-
the-scenes backstage coverage with Raymond and Kleber. We wish the
entire cast and crew a safe journey and bon voyage as they continue
their tour around the world.
It Takes a Village to Move TORUK
--------------------------------
Will the different plugs needed for washing machines in Australia or
microwaves in Taiwan be easy to handle when Cirque du Soleils touring
Toruk: The First Flight arrives after its engagement here last week?
Those minute details are two of hundreds that artistic director
Fabrice Lemire handles as he moves his Toruk cast and crew of 99
around the world.
Hell sit bedside in a hospital if a cast member is injured. Fabrice
ensures that chefs, medics, seamstresses and trainers have everything
they need as they tour. Its moving an entire village every five
days, he told me when we met backstage at T-Mobile Arena on Jan. 18.
Heres a behind-the-scenes story youd never get to know. Fabrice
joined Toruk as assistant stage director during Toruks creation
in July 2015. Fabrice first signed on with Cirque in 2008 as dance
master and assistant artistic director of Zaia in Macau.
In 2010, he transferred to the South American tour of Quidam, and
after being promoted to artistic director for its transfer from big
tops to major arenas, he moved to Varekai as artistic director. He
joined the creative team of Toruk in 2015.
Every single Cirque show has to evolve, he explained to me. Even
though we premiered Toruk almost 18 months ago, in some aspects it
was not fully completed. We had only 15 weeks to create it. Even for
Cirque, thats tight, very tight, to produce such a large-scale show.
So we hit the road with many things still to do. We continued the
creation process while the show had to be on the road. I continually
made major changes and also added layers to what we had premiered in
Montreal.
Im still here even though the show can pretty much drive its own
wings without me. We are now at a great level of who takes care of
what, who is responsible of what, how we all hold this moving ship
together.
My role now as artistic director is really as a facilitator to make
it happen every night. I know my team can function well without me,
although you need somebody who is in charge to make the calls at any
given time.
Q. Is that because it is a touring show? Every arena is different,
every city is different, and every safety and Fire Department rules
are different in each place?
There are so many layers, Robin, compared to a Cirque show here in Las
Vegas, where performers have a lifestyle of what they do, and they get
to go home every night. In the touring show, we are one very large
family. We live and we work together 24/7. We dont get away from each
other. The artistic directors role is extremely important, not only
in the theater during the performance but also in the entire journey.
Q. You have to look after the mental, emotional and physical well-
being of everybody?
In some aspects, yes. You know, at 2 a.m., there could be an urgent
Skype call with a loved one. Theres an issue, they may come to my
room because there is nowhere else to go. I listen or solve something
because whatever condition the performer or technical person has may
have an impact on the show the next day. Can I put this artist on the
next day based on what happened to them?
Q. Do you deal with love and family problems and, presumably, every
now and again, there has to be disputes with all of you living on
top of one another around the clock?
There are, and, youre right, this happened. We are a traveling
village, and I am one of the directors. Ive spent five, six, seven
hours at the hospital with a performer. I am the one taking him to the
hospital if need be. We travel with a medical team for small
emergencies, but we are an entire, self-contained village somewhat
of a dysfunctional traveling family!
Q. Youre a band of legitimate gypsies, but you all have a common
goal, plan and mission?
Yes. All of us are drifting together, but everybody has their own
goals in regard to the lifestyle. For me, Im actually in the moment
of my life where I would like to go back to another crazy process.
Q. Do I think of you as the dad of this traveling family? You have a
laundromat for all the laundry, you have a restaurant to provide
food, you have a gym so they can work out?
Yes, Im the father of Toruk, and we travel with show-related
washing machines and dryers. We have a system that we allow employees
or artists to use them if it doesnt impact the time the wardrobe
department is doing laundry for the shows costumes. We have
guidelines, and we have to respect the guidelines. The catering is
important to have because so many locations, we might be in the middle
of nowhere, theres nothing around, and also with the makeup on their
faces between show days, its difficult for performers to go outside
on the street in full makeup and costume to find something to eat.
Q. You have everybody from carpenters to a wardrobe mistress who can
repair torn or worn-out costumes?
We have riggers, the automations team, an entire stage management
team. I have a head coach. Its an entire network when you talk about
the village. Our village can sustain itself even if they want to
replace me. Somebody else can slide right into my position.
Q. Does the mechanics of all this, the travel logistics all run from
Montreal headquarters or right inside your village?
Its in the village. We have a full team called tour management, so
they look after travel and lodging, immigration and medical. They know
where we will be staying months in advance. They know the nearest
hospital and best routes in and out and best parking for our 27
trucks. Its a big number moving about 100 of us. The logistics are
overwhelming, but thankfully no problems to date. Everything has run
very smoothly, especially our stay in Las Vegas. Many of our
performers have friends in other Cirque shows here, and they all get
together and see each others shows.
Q. How many nationalities are you working with?
I think we have between 15 and 18 nationalities. We also have one
performer whos really into the Navi language. Mostly they all speak
English, but as many as 18 languages. Whats most interesting is the
audiences who come so often. We have as many as 40 to 50 Naviacs who
understand fully what the performers are saying onstage. Our cast and
crew from all over the world have settled into a routine. The group
has a great atmosphere. They do a lot of things socially together.
Here in Las Vegas, we had five days of shows and three days of
vacation.
Q. Do you travel by bus or plane to all the cities?
We do both. We have multiple options. We do the bus transfer when
there is less than five to six hours of travel. Past that, we have to
fly. It can be commercial or charter flight. But they also can opt out
of the travel. You can opt out of the hotel we book. Some of them use
this option a lot. They come to a city and get an Airbnb or bed and
breakfast. Some will get a house and rent it for a week. It gives them
freedom outside of being stuck with each other all the time.
Q. In a traveling village, people have to fall in and out of love.
Its natural. Have there been any romances that have led to
marriage?
It happens sometimes with touring shows. Here we have a few couples
but not many. Our performers already have love somewhere else, so
their relationships are quite stable. This is my fourth show for
Cirque, and I love this cast. Its the easiest and best to work with.
Q. What one word would you use to describe Toruk?
Colorful because there is fun in there. The colors of the esthetic of
the show, of course. What I call the color of the soul of the people
who are in the cast. This family, this group is fun and colorful. They
are very creative, and they keep alert and alive. Its a different
kind of talent that we look for in the performers so they are not just
good in one discipline. Many performers come across programmed because
they are so good that they stick with one thing.
When you ask those people specializing in one skillset, they have the
tendency to be a frightened to get out of their comfort zone. Here
they are good at multitasking, mostly good at different things, but
mostly good at being very open to try new things, which make them
powerful in many aspects. You tell them to go this way, theyll go
with you. As long as your vision is clear, they jump onboard and
deliver.
Toruk: The First Flight is in Wichita, Kansas, this weekend, followed
by New Orleans, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexico City, Mexico,
Cleveland, Philadelphia, Hartford, Connecticut, and Dayton, Ohio.
After a brief vacation, the cast and crew embark on Asia. They begin
in Taiwan in June, then its Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
SOURCES:
- Oct 24) Robin Leach, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/xt45xe
- Nov 02) Robin Leach, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/KoYNpn
- Jan 12) Mike Weatherford, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/xsw1r4
- Jan 13) Robin Leach, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/jkO9dR
- Jan 19) Robin Leach, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/3vZhF8
- Jan 21) Mike Weatherford, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/bjsIgp
- Jan 24) Robin Leach, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/c1HCkR
- Jan 27) Robin Leach, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/sP3HlR
------------------------------------------------------------
"Casting Q&A's - Meet an Artist, Part 6 of 6"
Edited By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
------------------------------------------------------------
Ever wonder what it would be like to become a Cirque du Soleil artist?
Of course you have! Who hasnt? Wonder no longer! Through a series of
interviews on their casting website, Cirque du Soleil invites us to
get to know some of their performers (past and present), and discover
how each of them went from a career as an athlete, circus performer,
instrumentalist, singer, dancer, actor, clown, or in another specialty
to becoming a Cirqueperformer. Theyre fantastic reads if youve had
the pleasure, and if you havent, well, dont despair. Weve collected
all 30 artist interviews for you to peruse in this series, which, due
to the page count, weve published in six parts.
In September, we began with Q&A's from Anthony Gatto, Claudel Doucet,
Denise Stefanie Gonzalez, Eric Scribner, and Eve Castelo Branco. We
continued with Hassan El Hajjami, Jean-François Houle, Jeanne Dioman
Gbou, Julia Lopatkina, and Kristin Allen in October. Then with Lionel
Hamel, Lisa Skinner, Marco De Santi, Melissa Urbano, and Michael
Joseph Hachey in November. And with Miho Kono, Miro Lacasse, Noriko
Takahash, Odmaa Bayartsogt, and Oleksandr Pylypenko in December.
January opened with Q&As from Paulo Lorador, PJ Bogart, Raphaël
Sanchez, Ross Gibson, and Sabú Alegría. And now we conclude by hearing
from Suo Liu, Tumelo Michael" Moloi, Vanessa Convery, Zara Tellander,
and Zeng Jiao Jian.
# # #
SUO LIU | New York City
Martial Arts
Q. TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND PRIOR TO JOINING CIRQUE?
My background is in traditional martial arts and Wushu.
Q. WHEN DID YOU JOIN CIRQUE DU SOLEIL?
In December 2013
Q. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE ORGANIZATION?
I auditioned for Cirque du Soleil in Los Angeles back in 2012.
My friend told me about it.
Q. WHAT KIND OF EXPERIENCE WAS YOUR AUDITION?
The audition was something completely new to me; I had to
perform a 5-minute solo, I had to dance, and I had to act like
different animals.
Q. HOW WAS YOUR INTEGRATION INTO THE SHOW?
My integration went well. I use a lot of my martial arts skills.
Q. WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT BEING PART OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL?
I get to do what I love for a living.
Q. HOW DID THE TRANSITION GO FROM YOUR FORMER CAREER TO YOUR CURRENT
CIRQUE CAREER?
My transition was smooth, since KÀ includes a lot of martial
arts.
Q. IS WORKING AT CIRQUE DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU HAD IMAGINED?
The thought of working for Cirque du Soleil, a world-renowned
circus, was intimidating. I thought it would be very hard, but
with everyones help and support, it was actually easy.
Q. WHAT OPPORTUNITIES HAS CIRQUE GIVEN YOU?
Cirque du Soleil has given me the opportunity to grow as an
artist.
Q. WHAT WOULD BE YOUR ADVICE OR SUGGESTION FOR YOUNG MARTIAL ARTISTS?
Train hard and never give up.
Q. HOW DO YOU KEEP IN SHAPE?
I keep in shape by training and performing 10 shows a week.
Q. HOW IS LIFE IN LAS VEGAS?
I come from New York, so life in Las Vegas is very different. I
now have time to enjoy life more, to spend time with my friends
and relax.
* * *
TUMELO MICHAEL" MOLOI | Johannesburg
Gumboots, Pantsula, and Tap dancing
Q. WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT PRIOR TO JOINING CIRQUE?
7th All Africa Games promotion 1999; Vita Dance Umbrella Awards
1997-2000; Toured in Europe 2001-2006 (France, Belgium, London,
Germany & Sweden)
Q. PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR ARTISTIC BACKGROUND?
I was with Via Katlehong for more than 10 years choreographing,
teaching and dancing with the company.
Q. WHEN DID YOU JOIN CIRQUE DU SOLEIL?
I joined Cirque in December 2006. I was only in Montreal for one
week before moving to Las Vegas.
Q. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE ORGANIZATION?
I was performing in a festival in France where I was discovered
by Cirque du Soleil, and that lead to an audition in South
Africa.
Q. WHAT KIND OF AN EXPERIENCE WAS YOUR AUDITION?
I found the audition easy because I only had to do what I have
been doing for many years. The training was difficult but
exciting at the same time.
Q. HOW DID YOUR INTEGRATION GO?
It was hard at first to work with a group of dancers who all had
such different skills but my transition was made simpler by
working with lovely and talented artists like Natasha Jean-Bart
(Lady Madonna in LOVE).
Q. HOW DOES BEING PART OF A CIRQUE DU SOLEIL SHOW ALLOW YOU TO EXPRESS
YOURSELF IN YOUR DISCIPLINE?
Cirque gives their artists freedom to explore and expand in many
different ways; the art and culture of the company is great for
me.
Q. WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT BEING PART OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL?
I really like working with all the different people and learning
what they do. Also, I like the security of having my first long-
term contract and all the great benefits Cirque provides.
Q. HOW DID THE TRANSITION GO BETWEEN YOUR FORMER CAREER TO YOUR
CURRENT CIRQUE CAREER?
Interestingly, Ive found that I have actually developed more as
a performer than as a dancer. Im happy to say that I get to do
what Ive been doing all my life, but now I get to do it the
Cirque way.
Q. WHY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND AN ARTIST TO JOIN CIRQUE?
To be a part of Cirque du Soleil is not only fun on stage but
also outside of work.
Q. HOW IS LIFE IN LAS VEGAS?
Life in Vegas can be crazy and a little confusing at times
because there is so much going on in one small town, but that is
also what makes it fun and exciting!
Q. ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH US?
Lets keep the spirit of art burning with passion and love!
Togetherness is magic, one love!
* * *
VANESSA CONVERY | Canada
Dance
Q. WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT PRIOR TO JOINING CIRQUE?
I danced for the Pope in front of 40,000 people and for Kings
and Queens all over the world.
Q. PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR ARTISTIC BACKGROUND?
I trained as a classical ballet dancer, graduated from the Royal
Winnipeg Ballet and joined the National Ballet of Canada. I also
trained in modern, jazz, and hip-hop and taught each of these
disciplines around the world.
Q. WHEN DID YOU JOIN CIRQUE DU SOLEIL?
I joined in 2003 for the creation of ZUMANITY.
Q. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE ORGANIZATION?
A friend brought me to the audition for ZUMANITY.
Q. WHAT KIND OF AN EXPERIENCE WAS YOUR AUDITION?
I had great time; they paired with a partner and asked us to
improvise a sensual pas-de-deux. On Dec. 24, 2002 I received a
phone call telling me that I got the job
I was overjoyed!
Q. HOW DID YOUR INTEGRATION GO IN MONTREAL AND IN THE SHOW?
As I was part of the entire creation process, my integration was
very natural.
Q. HOW DOES BEING PART OF A CIRQUE DU SOLEIL SHOW ALLOW YOU TO EXPRESS
YOURSELF IN YOUR DISCIPLINE?
ZUMANITY is fantastic because its based on our actual
characters. My role was created based on my sensual and sexy
personality, and then amplified to the nth degree.
Q. WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT BEING PART OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL?
I love expressing myself on stage and through my dance; I get to
be a larger than life personality. Seeing the audience truly
being touched and embracing their journey as they leave has
inspired me throughout my career here.
Q. HOW DID THE TRANSITION GO BETWEEN YOUR FORMER CAREER TO YOUR
CURRENT CIRQUE CAREER?
It was a transition that one needs to adapt to its never easy
performing 474 shows per year. There is a lot of hard work and
you definitely have to be dedicated to your craft, but the
rewards are so sweet.
Q. WHY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND AN ARTIST TO JOIN CIRQUE?
The stability is nice and knowing when and where your next gig
is also a good thing. Its a great company with great benefits
and post career opportunities. They really encourage you to step
out of your comfort zone and to continually grow.
Q. HOW IS LIFE IN LAS VEGAS?
Life in Las Vegas is great! I love the weather and all that the
city has to offer!
Q. ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH US?
Big KISS!
* * *
ZARA TELLANDER | Sweden
Singing
Q. WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT PRIOR TO JOINING?
I did 7 years of full time music studies in Sweden where I
completed a Masters Degree from Gothenburg Music University.
After graduating I worked as a freelance singer in different
ensembles and as a soloist, as well as working as a singing
teacher. On top of performing, I also wrote and arranged music
for my ensembles, my students and myself. I have done radio
recordings, appeared on TV, did many live gigs and in 1998 I
recorded a CD with the vocal trio Envisa". I have also taken
courses in Improv Theatre. In 2000 I took lessons at the Loose
Moose Theatre Summer School" in Calgary, Canada. I also
performed with an improv theatre ensemble in Sweden for a couple
of years.
Q. WHEN DID YOU JOIN CIRQUE DU SOLEIL?
March 19th 2002
Q. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE ORGANIZATION?
I happened to turn on the TV when the Swedish channel 4 was
broadcasting Quidam. I got curious and searched the internet to
find out more about the company. I could see they used a live
singer and voice-work in the context of circus acts was new to
me. So I sent in my demo-CD and six weeks later I got a phone
call from casting. Another six weeks after that phone call, I
was in Montreal working in the creation of Varekai.
Q. HOW DID YOUR INTEGRATION GO IN MONTREAL AND IN THE SHOW?
I did five weeks of creation in Montreal, before Varekai had its
premiere. It was very hard work, very long hours, and overall
quite an overwhelming experience getting used to all the other
artists from all over the world, and trying to get a grip of the
creation team and of how the show as it was evolving. The
creation of a new show is very intense work but I had coaches to
help me, which was very helpful. With my second show, O", I
already knew the company so the integration went very smoothly
and quickly. The show is older, and everything was prepared for
me meticulously. Within a week I was pretty much integrated,
roughly speaking. The most touching for me was how the O" sound
guys even called my former head of sound to ask what preferences
I had for my monitor mix. This made me feel very, very welcome.
Q. HOW DOES BEING PART OF A CIRQUE DU SOLEIL SHOW ALLOW YOU TO EXPRESS
YOURSELF IN YOUR DISCIPLINE?
This is always a balance. Of course I have another kind of
freedom to express myself artistically when I sing my own songs
in my own context. On the other hand, influences from other
artistic views than my own broadens me as an artist. With Cirque
there is a show concept to respect, but there is a way of using
ones unique qualities within the show concept. Sometimes it is
difficult to judge where that thin line is between artistic
freedom" and to blend in with the show". Very often the
Artistic Team, Bandleader or Composer can be helpful in these
situations. For me, whenever I have the need to express myself
completely my way" I sometimes do smaller creative projects on
my time off.
Q. WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT BEING PART OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL?
The possibility to travel, learn new things, meet people I never
would have met otherwise, to see people master disciplines I
never even knew existed, to get to taste food from other
cultures, speak other languages, to be influenced and inspired
by musicians from China, Senegal, Canada, USA, Poland etc. To
work hard together to feed an audience twice a day, push my own
limits
many, many different things. When so many different
cultures meet I also get to learn a lot about my own culture and
about myself. It broadens the perspective and it opens up to
interesting conversations, daily. Not to mention the fact that I
get to work full-time as a singer!
Q. HOW DID THE TRANSITION GO BETWEEN YOUR FORMER CAREER TO YOUR
CURRENT CIRQUE CAREER?
I had a very quick transition. There was very little time to
even think. It was a very big change of life. On tour we had
great support from one another, since we were all pretty much in
the same situation of change.
Q. WHY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND AN ARTIST TO JOIN CIRQUE?
Every artist should join Cirque for their own reasons! It is a
great possibility to learn a lot
but it also depends on what we
are ready to be curious of. I took my final decision based on
this thought: When I get really old
I dont want to look back
on my life and wonder what would have happened if I took that
job at that circus
"
Q. HOW IS LIFE ON TOUR/IN LAS VEGAS?
Life on tour is like being married to 150 people you didnt
choose. We travel as a group and know way too much about each
other! On the other hand, as we go from city to city, we know we
can trust each other and rely on one another through thick and
thin. Life on tour is very dynamic and also very different
between the different touring shows. Life in Las Vegas is
completely different. The show schedule is planned well ahead,
and it is possible to have a more normal" life, with a home,
car, family, hobbies, garden, etc.
* * *
ZENG JIAO JIAN | China
Wushu (Martial Art)
Q. WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST ATHLETIC ACHIEVEMENT PRIOR TO JOINING CIRQUE?
I won Chinas Sixth National Wushu Championship and was World
Wushu Champion.
Q. PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR ATHLETIC BACKGROUND?
I had twenty years of professional training, was a Beijing Wushu
team member and was a Wushu instructor for TNT Wushu Chicago and
for the National Wushu Center in Los Angeles. Also, I appeared
in MTVs The Soon to be Winner" and I was a stunt double for
the MGM movie Warriors of Virtue".
Q. WHEN DID YOU JOIN CIRQUE DU SOLEIL?
November 2003.
Q. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE ORGANIZATION?
Although I had known about Cirques reputation before, I was
truly astonished when I saw Mystère. I dreamed of one day being
able to perform my Wushu on such a stage and when I heard about
KÀ, I said to myself: "My dream will certainly come true."
Q. WHAT KIND OF AN EXPERIENCE WAS YOUR AUDITION?
I passed my audition and before I knew it I was on my way to the
dreamy, snowy city of Montreal. Since I joined KÀ as it was
initially being created, I did not participate in any training
programs or workshops.
Q. HOW DID YOUR INTEGRATION GO IN THE SHOW?
Joining KÀ as it was being created helped my integration. It has
required much hard work but performing always brings me
confidence and the applause from audience is the best reward for
me.
Q. HOW DOES BEING PART OF A CIRQUE DU SOLEIL SHOW ALLOW YOU TO EXPRESS
YOURSELF IN YOUR DISCIPLINE?
Adapting my skills to my character has allowed me to best
express both my skills and myself.
Q. WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT BEING PART OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL?
I really like the weekly meeting where all the actors and
managers gather like a family.
Q. HOW DID THE TRANSITION GO BETWEEN YOUR FORMER CAREER TO YOUR
CURRENT CIRQUE CAREER?
When I became an actor in Cirque, I found my background had not
prepared me for the bold and very open performance required. Now
I find my perspective has widened, my mind is more open and my
skills have improved.
Q. WHY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND AN ARTIST TO JOIN CIRQUE?
When I recommend Cirque to an artist I tell them that this is
the best show in the world, Cirque is a great organization and
is a great opportunity.
Q. HOW IS LIFE IN LAS VEGAS?
I have such a good life in Las Vegas. Since I moved here I
bought a house, married my dream girl Zula (shes also an artist
in KÀ!) and pretty soon our first baby will be born.
Q. ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH US?
Time + Opportunity + Effort = Success
# # #
To make an artist for one of Cirques productions, it takes a talented
individual who is open to new experiences and veterans who can guide
the way through those new experiences. Cirque du Soleil has assembled
some of the most well-known and respected collaborators in their
fields coaches, choreographers, creators, composers and others to
help artists achieve their goals. And through a series of interviews
on their casting website, we'll meet some of them. Like the Meet the
Artist series of Q&As we've recently concluded, the Meet a Mentor
set are equally fascinating reads even more so! Weve collected all
11 mentor interviews for you to peruse in this series, which, due to
the page count, well publish in three parts, beginning next issue.
See you then!
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COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER
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Fascination! Newsletter
Volume 17, Number 2 (Issue #157) - February 2017
"Fascination! Newsletter" is a concept by Ricky Russo. Copyright (C)
2001-2017 Ricky Russo, published by Vortex/RGR Productions, a
subsidiary of Communicore Enterprises. No portion of this newsletter
can be reproduced, published in any form or forum, quoted or
translated without the consent of the "Fascination! Newsletter." By
sending us correspondence, you give us permission (unless otherwise
noted) to use the submission as we see fit, without remuneration. All
submissions become the property of the "Fascination! Newsletter."
"Fascination! Newsletter" is not affiliated in any way with Cirque du
Soleil. Cirque du Soleil and all its creations are Copyright (C) and
are registered trademarks (TM) of Cirque du Soleil, Inc., and
Créations Méandres, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No copyright
infringement intended.
{ Feb.04.2017 }
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