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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 16, NUMBER 3 March 2016 ISSUE #146
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Welcome to the latest edition of Fascination, the Unofficial Cirque
du Soleil Newsletter.
Wow, can you believe it's March already? Do you know what that means?
Spring is just around the corner and were just a little more than a
month away from the premiere of Cirque du Soleils newest big top
production Luzia. The closer we get to premiere now the more
information that seems to trickle out about the show from pictures
of costumes to glimpses of the acts themselves. But perhaps the most
important element about the shows creation is the house its going to
play in. On Thursday, March 3rd, Cirque raised Luzias big top in the
old port of Montreal, and we had web-side seats to the goings-on there
via the Snapchat and Facebook social media apps. Although we were in
the dark more often than not (those technical glitches can get ya!),
it was still quite exciting to speculate about the new big tops
design while we waited... would it be the traditional blue and yellow
striped tent? Would it be one of the blue and yellow swirled tents
instead? Or would Cirque put up something totally fresh and new, as we
were lead to believe? Yes! Theyve got a brand new white tent
(representing the moon) with yellow concentric circles swirling about
(planets) and an all-yellow tent with white lines swirling about
sitting behind it (representing the sun). In the FOTOS area of our
OUTREACH section this month is where youll find all the links to
pictures we posted from Luzias tent raising, as well as those little
bits and bobs that leaked out over the last couple of weeks. So check
them out, it's quite exciting!
* * *
The following evening Friday - my wife and I had an amazing time
with KURIOS here in Atlanta. OH EM GEE, it was one of the best
experiences at Cirque ever the artists were firing on all thrusters!
KURIOS literally left us breathless.
Nicole and I fell in love with the show at premiere, watching it take
its first tentative steps in Montreal. We found it to be one of the
most immersive shows to come out of Cirque in a long, long time.
Everything about it seemed right its cohesive and self-contained
universe is simply perfect. I mean, theres nothing about it that
seems out of place musically or aesthetically that plagues some of
the Cirques other productions. It simply works very well together.
Michel Laprise, who was in attendance that evening, has put together a
kick-ass show...
And it's still kick-ass, if youll excuse that colorful metaphor.
Friday night was the first time Nicole and I had a chance to catch up
with the show since premiere and we couldnt have been more ecstatic
or pleased.
The new Russian Cradle duo - Anny Laplante and Andrei Kalesnikau
we're simply fantastic together. Top notch artists! (Off course, they
just won the gold medal at the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain
Paris.) Both our jaws hit the canvas when they came out swinging and
flipping doubles right out of the gate. I even found myself holding my
breath, fearing for her life on more than one occasion - a sensation I
hadn't felt since Maxim "Mad Max" Levantsevich ripped off his head-
dress at Varekai's premiere in 2002 and leapt between the two Russian
Swings as if it were an every-day occurrence. Anny and Andrei
literally gave me heart palpitations!
Andrii Bondarenko's balancing on chairs routine was phenomenal as well
(we saw Rokardy in Montreal) - we got a huge kick out of the Atlanta
audience coming to the realization that they're mirroring the entire
routine up in the cupola, which was a huge surprise for us at
premiere. (The act *IS* called Upside Down World after all!) Rola
Bola was awesome as always. I mean, what else can you say about his
act? There arent enough adjectives in the English language to
describe what he does. He *IS* the fearless aviator!
Eirini Tornesaki sang brilliantly, of course (we love her). Kit
Chatham and the rest of the 11:11 Clown Voodoo Band was in excellent
form too. The casts of the Acro Net and Banquine numbers were living
it up as always (and managed to make me ask: what on earth are they
doing?!) Anne Weissbecker, and the Siamese Twins took to the air
dazzlingly in their acts, as they do. Nico and his hand puppets were
excellent. And the clown was as funny as ever with his Invisible
Circus and Animal Mime routines.
But out of the entire show there was one performance we hadnt the
opportunity to see at premiere: the yo-yo guy. I wasnt sure what to
expect out the routine at first, because when he takes the stage and
brandishes a simple yo-yo, you cant help but wonder what kind of
simple filler performance youre about to receive. What can you do
with a yo-yo to make it Cirque-y, you know? Well, hellooooo! Let me
assure you this is not play-time; we're far from "Walking the Dog" and
"Around the World" here. He came out with some skills, man! We were
watching 1A and AP World Champion Tomonari "BLACK" Ishiguro, who left
his highly successful yo-yo competition career to focus on performing
arts. He managed to impress Cirque du Soleil during an audition back
in 2009 and here he is, living his dream in Kurios, where Ishiguro is
nothing short of phenomenal! And I wasnt the only one impressed
the
entire audience fell under his spell as well!
At the end of the performance we exited the Grand Chapiteau so
euphorically high we could barely contain ourselves. I could have gone
to see Banana Shpeel right after and proclaimed it the second-best
thing ever without skipping a beat! (I must be joking!) So a huge
heart-felt thank you to the cast and crew of KURIOS you guys rock!
* * *
The press in Las Vegas have been busy this month covering all the
changes to LOVE - both musically and acrobatically. We've collected
the most relevant pieces from the Las Vegas Sun, Las Vegas Review-
Journal, and Las Vegas Weekly into one piece in our FEATURES section
for your perusal. However, should you not be interested in reading
through all the Q&A's and other reviews for details, here's the
TL;DR (if you'll forgive the internet parlance) version; a summary:
- Every aspect of the show has been looked at and touched.
- There's going to be a lot of new projection content.
- Choreography, costumes, and lighting have been addressed.
- The show is going to be brighter, more colorful.
- "I Am The Walrus" is out, "Twist and Shout" is in.
- "I Want You" is also being added, with choreography.
- Choreography for "Yesterday" has been updated to acrobatics.
- "Revolution" and "Hold Your Hand" have more trampoline,
more acrobatic flips, and more set pieces.
- They're about 70 percent complete with the changes, which
have gone live February 25th.
- More changes and tweaks will come in as the show nears it's
10th anniversary celebration this July.
- Musically, the show has been totally remixed again.
- All of the seat speakers were replaced to accommodate new
technology.
There's plenty more to read about Cirque in this month's issue too:
with the debut of the new E-boutique we thought it was time to have a
talk with Cirque about merchandise. So Keith reached out to Ann
Paladie, Las Vegas PR Director, who put him in touch with Audrey
Tillman, Director of Merchandising and Operations, Resident Shows
Division, (Las Vegas). You wont want to miss their conversation. And
we continue to explore Guy Lalibertes Poetic Social Mission with
Moving Stars and Earth for Water. And more!
So, lets get started!
/----------------------------------------------------\
| |
| Join us on the web at: |
| < www.cirquefascination.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 for the Month
* Q&A - Quick Chats & Press Interviews
* Special Engagement - More In-depth Articles
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
* Fotos -- Images From Cirque & Other Photographs
* Videos -- Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds
o) Fascination! Features
* "Extending the Experience: A Conversation about
Cirque Merchandise" (Part 1 of 2)
By: Keith Johnson - Seattle, Washington (USA)
* "Getting Better? Inside The Beatles LOVE Changes"
A Special Collection of Articles from the Press
* LOOK BACK: Guy Laliberte's Poetic Social Mission
PART 7 of 8: "Moving Stars and Earth for Water"
By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
o) Subscription Information
o) Copyright & Disclaimer
=======================================================================
CIRQUE BUZZ -- NEWS, RUMOURS & SIGHTINGS
=======================================================================
---------------------------------------------------
LA PRESSE General News for the Month
---------------------------------------------------
Lúzia Posts a Few Costumes
{Jan.02.2016}
-------------------------------------------------------
Lúzias Facebook page posted up a very interesting teaser today
images of costumes sketches made for the show! And the image
gives us a good idea of what kinds of acts well see in the
show.
LINK /// < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=7499 >
Notice:
o) Hoop Diving
o) Adagio
o) Cyr Wheel
o) Trapeze
o) Hand Balancing (Equilibre)
o) Football Dance
o) Chinese Poles
o) 360 Degree Swings
o) Swing to Swing
o) Aerial Straps
o) Juggling
o) Fish Parade
{ SOURCE: Cirque du Soleil }
Cirque du Soleils Growth Strategy: 45 Degrees
{Jan.11.2016}
-------------------------------------------------------
Cirque du Soleils growth strategy under its new private equity
owners centres in part on pushing the expansion of an in-house
production business whose latest show uses no performers at all.
The name of the unit is 45 Degrees, Cirque du Soleils corporate
events and special projects division. Earlier this month, a show
it produced for the Futuroscope leisure park opened in France.
The novelty: Creators use a series of projections mixed with
water and sound effects to tell a story without a single circus
performer.
There will be none of the traditional trapeze artists and
contortionists the celebrated Cirque is known for in the 300
shows for Futuroscope. No jugglers or fire breathers. Just one
actress walking around a 75,000-square-foot water stage and a
whole lot of ingenuity and technology. Its the first time the
Cirque has developed a show without any circus performers, says
45 Degrees head Yasmine Khalil.
[This is the type of] vision we have of developing new types of
content and pushing a little bit the limits of our creativity,
Ms. Khalil said in an interview ahead of another show the
special events producer is putting on this weekend for the NBA
All-Star Game in Toronto. That show, a five-minute spectacle
during player introductions, will feature acrobats and dancers.
Seven months after private equity firm TPG Capital took control
of Cirque du Soleil with minority partners Fosun Capital Group
and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in a $1.5-billion
deal, the famed circus troupe has mapped out its strongest
prospects for growth. One piece is jumping into new geographies,
including Asia. The other is leveraging the Cirque brand and
talent into money-making opportunities outside the scope of its
core arena and touring shows.
Enter 45 Degrees. Started about 15 years ago as Cirques
marketing arm, the special events producer was spun out in 2014
as part of Cirque founder Guy Lalibertés effort to recalibrate
resources after a dismal financial performance two years
earlier. With stated sales of between $25-million and $30-
million for 2015, the wholly owned subsidiary is now aiming to
quadruple that to at least $100-million by 2021. If it gets
there, it would become a much larger part of Cirques overall
business and profitability.
In its infancy, the production house organized Cirque du Soleil
show launches and staged private performances for the troupes
sponsors. When the team created a performance for the Academy
Awards in 2002, the business really took off.
I think what people saw there was the ability we had to create
something from scratch and not just send in an act, a juggler,
but actually take a theme, take somebody elses message and
objective and turn it into a performance, Ms. Khalil said.
Soon the phone started ringing constantly. Microsoft Corp.
tapped 45 Degrees for the launch of its Kinect device. Fiat
wanted help promoting its Bravo car. Even Andorra came calling;
the group created an exclusive show for the Pyrenees
principality to help bring in tourists during its slower summer
months.
The company now gets about 1,500 requests a year big and small,
of which it rejects 90 per cent. Its minimum contract price,
negotiated with clients, is about $400,000. Other gigs have
included a two-hour opening ceremony show for the Pan Am games
in Toronto and the half-time show at the 2012 Super Bowl.
If theres a problem with the business, its that it has largely
relied on a series of one-time events, said Mitch Garber,
Cirques chairman. Thats starting to change, as Ms. Khalil
strikes longer-term deals, such as the one for a continuing
dinner theatre show for Mexican resort operator Grupo Vidanta
and a separate agreement with cruise line MSC Cruises.
If she can duplicate a recurring revenue stream and keep the
major global events, then I think you have a business that will
stand very solidly on its own, Mr. Garber said. We dont shy
away from the fact that we need to increase profit and grow the
[Cirques overall business].
More than a profit opportunity, 45 Degrees is also a kind of
incubator where Cirque can try out performers and ideas for its
larger shows, said Patrick Leroux, a Concordia University
professor who founded a Montreal working group on circus
research. As with Cirques other subsidiaries, such as
multimedia design firm 4U2C, it feeds into and draws from the
larger Cirque mother ship, Mr. Leroux said.
In the long run, I think that this allows for a greater
diversity of artistic and economic activity within the Cirque du
Soleil group. They dont have to rely on that one show doing
really well. They now have various things going on.
{ SOURCE: The Globe and Mail | http://goo.gl/5kcYDd }
Pictures of QUIDAMs Last Load-In
{Feb.16.2016}
-------------------------------------------------------
Via Quidams Facebook Page: Ladies and gentlemen, for the first
time ever in Christchurch and the very last time in the World,
our remarkable crew loaded in QUIDAM. It took the team of 21
Cirque technicians & 60 local stagehands 10 hours to unload the
20 containers and install the 39 tons of equipment required to
create the world of Quidam at the Horncastle Arena.
LINK /// < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=7562 >
{ SOURCE: Cirque du Soleil }
Beatles LOVE Performer Hurt After On-Stage Incident
{Feb.23.2016}
-------------------------------------------------------
A performer involved in the Cirque du Soleil production of The
Beatles LOVE was sent to the hospital Monday night after an on-
stage incident. Ann Paladie, public relations director for
Cirque du Soleil, said a dress rehearsal for the show inside the
Mirage hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip had to be stopped due
to an injury to one of its artists. The performer was in stable
condition and transported to University Medical Center for
treatment as part of Cirques standard safety protocol, Paladie
said. The company did not elaborate on the nature or the cause
of the artists injury. The dress rehearsal was part of The
Beatles LOVEs revamping of its show ahead of its 10th
anniversary this summer. An updated production is set to debut
Thursday, but dress rehearsals were taking place ahead of it.
The on-stage incident required the production to stop without
resuming on Monday night.
UPDATE: The Cirque du Soleil performer who fell about 20 feet
during a limited-access dress rehearsal Monday night is on the
mend, officials said. The performer fell through a hole on stage
and was taken to University Medical Center, per the shows
standard safety protocol. The rehearsal was stopped and did not
resume that night. The second dress rehearsal is still on for
Wednesday as originally scheduled. It is not clear if the
injured performer would be able to take part in that show. The
new Love show will debut to the public Thursday.
Another Fall at Zarkana!
{Feb.24.2016}
-------------------------------------------------------
A Cirque du Soleil performer fell Tuesday night just one day
after a performer at another Cirque production fell during a
dress rehearsal Monday. The Tuesday fall happened during a 9:30
p.m. performance of Zarkana at the Aria, and the performer was
taken to University Medical Center per the companys standard
safety protocol, spokeswoman Ann Paladie said. She did not
explain the extent of injuries but said the performer is in
stable condition. Zarkana was stopped briefly after the fall,
but Paladie said the show resumed shortly after.
{ SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal | http://goo.gl/an8o88 }
CirqueCast is Here!
{Feb.25.2016}
-------------------------------------------------------
What is 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 Twitch Rents (Hardcore Cirque Fans),
Dario Shame, and Grant Palmer, as we bring you a behind-the-
scenes look into Cirque du Soleil, complete with discussions and
the latest Cirque news. Our first episode is now available!
EPISODE 1 LIVING IT UP AT LA NOUBA
Join us for a behind the scenes look at La Nouba, Cirque du
Soleils resident show in Orlando, FL. Also get updates on
whats going on at Paramour and Toruk, along with other Cirque
headlines. And as a special treat, find out how you can get an
exclusive look into the 1987 tour press kit. This and much more
on our premiere episode!
VIDEO /// < https://youtu.be/ViiGoQu-Yms >
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for even more
exclusive content!
o) Website http://www.cirquecast.com/
o) Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CirqueCast/
o) Twitter http://www.twitter.com/CirqueCast
o) Instagram https://instagram.com/CirqueCast
o) YouTube https://www.youtube.com/CirqueCastShow
More to come!
{ SOURCE: CirqueCast }
Young Dancers Set to Steal Spotlight at ONOD
{Feb.26.2016}
-------------------------------------------------------
Two youngsters are set to steal the One Night for One Drop:
Quest for Water benefit show staged by Cirque du Soleil despite
the fact that the big star power will shine with Grammy-
nominated singer-songwriter and pop princess Leona Lewis.
Audiences will leave the Smith Center on March 18 after theyve
seen Miles Baby Boogaloo Brown and Fremont Street Experience
performer Drew Redtro Arce saying, A star is born.
In advance rehearsals, hardened showbiz execs and veteran
performers were mesmerized by the extraordinary contortions of
street-dancer Drew and captivated by 11-year-old Miles, Jack
Johnson on ABCs hit comedy Black-ish starring Anthony
Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross.
First lets meet 16-year-old Redtro, who takes the bus daily to
Cirque rehearsals. Im dedicated, man, he told me in the
Zarkana theater at Aria. I actually just got a car and now I
have to get my permit, but from the beginning of rehearsals, I
was taking the bus, then going back to make money dancing on
Fremont Street.
He started his unique dance moves on Fremont Street when he was
12 and saved all the money thrown by pedestrians into his bucket
to put himself through school and now four years later admits:
I could buy a couple of cars. I used it wisely. I didnt want
to waste it on stupid stuff. I wanted to invest in stuff that
would make me better and help me grow in what I love to do.
His act is freestyle: I started off as a classical dancer. I
took ballet, contemporary, jazz, I took all of that, then I
gradually went into this freestyling, and I taught myself
everything I know. I taught myself to do the contortionism, I
taught myself popping, locking. Everything I know, I taught
myself.
Redtro moved to Las Vegas with his father and younger brother
from Brooklyn, New York, to go to the performing arts K.O.
Knudson Middle School. They accepted me because I came to Las
Vegas strictly to dance, he said. I asked him when he
discovered his unique contortionist talent:
To be honest with you, I taught myself that, as well. It was a
lot of stretching and yoga. I taught myself the stretches, and I
did them daily. It doesnt really hurt except like the day after
if Im sore. Thats the only time. But with my arms twisted like
this behind me, I could throw myself out.
You just called me rubber bones, but basically Id seen
contortionism on TV or on YouTube or any type of social media
outlet, and it was crazy to me. But I really liked it, and since
I was already dancing, I felt like I wanted to add something
different that not a lot of people do.
I get told 1,000 times a day that people wince when watching me
twist my arms behind me, but I love it. I love that effect that
it has. I wanted to know at 16 years of age how it felt for him
to go from being a street performer to joining the biggest dance
acrobatic troupe in the world on their biggest night of the
year.
It really makes me happy. I cant think of anything that makes
me happier other than this, he answered. The only thing that
makes me happier than this is family and life in general, and
this is second on the list.
This is beautiful to me. I want to do this for the rest of my
life. This is not a dream anymore. This is real. To be honest
with you, I dont even remember my dreams. Its all life now;
its all real.
I hope by doing One Night for One Drop that it leads to a
full-time gig with Cirque. Definitely. I did a job at Beachers
Madhouse in MGM Grand for a little bit, but I was also street
performing at the same time, so Im a very busy person. I like
to keep myself occupied because I like to be productive.
This hopefully turns into a full-time gig. Im already listed
for Michael Jackson One at Mandalay Bay for when Im 18, but I
want something they can give me now. I have a workers permit,
and Im pretty legal to work anywhere.
Like Im working here, so theres somewhere else I know that I
can work. I just need that key. I know there are younger kids at
The Beatles Love, so Im considering that. Im actually in the
system now for Cirque jobs.
He says that Hassan El Hajjami, director of this fourth edition
of One Night for One Drop, spotted him performing on Fremont
Street. I believed him with all my heart immediately because he
was with a friend of mine. They talked to me about One Drop
and to my father, my manager.
They said they wanted me, and it would be a door to many more
things because its a huge event. Its going to be big on my
resume. I believed him, and I just went 100 percent with it.
The director also called upon a longtime friend from when they
both performed as rivals on Americas Got Talent six years
ago. They wound up together on a European dance tour in Paris
where they shot a music video together.
When Hassan landed the creative and directorial duties for this
years One Night for One Drop, he remembered his young friend,
Miles Baby Boogaloo Brown, who now stars on Black-ish.
Said Miles: When I got the call from him for this, it was
really cool. Ive always wanted to do Cirque du Soleil. Ive
been to all the Michael Jackson shows because Im a big fan. I
just love all of the Cirque acrobats and all of their stories
that they tell.
Hassan said: Back in Morocco, my grandmother and I had to walk
for water every day because there was none in her village. When
I was chosen for this years One Drop show, I immediately
thought of my good friend Miles.
I knew that he would be the perfect representation of my
younger self. We are grateful for his visible enthusiasm and
willingness to star in our show.
Miles continued: Ive known the artistic director and creator
for over six years, and we just love to dance. He called me
because they needed a little boy for his story, and now Im
playing him when he was a young boy in a Moroccan village in
search of water for his grandmother.
I love the story because most of it is completely true. I love
lots of different stories, but especially this one because it
has to do with real life. I can imagine how really hard it was
to live without water. It happened to me once for a little bit.
Its a really crazy feeling because its an honor to be doing
Cirque on one of the stages. A real honor. I cant wait to meet
Leona. Our rehearsal schedules havent synched up yet. But she
sent me a message saying she watches Black-ish. I cant wait
to meet her. Everybody tells me shes cool, a nice lady from
England.
I havent seen the Smith Center yet where well do the show. I
heard its like an opera theater. I used to be nervous the
entire time I was onstage, but now once I get onstage, its
over.
I get nervous a few seconds, my knees are like jelly, before I
go on, then Im ready. Its different on television because
there are no nerves. We feel like a real family, and its really
comfortable to be there.
Miles said he was 5 or 6 when he decided that he wanted to be in
show business: I was dancing before I was acting . My friend
does this TV show on Nickelodeon called Yo Gabba Gabba, and he
said I could dance on it.
I did that, and I didnt realize that I was really acting. I
thought I was just dancing onstage. That converted me over to
acting. I love acting, but I still dance in the meantime. I
still do that. Its really cool.
This is very exciting for me.
{ SOURCE: The Las Vegas Sun | http://goo.gl/b6IxnI }
---------------------------------------------------
Q&A - Quick Chats & Press Interviews
---------------------------------------------------
Meet: Brandon Livanos, TORUK Acrobat
{Feb.04.2016}
-------------------------------------------------------
Brandon Livanos started life in Rynfield, but has ended up
touring the globe with Cirque du Soleil, one of the largest
theatrical producers in the world. He said he feels privileged
to have made a career of his passion, which started with the
local Eagle Tumbling Club, where he was coached and mentored by
owner Cindy McCall-Peet.
I think I always wanted to do acrobatics; since age eight when
I started, I have not stopped, said Livanos. For me it was the
only thing I ever wanted to do. As a kid I remember being
obsessed with it, I could not get enough of going to tumbling
classes at John Barrable Hall; I had all my friends there. It
was just the most awesome place for me to be and that kind of
stuck with me all my life, as I still feel that way and now my
home is with Cirque du Soleil, on stage in front of thousands of
people a week.
Although he was born in Germiston, Livanos described Rynfield as
being his first home, where he lived until his teenage years.
The traveller attended Arbor Primary School as a child and then
went on to Benoni High School. After high school, Livanos
focused more heavily on acrobatics, which led him to this point
in his life.
His mother, Gail, boasted about her son having travelled the
world and explained how thrilled she is that he is living his
dream. Hes worked very hard since he was young and has
achieved so much by now, she said.
Asked how his travelling career affected her, the mother said:
Its difficult, as hes abroad so much, but hes coming back
home for a few weeks now; he arrives on January 26.
Life on tour can be challenging, as we move every six days,
Livanos said. He explained that the troupe arrives in a
different city every Monday, with preparations lasting till
Wednesday, followed by several shows from Thursday to Sunday.
We fly out of the city straight after the show on Sunday
evening and repeat the cycle for 12 consecutive weeks before
having a week off, he added
Livanos said he worked as a stuntman before he joined Cirque du
Soleil, often doubling for actors in Hollywood movies. I have
worked on The Bang Bang Club, as Ryan Phillippes stunt double,
on Chronicle as Dane DeHaans stunt double, as well as Tom
Feltons stunt double on Labyrinth, he said. The stuntman added
that he had also performed in Dredd and Death Race Three.
In addition to his impressive lineup of roles in film, Livanos
listed the countries he has travelled to with the circus: China,
Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Europe (most countries in the
continent), Russia, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and
South Africa. My favourite place, I would have to say, is
probably Cape Town, he reminisced. I think it is one of the
most beautiful cities I have ever been in and I feel there is so
much potential and beauty there and opportunity for some
wonderful things.
My plan is to open up a performing arts school and
international circus space in Cape Town one day. Through that
Ill help as many South Africans as possible to reach the dream
I have been so blessed to live.
Livanos performs as an acrobat and two characters in the
circuss running show, Toruk The First Flight, inspired by
James Camerons Avatar. The character I play is a member of the
Omaticaya Clan, which is the original clan we see in the movie,
he said. I am also a member of the Kekunan Clan, which is a
group who mainly fly on Banshees, the bird-like creatures the
Navi use to fly.
He explained the tour would take him and his colleagues through
Canada and the USA until next year, when they will head to
Europe and Asia. I would like to continue my acrobatic career
as long as possible, however this career does have a shelf
life, the acrobat said. There are already future plans in the
making for that day, however, I absolutely love performing and
will ride this wave as long as I possibly can.
{ SOURCE: Benoni City Times | http://goo.gl/y49P2H }
Seven Questions for Mysteres Brian Dewhurst
{Feb.09.2016}
-------------------------------------------------------
Q. You left school when you were 13 and traveled throughout the
world with your family in the circus. Did you think youd
still be performing 70 years later?
Its never occurred to me not to be performing. My dad worked
until his late 80s. He had a dog act, counting numbers, that
kind of thing. I guess my family were long-lived performers.
Q. What were those early days like?
When you start in the circus, you tend to learn lots of things
juggling, horse-riding, stilt-walking, rope-spinning,
acrobatics. Eventually I became a wire-walker. I did that into
my 60s. I did a couple of Ed Sullivan Shows in the 60s with
dancing and comedy and falling about. They were exciting times.
If you go on The Ed Sullivan Show, you know youve made it.
Q. How did your relationship with Cirque du Soleil begin?
I was performing in the opera Carmen on the wire in the opening
overture, and while I was in Vancouver in 1986. I was sitting in
an apartment and looked across the river, and they were setting
up a tent of some kind. I walked over one afternoon, and it was
Cirque du Soleil. I got free tickets because I said I was in the
circus, went to opening night and was impressed.
Back in England I had started an alternative circus, very much
like Cirque du Soleil but on a much smaller scale. We had 12
artists, including musicians and my son, Nicky, and daughter,
Sally. Sally wrote to Cirque and said if theyre coming to
London, we are with Circus Senso. Cirques Guy Laliberté and
Gilles Ste-Coix turned up in London, came to see the show and
came back every night. They asked if we were interested in doing
a workshop in Montreal [related to] a production called Eclipse.
Production of Eclipse was canceled, but it led to Nouvelle
Expérience in 1990.
Q. You were the resident artistic director for Mystère when it
opened at Treasure Island in 1993, and then for O at Bellagio
and other Cirque du Soleil productions. How did you come to
be the clown?
Being on the administrative and creative side, I wasnt enjoying
it as much as performing. I felt like I ran out of energy and
interest . ... The [previous clown in Mystère, a friend of mine,
got a bad knee injury and wanted to leave. Cirque asked if I
would be interested in taking over for him. I said, Let me try
it for a couple of months, and if youre happy and Im happy
That was 16 years ago.
Q. How do you maintain consistency yet keep it fresh as an
artist all these years?
The boredom is getting into the car and coming to work. But once
you go through the door at the top of the theater, its almost
like Alice in Wonderland. You go through that door and Oh, its
another world. Its fresh, particularly what Im doing now,
because I work with the public and I have no idea whats going
to happen. Its just so uplifting. You stop thinking about tax
returns, all the mundane things in life that one has to do.
Q. In the pre-show and as one of the focal points of Mystère,
have you had any recent memorable fails?
I take somebody out of the audience and put them in a box [so I
can] sit with his girlfriend or wife. I got this guy up and he
goes, Im a bit claustrophobic. So I tell him The back is
open, I get him in and shut the box. Im about to walk away,
and he knocks and [pleads], Let me out. I got him out of the
box and took him back to his seat because I thought he might
freak out. I never would have understood this except I had an
MRI shortly after. I got into this large tube and got
claustrophobic and said, Sorry, let me out. I suddenly
realized what claustrophobia is. Ive never had it before and
since then, I know what it is.
Q. Whats your favorite part of the job?
The unpredictability of walking somebody around [pre-show]. I
love the moment when they realize Im not an usher taking them
to their seat. We might have walked halfway around the theater
and they go, Why is the spotlight on us? I enjoy it, and
hopefully that communicates to the public that this is funIm
having fun, Im not the suffering clown!
{ SOURCE: Paul Szydelko, Vegas Seven | http://goo.gl/i2H3rf
From The Past
Q&A w/Voki Kalfayan, Quidam Clown
{Feb.14.2016}
-------------------------------------------------------
Voki Kalfayan spent four years in a private school in the Hudson
Valley, and two years studying at Vassar, before he discovered
his lifes ambition during an audition for Ringling Bros. Clown
College. Kalfayan never looked back. Hes spent 15 years
traveling the world as a clown, actor and humorist, and hell be
back in the Capital Region on Wednesday night in Cirque de
Soleils Quidam at the TU Center. He took a few minutes to
talk with AOA last week about the myth of Krusty the Clown, the
difference between East and West Coast clowns, and the serious
business of being funny.
Q. When did you know you wanted to be a clown?
I did a little theater at the end of high school. I just kind of
discovered it very accidentally. I was a day student at The
Millbrook School a boarding school and you got to stay over
for free if you were in theater, and all my friends were there
and I didnt like going home. I wanted to be at school more
which is weird so I ended up auditioning, and at the audition
I thought, I want to be an actor. Then I went to Vassar for a
few years, and after two years of that I auditioned for Ringling
Bros. Clown College, and again kind of at the audition, not
even really knowing what it was at the audition I realized
Ahh
thats the very specific art for that I want to do.
Q. Umm
what did your parents say?
My dad is a sculptor and my mom is a graphic designer turned
yoga teacher, so they were like Oh, clown. Yeah, thats a good
one. Go ahead. Theyve always been super supportive and the
acting came from being around art all the time. For me it was
just about what specific art would I follow.
Q. Why? What was so attractive about clowning?
I was always very frustrated as an actor because you needed a
director and a writer. I always wanted to try and write my own
stuff, but I wasnt a very good writer. I didnt have the
discipline to sit down and write. Im very instinctual and very
impulsive as a performer. So at this audition they said, Were
going to do a scene now. You and you and you are going to do a
scene go. So instantly I was writing my own material,
directing it and starring in it. And thats kind of what clown
is you really are everything. You write direct and star in all
of your own material. Its like improv comedy but its less
intellectually driven and more not to be too cheesy about it
more from the heart. You develop these characters for years and
even though some wear makeup and others dont, they all kind of
stem from different aspects of myself. So when Im improvising
its coming from a very, very deep place. I dont have to think,
What would be funny? Im really in the moment, reacting in an
honest way as the character I do.
Q. Whats different about working as a clown in Ringling Bros.
and Cirque du Soleil?
In Ringling Bros. you are trained that there are 10,000 people
watching you, so it is much more projecting. The whole American
style of makeup comes from that the whole grotesque style of
makeup, which was influenced by European style, they did do some
of that but it really is because 10,000 people need to see
your face. Cirque du Soleil is much more intimate. Quidam is
scripted, but it keeps evolving. Its kind of in between a play
and circus. I bring people up on the stage and if someone even
coughs in the audience it will change my performance so its
different every night. I react to the audience and I absorb what
they are doing so its different every night.
Q. Are audiences different? Do things go over differently in
different places?
We had been in Canada and we came back and the minute we got
back to the States I instantly felt this connection with the
audience. The level of laughter, the level of enjoyment changed
they got it. I am so specifically an East Coast American
clown.
Q. What does that mean?
My aggressiveness and the way I deal with the audience is very
fast, very honest, very aggressive. A West Coast clown is more
like a beach clown. You know what I mean? Its like Its cool.
When I walk with my West Coast friends Im always ten paces
ahead of everybody. Thats not just New York City, thats the
whole East Coast
we get things done. The Midwest clowns I know
play on the character of the super-nice but a little bit
ignorant person. The East Coast is like Were it. Were it!
Q. Does spending so much time with circus people change your
idea of what constitutes normal?
Ha! Yeaaahh. I think the word normal changes into something that
is not really a word. Because normal is all about judging and
we all do that we judge a lot in everyday life. What is this
person doing, what is that person doing, lifestyles. When you
do this, judgement is something you dont do as much after a
while. My clown work all comes from that a lack of judgment. I
think to be a performer in the circus is really to let go of all
that. We have 102 people from 20 countries working on Quidam
and whats normal in the US is not normal all over the world.
Theres a great story of one of the acrobats. Her sister came
and visited from Russia and after two days she was like Uh, my
face hurts from smiling at everyone all the time. Everyone wants
you to smile at them all the time. And you learn that in
Russian culture you dont smile every time you see someone
that is considered a little bit fake. But for us its, Hey, hey
were all good, everyone is smiling at each other were all
good They dont do that in Russia. But they shake hands.
Everyones hands. Traditionally when you get on the bus you
shake hands every single persons hand.
Q. What misconceptions do people have about clowns that you wish
you could dispel?
That were always funny and exciting all the time, that were
not boring. Maybe I dont want to dispel that. (laughs). Comedy
is professional the serious business of being funny. Im
outrageous on stage, and in real life I watch movies and go to
bed early. I was out with a French acrobat friend of mine. After
being on a show with me for a month we were out and she was
dancing and I was having one drink and she said to me, In your
life, you are kind of boring, huh? I was like, Yeah, a little
bit. Im analyzing it all the time as well. Classic comedians
and clowns dont laugh at each other, they go Hmm, thats
funny. Its an acknowledgment of comedy, you know so you
always have that with other clowns, its always, Hmm
that was
funny what you just did
yeah. Also, the image of the scary
clown. I think that comes from clowns with a lot of makeup. The
scary birthday clown smoking a cigarette. You know ,Ive got
this great job where I make balloon animals and I juggle, you
know I do that and then I smoke. (laughs). That whole
Krusty the Clown thing, you know, theyre in it to make money,
not to entertain. That really has nothing to do with the art
form of clown. Theyre not performers. Putting on clown makeup
doesnt suddenly make you a clown.
Q. So, would you recommend this life to someone? The life of a
clown?
Yeah. It takes balls thats the overall rule. Balls to the
wall which refers to ball bearings in an airplane, you push
the pedal all the way against the ball bearings, to the wall.
The same commitment to going out there with nothing on stage is
what it takes, the guts to do it without fearing it or fearing
it and being OK with the fear. Its the same thing as circus
life. Can you live out of a suitcase? Are you OK with that for
five years to have all of your stuff in a suitcase? Once you
do it you cant go back.
{ SOURCE: All Over Albany, 2011 }
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SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT - More In-depth Articles
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Behind the Scenes Quidam in New Zealand
{Feb.01.2016}
-------------------------------------------------------
With the flags of 24 countries hanging from the ceiling and
hurried conversations peppered with fragments of Russian,
French, and English, it feels like I could be at the United
Nations. Except there are muscular, shirtless men, tiny women in
various states of undress and partially made-up clown faces
looking back at me. Welcome to the world of Cirque du Soleil,
where show time for the final tour of the long-running stage
show Quidam is getting close.
Lithe young acrobats practice on blue carpet just behind the
stage curtains, laughing and chatting while they effortlessly
throw and catch each other to the unlikely background noise of
industrial-sized washing machines.
After each performance, every item of costume that touches the
skin of a performer is washed in the portable laundry lining the
backstage wall, touring publicist Jessica Leboeuf explains.
Its great for us, because we live in hotels; we have a
schedule to wash our own clothes, she says with a laugh.
But back to the flags. They arent there just to look nice.
When Quidam was taken out from under the big top into arena
venues, something felt like it was missing backstage, Leboeuf
says. Fluttering around the edge of the big top was the national
flag of each cast and crew member on tour. It was the initiative
of Australian technician Simon Fox to replicate it for the arena
tours in the same deliberate order.
The Cirque du Soleil flag is in the middle, then on each side
we put the flags according to how many people are represented
from that country, Leboeuf says. At the beginning of the arena
tour, its been kind of a flag battle between Canada, the US,
Russia, Ukraine and Brazil. Usually, if one new person joins
and the flag isnt moved, the guys hear about it and at the next
city it has to be moved; we take it seriously.
As Leboeuf effortlessly navigates me around the maze of
temporary dressing rooms, offices, and meal areas backstage,
its hard to believe the show rolled into town only a couple of
days earlier. It feels so established and organized theres
even colour-coded signage.
Unlike the big-top tours that are their own self-sustaining
entity, where everything is packed up even the toilets the
arena tours take an existing venue and try to transform it into
the Cirque world.
Conversations backstage vary from issues with immigration to the
latest injury niggle or laundry woe. Although English is
supposed to be the official work language, cast and crew adopt
words, expressions and mannerisms from each other and many speak
with hybrid accents that are impossible to pick out. Because we
are in the performing arts
we speak with our bodies, artistic
director Marjon Van Grunsven says when asked if miscommunication
is ever a problem.
But cross-cultural differences can throw up some challenges,
Leboeuf admits.
With the eastern European cultures, you never say last
when
they are training, theyll never say one last time, because
for them its fatalistic; it means its the last time youll
ever do that, she says. So when you work with them and you
want to get it over with, you say one more. Its little things
like that you must learn, and sometimes you learn it the hard
way.
In another room, two women sit among racks of colourful clothing
delicately repairing costumes in a 2500-piece wardrobe
department that, Leboeuf tells me, is worth more than NZ$2
million.
Another is rearranging one of the 300 pairs of hand-painted
shoes that help wardrobe alone fill an entire semi-trailer when
it goes on the road, along with 20 wigs made from real hair and
30 hats handmade in a workshop in Montreal to fit each performer
perfectly.
The cast and crews familiarity with one another and obvious
comfort with living in close proximity on tour makes me feel
like Im among boarding school kids. But these arent the
squabbling younger years, these people have reached the family
stage of the graduating year and theres the same mixed emotions
as talk turns to their futures when the tour breaks up.
The Australian and New Zealand tours mark Quidams last journey
before its put to sleep in Christchurch at the end of
February after 20 years, Van Grunsven says. Some talk of joining
another Cirque show, and like many workplaces theres a
noticeboard with jobs up for grabs within the company; others
want to pursue stunt work in Hollywood, and for some leaving
their touring life behind for a fixed address is appealing.
The shows longest-serving artist, Mark Ward, has never missed a
show in his 22 years with Cirque, and hopes to reach at least 25
years with the company. He tells me he is turning 50 in
December, but he could easily still pass for his starting age of
27. Even after 17 years playing the same character in Quidam,
hes yet to lose interest. My job is to travel around the world
and put a smile on peoples faces, and people ask, Are you
bored?, and I think, No!, he says.
Each country you go to you have to reinvent yourself. Sure you
do the same things, but they mightnt get the same jokes
its
always the same, but its different. In Japan they love it but
they dont clap out loud
and you think, They hate me, but at
the end of the show they give you flowers and gifts.
While Cirques intense casting process weeds out the people
who arent suited to the lifestyle, Van Grunsven admits some
dont last as long as Ward. You do have to sacrifice a lot of
daily living
you are always away, youre always touring, she
says. Theres a beautiful aspect to that, youre in hotels, you
go to beautiful countries, you see the world for your job and
you get paid for it, but it can be very lonely too because
sometimes you see these beautiful places and you want to share
them with your loved ones
and you cant because they are on
the other side of the world.
Its common for cast and crew to couple up on tour and while Van
Grunsven says its her job to keep the artists who range in
age from 19 to about 60 inspired to do their best, she also
helps look after their daily lives. Sometimes that can be
listening to a love story or a children story
they have their
things to deal with and Im basically their sounding board, she
says.
Every single [Cirque] group is a family, its a little
community that travels together and once youre in you cant get
enough of it. Even though were all eager for a Christmas at
home, we still dont leave because what we experience here is so
incredible and extraordinary you dont want to throw that away.
Its no surprise then, to hear that for her the high point of
the show is the banquine Italian acrobatic act, where human
ability is showcased at its best. Its a big group act where
there are no apparatuses involved, no electronics
just human
being strength. Its like a human trampoline and its very
impressive and beautiful, she says.
While the artists put their lives at risk every day, Van
Grunsven says their skill and intense training mean the chance
of injury is slim. They are also closely watched by
technicians at all times. [All the performers] really care
about every move they make on stage, they take it very
seriously, she says. Youll see them come off stage at the end
of their act and theres the television and right away theyll
watch what they just did.
{ SOURCE: Stuff.co.nz | http://goo.gl/aFJmFb }
45 DEGREES: Journey of a Basketball Dream
{Feb.13.2016}
-------------------------------------------------------
For the first time ever, the NBA All-Star was held in Canada
and 45 DEGREES was very proud to have been selected to create
and produce a unique Cirque du Soleil performance during player
introductions.
On February 14 at the Air Canada Center in Toronto, 45 DEGREES
told the story of basketball through the lens of Cirque du
Soleil. Weaving together acrobatics, dance and technology, the
performance amazed the audience and took them on the journey of
a basketball dream. It will resonate with diehard NBA fans and
spectators alike and engage them in the timeless tale of living
your dream.
After approximately 1,300 rehearsal hours and over 5 months of
work, 37 artists took center court to perform in the Show
Opening of the 2016 NBA All-Star Game. Stage director &
choreographer, Steve Bolton, created the performance as a
tribute to basketballthe game, the dream, its heroes and the
culture. Its a show within which we experiment a lot. We push
the boundaries in terms of integrating several scenic elements,
from dance to circus arts, to parkour, to projections, we try to
tie everything together explains Steve Bolton.
In choosing the music for this performance Steve wanted high
energy, unforeseen rhythms to accompany the performance. It
starts with traditional Cirque music, then it becomes a bit more
tribal and connects with urban beats and metal. In the end, its
a kick in the teeth, where we experience rock and hip-hop and
culminates with music blasting throughout the stadium added
Steve Bolton.
On a technical side this is a very ambitious project! As
multiple events will be taking place in one venue over 3 days,
we are faced with many constraints, such as time, space and
technology, but a great team with great morale will make this
project possible explained Martin Gauthier, Technical Director.
This is a great adventure combined with great talent from both
the NBA & 45 DEGREES. We are proud to be a part of this first-
ever All-Star game in Canada, added Stephanie Vincelli,
Production Director.
45 DEGREES was very excited to participate in this spectacular
event. Through its theme, the music, costume and discipline,
they created a unique performance to celebrate the Game.
Team:
o) Production Director Stephanie Vincelli
o) Technical Director Martin Gauthier
o) Stage Director/Choreographer Steve Bolton
Check out a video of the performance here:
LINK /// < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=7529 >
{ SOURCE: 45 Degrees Blog | http://goo.gl/BgNCMO }
Yahoo Parenting: I Ran Away With the Circus and
Came Back Home With a Wife and Two Kids
{Feb.16.2016}
-------------------------------------------------------
Juggling career and kids can be tricky but for Karl Lecuyer,
its a literal circus because the Montreal native is raising his
2-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son on the road, while
traveling to perform with Cirque du Soleil as a trampolinist and
acrobat.
Its not the sleeping together in one room, the constantly
packing and unpacking all of their belongings into just two bags
each, or even having to negotiate play dates with kids who only
speak Russian or Portuguese, though, that phases him and his
circus-dancer wife. The father, 33, swears its the prospect of
having to call their globetrotting quits that really stresses
them out. I ran away with the circus and came back home with a
wife and two kids, explains the performer a star in more than
2,000 shows as part of Cirques KURIOUS and OVO tours in a
candid interview about parenting under the Big Top as part of
Yahoo Parentings What Its Like original video series. Now,
every day Im wondering, Should I go back home and settle?
Karl left for the circus at age 25 with family far from his
mind. I used to be on the national team of trampoline in Canada
and I always said that when I finish university, I would stop
competing, he says. But my summer job was to do shows at the
amusement park and I developed a taste for the stage. So the
goal that I put on myself was that if I cannot reach the
Olympics, Ill hope that the level of acrobatics I could do was
high enough to be part of Cirque du Soleil. Luckily, it was.
When I finished university, Cirque du Soleil gave me a call to
join their show OVO.
Preparing for the show in Montreal is where he met his wife, an
independent performer. Her background is ballet, he says. She
can do contortion and aerial silks too. Shes a really versatile
artist and when she hits the stage, she shines. The couple
never really thought about kids or no kids, he reveals. I was
just like, Im traveling. Im discovering America. Its going
to be amazing! Then hesays, One day she was like, Oh, Im
pregnant. And I was like, Yeah, okay. Yeah, okay. Then we
looked at the dates. She was going on another project in Germany
[and I was in Mexico]. So we had to mix everything up and we
just thought, OK, thats our life. We are just going to go with
the flow and see where it brings us.
Once her pregnancy prevented her from performing, she joined
Karl in Mexico and he says, Thats when our first child [son
Raphael] was born, in Mexico City. Two years later, they
welcomed their daughter during a stint home in Montreal. Since
they were born, theyve always traveled either with me or with
my wife, Karl says of his kids, tallying up their sons trips
so far to include the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Australia, Dubai,
and Germany.
For childcare, the family enlists friends. We had a Canadian
friend that had traveled with us after we met her in Australia,
says Karl. She decided that she wanted to get out of Australia
and we proposed to her, Would you like to fly to Germany and
then you can fly home? Being on tour, you talk with the people
around you [to sort out help]. That friend has since decided to
move on and now Karl explains that an Atlanta-based sister of
one of the Cirque technicians has begun watching the kids on
tour while he and his wife work. I was like, Hey, would you
like to come to California and babysit my kids? Karl recalls.
She said yes.
There are, after all, many children who travel along with their
parents on the road. Depending on the time of the year, and how
school is working, we can have almost 30 kids on tour from
newborns to 15-year-olds, he says. The Big Top is like a
village.
Typically each family bunks in an apartment. Well have two
rooms but we all sleep in one room, explains the dad. I have
the crib for my daughter and a nice camping bed that I found,
with suspension and all that, for my son. Thats the only
furniture we have. The rest of the time we live in the living
room where we have the TV, couches, and the kitchen.
The family doesnt need more space because they dont bring much
stuff with them anyway. Normally, when youre on tour every
persons allowed two pieces of luggage, he says. We have a lot
of toys in Montreal that stay in our main house, but we have two
big plastic bins that we use for toys, books, small chairs, and
their main toys that they like to have with them: a soccer ball
or Ninja Turtle. The heaviest suitcases are the ones with books
because the kids always like bedtime stories. You never realize
how heavy books are until you travel.
In addition to the regular routine of bedtime books, the family
manages to carve out playtime regardless of where they go. We
really try to challenge them by bringing them out in many of the
cities where we are, instead of trying to stay locked in the
apartment, says Karl. We try to use the chance that we are
traveling to make them discover new things. And it always
starts at the park. When we get to a new place the first thing
they ask for is the playground because thats how we discover a
city now, he says, noting that next its, Where is the
grocery store? Are they going to have the cart with the little
car in the front? because they never go to the same grocery
every month.
On days when Karl is performing in a show that starts later in
the day, he says, I have all morning with them, so we try to go
to the park, have lunch, and what I really like to do is have
the afternoon nap with them so that I can rest before my show.
The kid-focused routine is completely different from the way
Karl and his wife lived on tour pre-kids. I party a lot less
now, for sure, he laughs. I go home [after work, which
typically ends around 11:30 p.m.] to see that the kids are
sleeping. The childrens bedtime routine is also a bit
different from that of other kids. Ill say, Lets put on
pajamas, and I turn around and theyll be jumping on the bed,
he says. When I ask, What are you doing? We need to put on
pajamas, theyll say, But Dad, Im working right now. How can
I tell them not to jump around when I bring them to the show
where thats what Im doing?
Do the kids love trampoline as much as he does? I dont know
how much they love it, but I know they like it, he says. I
know if they see a bed, a couch, theyre going to jump on it. I
actually needed to teach my kids to be careful with other
people, that they can do that kind of craziness only with me or
their mother, because not everybody can catch them jumping off
the couch. I play with them a lot and they are not afraid of
heights, he adds. If my daughter feels that youre holding her
legs, shes going to let herself drop backwards.
It was the costumes that Karls son didnt initially like. It
took Raphael about a week to understand the makeup part of
performing, Karl says: When I would show up over the crib or to
the stroller and he saw me in makeup, he would stop. My
daughter, she never had that problem. She would just try to take
off my makeup thinking that its a sticker.
His son also had to learn to have confidence in his acrobatics.
He got scared once because I was training trampoline and I
missed a little bit and I screamed, the dad recalls. I
remember he started crying because he thought I got hurt. Now he
understands that it doesnt always go the way I want, and until
I really fall to the floor, hes good.
Watching their parents performances has helped the children get
used to mom and dads death-defying maneuvers. We do 10 shows a
week and when I know theyre watching, I have a lot more
energy, says Karl. Those two little persons give me a lot more
energy than the 2,000 others watching. Even if I just hear one
second of, Papa, or their laughs, thats a good moment.
Theres lots of good that the children get out of the experience
of being on the road with the circus too. At Cirque du Soleil
within the crew we have 14 different nationalities, Karl
reveals. And English is a second language for most of them. So
lets say they play Ninja Turtles, but the one that loves the
Ninja Turtles the most is the Russian kid. Theyre going to play
it in Russian. Or if its about dancing, and its the Brazilian
little girls that love the dancing. Theyre going to switch and
speak a bit more Portuguese. In everyday life, my children are
getting exposure to all of these cultures.
I hope that that is going to open something inside them, he
adds, an acceptance or understanding of all the different
languages and cultures in the world. I see it already when my
son meets people. He will not speak to them in French. Hes
going to try English, or sometimes he just switches to gibberish
because he knows that that person is Russian.
Of course, there are still drawbacks to this nomadic lifestyle,
Karl acknowledges. The biggest challenge is when my wife and I
are apart for too long. Then it becomes really hard to accept
that to keep your job, or her keep her job, we will not be
together for certain amount of time
When she would be in
Germany, I would be in San Francisco. And she would go to Dubai,
Ill be in New York. Were always changing places like that. And
that means sometimes Im going to be alone with my kids,
working, doing 10 shows a week.
Calling it a good challenge to follow their family rule of
keeping the kids together, Karl says he appreciates that I get
a big connection with the kids when Im the only one there and I
do everything, giving the bath, brushing the teeth, cooking the
food, eating with them, going to the park, playing.
When its his solo stint, Karl has mixed feelings. At the
beginning its like, I can read my book, its amazing, he
says. And after a week youre like, Okay, I dont know what to
do now. After two weeks, Im always on Skype trying to call
them. Then after about six weeks its, OK, Im quitting my job
and Im going to be on tour with her on her show. [But
eventually weve learned to] accept and expect all those months
that were not together. Having only one person not traveling,
and changing the kind of job we would do, would change who we
are and why we want be together.
Parents who dont constantly travel and see what Im doing, he
says, like my mother and my father, they think Im crazy. But
for his kids, Karl insists, Its not about having the house and
the friends and everything. Its just, Is the Big Top in the
truck? Theyre not looking for their room, theyre looking for
their pillow or their bed. Its all a different way of seeing
life. Steady is not something that they know. And staying put
in one place is not something that they miss.
If you feel confidence, and that you have control of situation
that is changing, theyre going to feel it and follow you, he
says. They look at what we do and they accept that things are
always going to be different.
The stress that Karl feels is mainly about the future. Every
day Im worried about my kids not having seen a normal life,
because we have that openness to all these cultures, but we live
in our own bubble all the time as we travel from city to city,
he says. So when its time for school in a few years
some
people are going to push [them] around, and [theyre] going to
push people around, older ones, younger ones. Living in our
bubble, we dont have all that.
As far as where theyll ultimately settle down for school, Karl
says hes considering his hometown. Im really thinking to go
back to Montreal to be able to have school for the kids because
in Montreal, school is almost free until the end of university,
he says, and I went through it so I know, for me, Im really
happy with it. But before then, they have some more of the
world to see, together.
The show business, circus business, most of the shows are in
Europe, Germany, England, he says. Or with Cirque du Soleil,
you going to travel the States, Australia, Japan, South
America. Settling down, Karl says, is a big question. For
later, that is, he declares: I still have two years to answer
it.
{ SOURCE: Yahoo | https://goo.gl/soEBxX }
=======================================================================
ITINÉRAIRE -- TOUR/SHOW INFORMATION
=======================================================================
o) BIGTOP - Under the Grand Chapiteau
{Amaluna, Koozå, Kurios, Luzia & Totem}
o) ARENA - In Stadium-like venues
{Quidam, Varekai, TORUK & OVO}
o) RESIDENT - Performed en Le Théâtre
{Mystère, "O", La Nouba, Zumanity, KÀ, LOVE,
Believe, Zarkana, MJ ONE & JOYÀ}
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:
Amsterdam, NL -- Mar 17, 2016 to May 1, 2016
Frankfurt, DE -- May 12, 2016 to Jun 5, 2016
Knokke-Heist, BE -- Jul 14, 2016 to Aug 7, 2016
London, UK -- Jan 2017 Mar 2017
Koozå:
Montevido, UY -- Mar 9, 2016 to Mar 20, 2016
Buenos Aires, AR -- Apr 21, 2016 to May 8, 2016
Santiago, CL -- Jun 30, 2016 to Jul 31, 2016
Sydney, AU -- Aug 25, 2016 to Sep 25, 2016
Brisbane, AU -- Nov 24, 2016 to Dec 18, 2016
Melbourne, AU -- Jan 20, 2017 to Feb 12, 2017
Perth, AU -- TBA
Kurios:
Atlanta, GA -- Mar 3, 2016 to May 8, 2016
Boston, MA -- May 26, 2016 to Jul 10, 2016
Washington, DC -- Jul 21, 2016 to Sep 18, 2016
New York City, NY -- Sep 29, 2016 to Nov 27, 2016
Miami, FL -- TBA
Luzia:
Montreal, QC -- Apr 21, 2016 to Jul 3, 2016
Toronto, ON -- Jul 28, 2016 to Oct 2, 2016
San Francisco, CA -- Nov 10, 2016 to Jan 22, 2017
Seattle, WA -- Feb 2, 2017 to Mar 26, 2017
Calgary, AB -- Apr 6, 2017 to May 21, 2017
Totem:
Tokyo, JP Feb 03, 2016 to Jun 26, 2016
Osaka, JP - Jul 14, 2016 to Oct 12, 2016
Nagoya, JP - Nov 10, 2016 to Jan 15, 2017
Fukuoka, JP - Feb 2017 to TBA
Sendai, JP - Apr 2017 to TBA
------------------------------------
ARENA - In Stadium-Like Venues
------------------------------------
Varekai:
Antwerp, BE -- Mar 2, 2016 to Mar 6, 2016
Bordeaux, FR -- Mar 10, 2016 to Mar 13, 2016
Montpellier, FR -- Mar 17, 2016 to Mar 20, 2016
Nice, FR -- Mar 23, 2016 to Mar 27, 2016
Moscow, RU -- Apr 14, 2016 to Apr 24, 2016
St Petersburg, RU -- Apr 27, 2016 to May 8, 2016
Kazan, RU -- May 11, 2016 to May 15, 2016
Chelyabinsk, RU -- May 18, 2016 to May 22, 2016
Tolyatti, RU -- May 25, 2016 to May 29, 2016
Sochi, RU -- Jun 2, 2016 to Jun 5, 2016
Zaragoza, ES -- Jun 29, 2016 to Jul 3, 2016
Santander, ES -- Jul 6, 2016 to Jul 10, 2016
Granada, ES -- Jul 13, 2016 to Jul 17, 2016
Murcia, ES -- Jul 20, 2016 to Jul 24, 2016
Dubai, UAE -- Sep 16, 2016 to Sep 24, 2016
Milan, IT -- Oct 20 2016 to Oct 23, 2016
Florence, IT -- Oct 27, 2016 to Oct 30, 2016
Bologna, IT -- Nov 04, 2016 to Nov 06, 2016
Turin, IT -- Nov 10, 2016 to Nov 13, 2016
Nantes, FR -- Nov 16, 2016 to Nov 20, 2016
Toulouse, FR -- Nov 23, 2016 to Nov 27, 2016
Strasbourg, FR -- Nov 30, 2016 to Dec 4, 2016
Paris, FR -- Dec 7, 2016 to Dec 11, 2016
Lille, FR -- Dec 14, 2016 to Dec 18, 2016
TORUK - The First Flight:
Sunrise, FL -- Mar 3, 2016 to Mar 6, 2016
Miami, FL -- Mar 10, 2016 to Mar 13, 2016
Tampa, FL -- Mar 17, 2016 to Mar 20, 2016
Tulsa, OK -- Mar 24, 2016 to Mar 27, 2016
Kansas City, MO -- Mar 30, 2016 to Apr 3, 2016
Oklahoma City, OK -- Apr 6, 2016 to Apr 10, 2016
Louisville, KY -- Apr 28, 2016 to May 1, 2016
Cincinnati, OH -- May 4, 2016 to May 8, 2016
Columbus, OH -- May 11, 2016 to May 15, 2016
Hamilton, ON -- May 20, 2016 to May 22, 2016
London, ON -- May 25, 2016 to May 29, 2016
Providence, RI -- Jun 1, 2016 to Jun 5, 2016
Baltimore, MD -- Jun 8, 2016 to Jun 12, 2016
Duluth, GA -- Jun 15, 2016 to Jun 19, 2016
Raleigh, NC -- Jun 22, 2016 to Jun 26, 2016
Ottawa, ON -- Jun 30, 2016 to Jul 3, 2016
Denver, CO -- Jul 21, 2016 to Jul 24, 2016
Lincoln, NE -- Jul 27, 2016 to Jul 31, 2016
Chicago, IL -- Aug 3, 2016 to Aug 7, 2016
Brooklyn, NY -- Sep 7, 2016 to Sep 11, 2016
OVO:
Lake Charles, LA -- Apr 8, 2016 to Apr 10, 2016
Baton Rouge, LA -- Apr 14, 2016 to Apr 17, 2016
Greensboro, NC -- Apr 20, 2016 to Apr 24, 2016
Cleveland, OH -- Apr 27, 2016 to May 1, 2016
Syracuse, NY -- May 4, 2016 to May 8, 2016
Philadelphia, PA -- May 11, 2016 to May 15, 2016
Bangor, ME -- Jun 2, 2016 to Jun 5, 2016
Bridgeport, CT -- Jun 8, 2016 to Jun 12, 2016
Hartford, CT -- Jun 15, 2016 to Jun 19, 2016
Atlantic City, NJ -- Jun 22, 2016 to Jun 26, 2016
Windsor, ON -- Jun 29, 2016 to Jul 3, 2016
Charlotte, NC -- Jul 6, 2016 to Jul 10, 2016
Greenville, SC -- Jul 13, 2016 to Jul 17, 2016
Huntsville, AL -- Jul 27, 2016 to Jul 31, 2016
St. Louis, MO -- Aug 3, 2016 to Aug 7, 2016
Manchester, NH -- Aug 25, 2016 to Aug 28, 2016
Hershey, PA -- TBA
---------------------------------
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
2016 Dark Dates:
o March 16
o May 7 11
o July 6
o September 10 14
o November 9
Special / Limited Performances:
o March 12, 2016 (7pm Proceeds Donated to One Drop)
o June 18, 2016 (Only 7pm performance)
o June 19, 2016 (Only 7pm performance)
o December 29, 2016 (Two Shows)
"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)
2016 Dark Dates:
o March 18
o April 11-19
o June 12-24
o July 2-5
o August 1-9
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
(Only 7:00pm on the following days in 2015: January 20,
May 8, May 15, May 19, May 20, and December 31)
KÀ:
Location: MGM Grand, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark Thursday/Friday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
(Only 7 pm performances on May 9, 16 and June 21)
2016 Dark Dates:
o March 16
o May 5 - 13
o July 13
o September 15 - 23
o November 23
LOVE:
Location: Mirage, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Thursday through Monday, Dark: Tuesday/Wednesday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
(Only 7:00p.m. performances on May 15-16, June 19-21, December 31)
(Only 4:30p.m. & 7:00p.m. performances on July 4)
CRISS ANGEL BELIEVE:
Location: Luxor, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Wednesday through Sunday, Dark: Monday/Tuesday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
ZARKANA:
Location: Aria, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Friday through Tuesday, Dark: Wednesday/Thursday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
** UNTIL APRIL 30, 2016 **
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)
=======================================================================
OUTREACH - UPDATES FROM CIRQUE's SOCIAL WIDGETS
=======================================================================
o) WEBSERIES -- Official Online Featurettes
o) FOTOS -- Images From Cirque & Other Photographs
o) VIDEOS -- Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds
---------------------------------------------------
WEBSERIES: Official Online Featurettes
---------------------------------------------------
*) KURIOS ABOUT...
o) EPISODE 8: HEALTH AND FITNESS
February 2, 2016
The mind and body deserve the ultimate maintenance. See
how we keep the cogs and wheels a-turnin!
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/h-DK9bv_96s >
o) EPISODE 9: COSTUMES AND MAKEUP
February 16, 2016
In this episode discover how Mr Microcosmos character is
brought to life when Karl LEcuyer puts on his costume
and makeup!
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/BcR8sUnlswQ >
---------------------------------------------------
FOTOS: Images From Cirque & Other Photo Links
---------------------------------------------------
LUZIA IN PHOTOS
---------------
o) Luzia at MOntreal's Nuit Blanche:
http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=7615
o) Views of Luzia from WorkingAdvantage.com:
http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=7628
o) Video & Pictures of Luzia Big Top Raising:
http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=7641
o) 360-Degree Video of Luzia's Big Top Raising:
http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=7655
OTHER FOTOS
-----------
KOOZA -- https://goo.gl/qmAeoE -- Wardrobe gives rats brushing
KOOZA -- https://goo.gl/ZrFxj5 -- Trickster Meets the Media
KOOZA -- https://goo.gl/H1rVBt -- Artists Explore Melbourne
KOOZA -- https://goo.gl/SeJy7q -- Artists in Montevideo
LA NOUBA -- https://goo.gl/FYWFQI -- Diabolos Rehearsal
LA NOUBA -- https://goo.gl/l3AMa2 -- Getting a Straps Workout
LA NOUBA -- https://goo.gl/7NoMvX -- Overhead Stage from The Grid
LUZIA -- https://goo.gl/PhXXU6 -- Inspiration in Rehearsals
LUZIA -- https://goo.gl/dPBKgg -- Getting Ready to Spread our Wings
LUZIA -- https://goo.gl/J4cr4m -- Happy Valentine's Day
LUZIA -- https://goo.gl/AsFDjg -- Costumes Sneak Peek!
LUZIA -- https://goo.gl/rdgI4R -- Alebrijes are slowing taking shape
PARAMOUR -- https://goo.gl/bHq6wJ -- The Re-Imagined Western Scene
PARAMOUR -- https://goo.gl/5H09OW -- What We've Been Working On
PARAMOUR -- https://goo.gl/MXpkgv -- Musical Director: Seth Stachowski
PARAMOUR -- https://goo.gl/ue9XdT -- Character Sketches
PARAMOUR -- https://goo.gl/65sRNi -- Taking Leap Day "Very Seriously"
QUIDAM -- https://goo.gl/UtYmq5 -- Haka Ceremony in Pictures
QUIDAM -- https://goo.gl/wnGMxx -- Thank You Auckland!
QUIDAM -- https://goo.gl/da4918 -- Last Load-in in Christchurch, NZ
QUIDAM -- https://goo.gl/uLdpcW -- Christchurch Media Day #1
QUIDAM -- https://goo.gl/RCEQuy -- Christchurch Media Day #2
QUIDAM -- https://goo.gl/lcQZq3 -- What is the Common Thread?
QUIDAM -- https://goo.gl/gGmzx1 -- Original Quidam Ticket!
TORUK -- https://goo.gl/dW5QbA -- Transforming into a Na'vi
TORUK -- https://goo.gl/5BEF0X -- Washing & Drying the Costumes
TORUK -- https://goo.gl/QW0lFx -- Adding sound effects to the show mix
TORUK -- https://goo.gl/1LQO8H -- Tawkami Chief makeup transformation
TORUK -- https://goo.gl/mgqSdo -- Behind the Scenes Photo Shoot
TORUK -- https://goo.gl/xnzLyp -- It takes a lot of cable...
TORUK -- https://goo.gl/EmPIJi -- Flight training for Charleston!
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/hf6CWv -- At Mezamashi TV (Rings Act)
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/4cUnKR -- Fuji TV Covers Opening!
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/Sn3pfa -- Fuji TV Covers Opening!
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/f1Sf75 -- Fuji TV Covers Opening!
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/4ZIvBR -- Fuji TV Covers Opening!
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/6JlfbH -- Two New Japanese Artists
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/WJHtPl -- Green Frog at Shibuya Station
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/xL7Qo9 -- "Standby for Monkey Business"
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/5bfNtM -- Happy Chinese New Year
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/c7nn2c -- Thank You to Japanese Fans
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/I7cR6V -- Intermission selfie
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/jnxFPH -- Hand-Balancing pros
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/pcQEo9 -- Fabio is flying away! (Banole)
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/2YF3Gz -- Out and About in Tokyo
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/Q6Rdb4 -- Standby for Animation!
VAREKAI -- https://goo.gl/wExDU6 -- Artists Discovering Montpellier
VAREKAI -- https://goo.gl/VeSq7K -- French Premiere
VAREKAI -- https://goo.gl/ViKNkY -- Day in Luxembourg
VAREKAI -- https://goo.gl/O8jerl -- Opening in Hamburg
VAREKAI -- https://goo.gl/Jyx15L -- Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde
VAREKAI -- https://goo.gl/ZVFpIK -- The Muse
VAREKAI -- https://goo.gl/rAobFN -- The Catwalk
VAREKAI -- https://goo.gl/H9kZjg -- New Act/Character (Cyr Wheel)
---------------------------------------------------
VIDEOS: Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds
---------------------------------------------------
CIRQUE LIFE
-----------
Eric Hernandez is currently Touring the world with TOTEM. He has
been on tour since March 2012 performing the traditional Hoop Dance
that he was taught from his uncle Terry Goedel when he was 10 years
old. Eric documents his adventures - his Cirque Life - in between the
rigorous 10 shows a week schedule he performs, posting his insights
on his YouTube Channel. Follow Eric as he experiences life on the
road in Japan for the very first time!
o) "Working out with The Beast" -- https://goo.gl/vcaJth
o) "The Creator of Cirque du Soleil" -- https://goo.gl/AtijhG
OTHER VIDEOS
------------
CIRQUE -- https://goo.gl/8NPR8i -- Andrii Bondarenko and Yulya Mihailova
CIRQUE -- https://goo.gl/2xawDv -- One Night for One Drop Rehearsals
CIRQUE -- https://goo.gl/aqHLg4 -- Create Spring Make-up Look
CIRQUE -- https://goo.gl/3pd9GF -- How Do Artists Do Houseold Chores?
CIRQUE -- https://goo.gl/fG5BwD -- BTS at Cirque HQ: the Dye Shop!
CIRQUE -- https://goo.gl/mB92Vi -- Atherton Family Fitness #1
CIRQUE -- https://goo.gl/FgBmHx -- Atherton Family Fitness #2
KA -- https://goo.gl/l7sp50 -- Happy Chinese New Year!
KURIOS -- https://goo.gl/dOF9UN -- Late Late Show w/James Corden
LA NOUBA -- https://goo.gl/DJldW0 -- New Bamboo Act
LUZIA -- https://goo.gl/a2f06d -- Artists Take the Plunge
LUZIA -- https://goo.gl/wIc4MV -- Chat w/Set & Props Designer
LUZIA -- https://goo.gl/fohLvR -- 1..2..3..Jump! (Sneak Peek!)
MYSTERE -- https://goo.gl/5M4O5v -- BTS of Mystere w/Activon
"O" -- https://goo.gl/dvmbfX -- Under the Water!
"O" -- https://goo.gl/N58U2r -- Stealing Hearts at "O"!
PARAMOUR -- https://goo.gl/cgCERi -- Tom Ammirati lands quintuple flip
PARAMOUR -- https://goo.gl/x1o0MN -- Happy Valentine's Day Rehearsal
PARAMOUR -- https://goo.gl/ShCakH -- Andi & Kevin at Work
PARAMOUR -- http://goo.gl/tzeYua -- Theater Mania Catches a Rehearsal
QUIDAM -- https://goo.gl/Is4HHe -- An Acrobat on Vacation...
QUIDAM -- https://goo.gl/W9H8Jm -- Haka by the Ngati Whatua people
QUIDAM -- https://goo.gl/UZm09S -- Luana gets Quidamified (Target)
QUIDAM -- https://goo.gl/vAQvSI -- Johnny's "bendy-wendy" combination
QUIDAM -- https://goo.gl/iD9kzY -- Luana gets Quidamified (Hoops!)
QUIDAM -- https://goo.gl/QspdcZ -- Countdown by Alessandra
LOVE -- https://goo.gl/h11mDs -- Red Poppies
TORUK -- https://goo.gl/4KCl7d -- First 5 at 5
TORUK -- https://goo.gl/qsevRB -- Monday Morning Workout
TORUK -- https://goo.gl/R98Xa6 -- DHL: The Fauna of TORUK
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/Rl4Z4i -- Girl-Band Supporters: Happiness
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/eER2pP -- Special Fuji-TV Advert
TOTEM -- https://goo.gl/ZYgPPR -- Happy valentine's Day
VAREKAI -- https://goo.gl/7dc3XF -- Bonjour France!
VAREKAI -- https://goo.gl/tH83AZ -- Closing Doors to Truck
ZUMANITY -- https://goo.gl/gOPkqD -- Zumanity at NewNowNext Honors
=======================================================================
FASCINATION! FEATURES
=======================================================================
o) "Extending the Experience: A Conversation about
Cirque Merchandise" (Part 1 of 2)
By: Keith Johnson - Seattle, Washington (USA)
o) "Getting Better? Inside The Beatles LOVE Changes"
A Special Collection of Articles from the Press
o) LOOK BACK: Guy Laliberte's Poetic Social Mission
PART 7 of 8: "Moving Stars and Earth for Water"
By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
------------------------------------------------------------
"Extending the Experience: A Conversation about
Cirque Merchandise" (Part 1 of 2)
By: Keith Johnson - Seattle, Washington (USA)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Everybody has at least one. Something tangible that reminds them of
the otherworldly experience of a Cirque du Soleil show. A magnet, a
shirt, a program, a CD or DVD, a mug, a shot glass, something.
For many (including yours truly), the credit card doesnt stop burning
once the tickets are purchased. The selection of merchandise that has
been available throughout the Cirques history seems endless. Like
the shows themselves, many items that were once mainstays of the
companies merchandise selection are long gone, and new items have
taken their place.
For years, many fans only access to merchandise offerings could be
found at Cirques E-boutique, a quiet section of the main
CirqueduSoleil.com website. However, when it failed to reappear for
some time after it was removed for refurbishment back in 2014, many
began to worry they would have no access to the latest products unless
they visited a show themselves. Not much of a problem if Cirque
visited your city every couple of years or so, but for those dedicated
fans with ready credit cards in distant places who needed their
souvenir fix the length of time the site was offline was concerning.
And then, in late October 2015 voilà! With a new look, new
merchandise, and a new attitude the new E-boutique can now be found at
< https://eboutique.cirquedusoleil.com/ >. Divided into sections
covering Apparel, Accessories (bags and scarves), Media (CDs, DVDs and
Books), Collectibles (souvenir-type items), Novelty (toys and
masks), Arts (handmade masks), Show Items (sorted by show), and One
Drop (charity) merchandise, there is sure to be something for
everyone. The design is straightforward and the items are well
presented. (Though the current offerings cant be considered
complete, and the shipping costs are a bit difficult to predict.) But
its designed for shipping to the US, Canada, and Worldwide!
With the debut of the new E-boutique we thought it was time to have a
talk with Cirque about merchandise. So we reached out to Ann Paladie,
Las Vegas PR Director, who put us in touch with Audrey Tillman,
Director of Merchandising and Operations, Resident Shows Division,
(Las Vegas).
Ms. Tillman started by explaining the breakdown of responsibilities
for merchandise. In [CDS] Merchandising there are two divisions. I
am responsible for Merchandising for the Resident Shows division
(which includes Las Vegas and La Nouba in Orlando), our permanent
boutique locations, and I have been in this position for five years.
My counterpart, Marie-Josee Couture, is Director of Retail Sales and
Operations for the Touring Shows division. She does the development
for the big tops so she's in charge of developing the assortment and
the products that are featured in the big top and the arenas.
READY FOR YOUR PERUSAL
----------------------
Availability of merchandise to a wide extent is important to a
creative company like Cirque, where its instantly-recognizable
corporate name rests over all its sub-brands, its shows. When we
talked in early December, the new web page had just been launched, as
Ms. Tillman explained.
The new E-boutique has just re-launched, it launched with the new
Cirque du Soleil .com site. The old E-boutique was removed for
renovation, and then there were changes in the division and a lot of
changes in the merchandising department and its structure, so it was
darker longer than we anticipated. But we knew that it was something
that we all thought was important for the brand and for [our] retail
in general. And so it was re-launched with its new look. We've been
working on it for a year. It was down for a long time.
The new webpage benefits not only from a new look, but was completely
re-thought behind-the-scenes as well. The old E-boutique was run
entirely in-house, so it was done in collaboration. At the time we had
a corporate [marketing] division in Montréal and they did it in
conjunction with our I.T. department, and I think our Marketing
department had some input as well. So logistics, fulfillment, e-
commerce and site management were all done in-house.
We discovered that there was really a lot to learn, especially about
logistics and fulfillment. We were fulfilling and shipping all over
the world. And granted we have a great logistics team as part of our
structure at Cirque, and we move big tops and everything around the
world. However in merchandising, our merchandise warehouse was through
a third-party, it was not operated by us. So logistics were going
through a third-party, and we learned a lot about costs and what we
could do, what we could support. I think we needed to sharpen up a
little bit and gain some efficiencies in pricing for shipping and
customs around the world; just control some of those costs.
The philosophy of everything available, all the time is one that
permeates online retail. From Amazons worlds largest selection to
the specific-category deep dive of specialty sellers, consumers have
become accustomed to having access to everything, whether the retailer
actually has the item physically in their warehouse or not. So when a
company with a retail presence like Cirque brings its goods to the
virtual world, the natural fan expectation might be to have all of its
goods, from all of its shows, available for purchase. But when one of
your goals is to promote what you consider the best of your brand,
that might not be your first approach.
The online E-boutique has always been a reflection of the merchandise
that we have out in the world, whether it be the big top, arena, or a
resident show. We wanted to be very careful of that and make sure that
we promoted the best of our best. We want it to highlight what is
really special about us.
The philosophy of the launch of the new online E-boutique is really
to highlight, just give a sprinkling of the offerings of all the
merchandise. And to promote the Cirque brand, not [just] show-branded
but Cirque-branded as a whole worldwide. When a big top or an arena
show comes through a city or you're not in Vegas or Orlando, to be
able to give access to our fans around the world to our Cirque-branded
merchandise. We also want to highlight shows and promote show
merchandise not only in the online E-boutique but also to provide
visibility for what's offered exclusively in the big top or in the
arena or in the resident show. The objective really is not to provide
a whole offering at the online E-boutique, but to utilize it to
highlight exclusives, new items and best sellers.
I think what we want to do is provide a sampling of a lot of
different types of categories of merchandise, really highlight things
that have an emotional response to something that you've seen on
stage. This is what I would call Phase One of product introduction
[onto the site]; and it will continue to evolve in the spring [of
2016], with the launch of the new Cirque collection, and as we
introduce show items. We will also have licensed merchandise which I
think will be quite interesting. And we will also continue to
highlight key show merchandise, because we have had a lot of requests
for show merchandise. So were learning how and what show merchandise
to promote.
And I think the next thing you'll probably see added is Avatar
[Toruk] merchandise. As you see now there's a bit of Kurios there, and
we've kind of highlighted Kurios because that was our [most recent
creation]. We also featured ornaments for the season from all of our
shows for this fourth-quarter. So were using it as a tool to really
show what we have to offer, but not to offer the entire catalog.
With this new iteration of the E-boutique, Cirque has partnered with
an E-commerce expert, The Araca Group (araca.com). Araca is a
licensor and merchandiser for various theatrical and entertainment
brands, including Broadway and touring shows (Wicked, Book of Mormon,
Rock of Ages, Jersey Boys), music acts (Britney Spears, Linkin Park,
One Republic), and other brands (Marvel, Star Wars, New York Rangers
and Knicks, Playboy).
Our objective with the new E-boutique was to capitalize on a partner
that had expertise in E-commerce, and look for a partner that can
provide us not only with E-commerce experience and site management,
but also fulfillment. And Araca also brings to the table something
that a lot of companies that we spoke to did not; they have in-house
design and product development. So in that regard they print in-house,
they have a full in-house design team, and they have a retail business
so they understand the difference between the two. So they had a lot
of things that were beneficial to our partnership and strengthened
both of our positions.
We just had to ask about specific types of items Cirque fans are known
to focus on. Programs? Programs we most certainly will begin to
offer. This actually comes in conjunction with the takeover of
operations of the residential show boutiques from MGM Resorts. It
makes it easier for us to control inventory in order to be able to
have it available for the online E-boutique. What about DVDs and
CDs? We currently feature the majority of DVDs and CDs that are
continuing. There are instances in which a CD or DVD is in some sort
of development and is not featured but we will continue to build that
catalog. Including the Joyà and Toruk CDs? Eventually, yes. As
soon as we have new music, such as Joyà, we will feature it as quickly
as we can.
They are also looking to include merchandise from partners who license
Cirque imagery. The licensees will be an element that will be added
for sure. It's in the next phase of the new E-boutique, so we will
have those additions coming. Well probably feature some highlights
from the Desigual (.com) collection. We also have a licensing
agreement with GK Elite (.com) (their Cirque-inspired leotards can be
seen here: http://www.gkelite.com/Gymnastics-WomensInStock-
CirqueDuSoleilLeotards). At the E-boutique in Orlando we feature four
of their leotards which are inspired by Cirque du Soleil. We also have
another licensing agreement with Pierre Belvédère (.com), a stationary
line (their Cirque-inspired products can be seen here:
http://cds.pierrebelvedere.com/products-category). So well probably
have a sprinkling of their top sellers.
Plans for the site are to add products frequently. We [will] update
continually. I'm actually just sending the new handbags that will go
on the site probably in the next three weeks. It will be ever
evolving. And it will operate just like one of my other boutiques that
are brick-and-mortar. We will constantly review the assortment,
constantly make changes, change what were featuring on the front
page. Definitely on my radar are the programs. The complete catalog of
CDs and DVDs is already in progress. So absolutely, it will continue
to evolve and will always be featuring new things.
The next big set of changes, Phase Two, will occur in the spring.
Yes, I would say that we will make some significant changes. We may
[do more sooner]. Toruk, the Avatar show, is under my counterpart in
the Touring division, and she would be in charge of the development of
that merchandise. When it's formalized and she's in a good place to
provide me with all of her information and she's ready to promote then
I will feature that merchandise on the E-boutique. So you'll probably
see that sooner than spring. But as far as a lot of changes I would
say spring of 2016.
Items will also be retired out of the collection, too. You also have
to take demand into consideration. For example, we have offered the
Alegría CD. The show closed, but we will continue to sell the CD until
we see demand waiver; it had demand beyond the closing of the show. So
we will continue to [stock] something if we see the demand is there.
But if we see it waiver off it's usually something we will remove.
TAKING OVER IN VEGAS
--------------------
Another recent development on the Cirque merchandise front is that
several of the show boutiques in the hotels of MGM Resorts (where most
Las Vegas Cirque shows reside) are being taken over by Cirque du
Soleil themselves. The impetus came from other Cirque resident show
forays into retail. In the past, and with the majority of older shows
starting with Mystère, the structure of the business was that our
partner operated the retail establishment. The exception would be
Disney and La Nouba which has always been under Cirque's in-house
operation. But in Vegas the business structure was for the partner to
operate the boutiques, retail, food and beverage. Cirque was an
approver of design, so they had to submit to us for design and quality
control that we would approve. And we would also wholesale our
[merchandise] collection to our partners.
So that was the model of the past. Things really started to change
with the opening of Iris, which we operated. Then Michael Jackson ONE
went under a new business structure in which we operated the boutique
and the employees were Cirque employees, and it was fully in-house. It
was the first boutique Cirque operated in Vegas and it was very
successful. This gave us the opportunity to have a discussion with the
partners about reviewing the existing status quo and business
structure, and gave us an opportunity to discuss changing it, and that
is what came about. I think there are a lot of opportunities we can
bring to the table if we take over the [retail] operation and bring it
back in house. We now operate and fully product develop for LOVE, O,
and KÀ, and the last one will be Zumanity.
That accounts for five of the eight Las Vegas Cirque shows, what about
the others? Treasure Island, which houses Mystère is no longer part
of MGM Resorts, having been purchased by casino owner Phil Ruffin in
2009. Mystère is a great boutique, and there will continue to be
boutiques that will be operated by our partners, including BeLIEve and
Zarkana; those will continue to be operated by MGM Resorts and
supported by Cirque.
When the creation, manufacturing and sales process is brought under
one roof there are fewer steps and approvals involved, the entire
process is streamlined leading to greater efficiency. The takeover is
designed to be a win-win for everybody, including the boutique
employees, who are now Cirque employees instead of casino staff. We
think there are lots of opportunity and a lot of interesting and new
changes that we can bring to the boutiques.
And with that change comes more change, in the selection of
merchandise and the feel of the retail experience. I think were
looking at it with fresh eyes. Change is always good. We really want
to bring what's on the stage and the experience of our guests into the
boutique in all ways, be that from a customer service perspective or
the look and feel of the boutique as far as fixtures or carpeting. All
that kind of stuff we're reviewing. And also products; we think
there's opportunity to really invest in some things that are very
show-driven. And we're willing to take those risks on those
inventories and minimums, because we really believe in it. So I think
there will be a lot of changes in the coming years.
The goal for Cirque is to extend the show experience onto the
merchandise floor, and envelop the customer in a retail environment
with a selection of goods that relates directly back to the experience
in the theatre. I actually want the whole boutique to have that
effect. I want you to walk into the boutique and feel like you're
still inside the show, you still have that euphoria. You just saw the
show, and when you look around everything looks unique and interesting
and somehow relates back to the show.
While the management of the boutiques may be changing, one thing that
isnt is something we wrote about back in September of 2012, issue
#104, in an article entitled, Exit Through The Gift Shop (which can
be found here < http://www.cirquefascination.com/Issues/Issue104.txt
>). Though many items are planned to appear on the E-boutique,
anything found in a hotel boutique can still be ordered directly from
them. Absolutely! We still do that, we do it on a regular basis. All
of our boutiques do that, including La Nouba and Michael Jackson ONE
and the new boutiques. We absolutely will accommodate, and
particularly when we didn't have an online boutique that was something
we did on a very regular basis. We have fans that have seen the show a
couple of years ago, and are looking for a new handbag and wonder what
we have available. We would certainly share that over e-mail and make
the sale by phone or via e-mail.
And here are the boutique hours and phone numbers, should you be
interested in making that phone order!
Mystère @ Treasure Island
702-894-7758
Noon to Midnight (till 6pm on show dark days Thu and Fri)
O @ Bellagio
702-693-7909
10am to 11:30pm (till 6pm on show dark days Mon & Tue)
Zumanity @ New York New York
702-740-3125
5:30pm to 11:30pm (closed on show dark days Wed & Thu)
KÀ @ MGM Grand
702-891-7917
10am to 11:30pm (closed on show dark days Thu & Fri)
The Beatles LOVE @ The Mirage
702-792-7729
10am to 11:30pm (till 6pm on show dark days Tue & Wed)
CRISS ANGEL BeLIEve @ Luxor
702-730-5944
5pm to Midnight (closed on show dark days Mon & Tue)
Zarkana @ Aria
702-590-8723
10am to Midnight (till 6pm on show dark days Sun & Mon)
Michael Jackson ONE @ Mandalay Bay
702-632-4800
10am to 11:30pm (till 6pm on show dark days Wed & Thu)
# # #
Next month, in Part Two, we go into the various categories of
merchandise how theyre categorized, created, designed, and priced.
Plus, we find a Seattle connection!
------------------------------------------------------------
"Getting Better? Inside The Beatles LOVE Changes"
A Special Collection of Articles from the Press
------------------------------------------------------------
Do you want to know a secret? Ever since the rumors began circulating
that Cirque du Soleil might update its highly successful meld of The
Beatles music with their avant-garde brand of artistry and staging,
Ive been waiting with bated breath to find out more. Ask me why. How
would Dominic Champagne (Director), Giles Martin (Musical Director),
and the dozens of other creators at Cirque du Soleil and Apple Corps
take what is arguably a perfect, as-is show and make it better? (And
perhaps more importantly: could they make it any more perfect than it
already is?) And just when it seemed Cirque du Soleil was going to let
it be, news about upcoming changes were here, there, and everywhere.
Im glad all over! So with a little help from our friends (the press
have been busy this past month covering all the changes both
musically and acrobatically), Ive collected the most relevant pieces
from the Montreal Gazette, the Las Vegas Sun, the Las Vegas Review-
Journal, and the Las Vegas Weekly here. Is it all too much? Perhaps,
but I got a feeling youre going to love it. So here it is from us to
you... (Ill be on my way now
)
A Chat with Dominique Champagne - Director
------------------------------------------
In a recent interview on a terrace just outside the backstage of the
Mirage theatre on the Strip in Vegas, Love director Dominic Champagne
was talking about the major work that is going in to revamp this hit
show. Champagne, who created the concept for the show with Cirque co-
founder Gilles Ste-Croix, has been talking with others from the
original creation for two years, and the team is now in Vegas busy
making these changes.
The show is on hiatus for three weeks, and the refreshed LOVE will
première on Feb. 25. But it will be what those in the live
entertainment biz call a soft opening. In other words, they wont
have a big opening, but rather will continue to tinker with it in the
months to come, in preparation for an official 10th-anniversary
première in July with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Olivia Harrison
and Yoko Ono, the widows of George Harrison and John Lennon. Before
Champagne could do anything, he needed to meet with what he calls the
Beatles family.
We had a long session here with Yoko and Olivia (in December), and I
met with Paul in New York, said Champagne. Ringo is kind of
hed
come here and there. Hes Ringo. Hes less involved.
They have to approve everything. When we created the show, the deal
was, and still is, that the Beatles have the final word on the music
and the Cirque has the final word on the show treatment. But we had to
create a certain basis of trust, which now exists. I had to prove
myself. I did partly through my relationship with George Martin and
(his son) Giles Martin, because we were in Abbey Road studio
exchanging musical ideas and direction ideas. To build what we called
a rock n roll poem. And once in a while wed meet with Paul,
Ringo, Yoko and Olivia to get their approval. The last thing I wanted
was that they wouldnt be satisfied with this show.
Now the trust is there among all the partners. Thats in large part
because Love is a big commercial and critical success. Most everyone
agrees that Giles Martins inspired mash-ups of the Beatles classics
are fab, and that the creative team did a bang-up job of realizing a
unique Cirque show thats a poetic chronicle of the bands tale, from
Second World War-era Liverpool through Beatlemania to the bittersweet
end.
There were sound bites of the Beatles in the original show; one of the
big changes is that there will be more of them now, and much more
video of the four band members. Theyll be more present via imagery,
said Champagne. A year and a half ago, they gave us access to their
entire audio-visual library, which was not the case in the very
beginning.
LOVE is one of the least acrobatic Cirque shows, but Champagne feels
the time is right to add a couple of big acrobatic numbers. There will
also be a few changes to the musical menu. Champagne didnt want to
reveal too much, but did say Twist and Shout has been added and,
surprisingly, the psychedelic classic I Am the Walrus is being
dropped. Twist and Shout was in the initial plan for Love, but the
Beatles didnt have the right to use it at the time because its not
their original song. Its such a strong vocal performance from
Lennon, and its the kind of song youd hear at a 30-year-olds
wedding today, said Champagne. We hope that the Cirque du Soleil
dancers will relaunch the twist with the act.
Giles Martin is also doing new remixes of the songs, taking into
account changes in technology over the past decade. But Champagne
stresses that the core of the show remains the same and the message
stays the same. Theres a lot of emotion in this show. Theres great
intimacy. This is a great tribute to love. Thats what the Beatles
gave to the world. (From) very sexual, primal behaviour in the early
days I Want to Hold Your Hand, She Loves You yeah yeah yeah to
something really more sophisticated at the end. It ends with The love
you take is equal to the love you make. And this well keep.
As we wound down our chat, Champagne reflected on something Lennon
said before his death: he said he didnt want to end up in a show in
Vegas. And I was directing the show that he was somehow ending with
in Vegas, said Champagne. I wanted this show to be a real piece of
creation, and not a dull anthology type of show. I didnt want to go
museum with the Beatles. If the Beatles were there, theyd go
creative with us. So lets be creative. And this is an opportunity to
make it better. To follow what the man said, to take a sad song and
make it better.
And well never know what Lennon would have thought of it, I said.
Yeah, but we can have a little idea when Yoko and (his sons) Sean and
Julian talk. Theyll never replace Johns opinion, but they were very
happy with what the show expressed. I want to presume that Lennon
would have been proud of that show, too.
Q&A w/Chantal Tremblay Director of Creation
---------------------------------------------
Two years ago, an unsuspecting usher at The Beatles Love theater at
the Mirage tried to eject two men late at night after the show had
finished. They were inspecting the floor and complaining that it had
become dark and dirty from eight years of artists and athletes
performing on it twice nightly. As the usher warned them shed have to
call security if they didnt leave, Dominic Champagne and Giles Martin
agreed that their show had to be brought up to date. They then
explained that they were the director and musical director of Love
and that they had to embark on a long journey for its refresh of
adding more new oomph to the existing wow. Finally, she believed them,
let them stay, and the two Cirque du Soleil creative geniuses met
first thing the next morning to start the extraordinary process. Their
dream came to fruition last week as final rehearsals for the new
look to Love got underway.
The re-imagined and transformed show is nearly ready to be unveiled
with new The Beatles imagery, songs, technology, colors, costumes and
acts on Thursday, Feb. 25. That floor? Its gone and replaced with a
new one with springboards built just below its surface to give
acrobats an extra bounce. Robin was invited to sit in on a dress
rehearsal, where he talked to Cirques Director of Creation, Chantal
Tremblay, as they watched Dominic direct his cast.
# # #
Q. Why the need to fix something that wasnt broken? When its going
well and there are no problems and you have nightly, sold-out
audiences, why tear it apart and start all over again? How much are
you changing?
I think because we like the show so much and its going really well,
its kind of giving back to the people after 10 years. Were adding
more oomph to the wow that already existed. The 10th anniversary
celebration with Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia
Harrison is this July, and we want to use the new technology and
projection and choreography that wasnt available to us a decade ago.
We looked at it color-wise, happy-wise, also of what we can give back
and take the show even higher. Its true that we have taken many
steps. Were touching everything, so there will be a lot of new
projection content. We also have new images of The Beatles that we
didnt have 10 years ago. We didnt have archives of The Beatles
themselves, and that went into the show now because we have that
confidence with ourselves, Cirque and Apple. That relationship is one
that has gone very well, so those possibilities are there now.
Q. Is it OK for me to use the words top-to-bottom overhaul? A top-to-
bottom re-imagining?
For sure. We have more changes in some of the departments, for example
projection, but were touching choreography, costumes, colors. Yes,
were touching everything, acrobatic numbers, new stuff also, and a
surprise well keep for when we reopen.
Q. Chicken-and-egg question. What comes first: your new creative or
refreshed music?
For Dominic, the director, its the music thats something really
important. He created this show with that vision in mind from the very
beginning.
Q. So Giles says to Dominic, I would like to put in five new Beatles
pieces, then does Dominic take those five pieces and creates
scenes around it? How does their process work?
I think theyre really fused together in that sense because they know
each other well. Its not one comes before the other one. I would say
its from discussion and seeing the rhythm of the show. Theyre doing
it so much together.
Q. So it is simultaneous?
Yes, yes, and looking at moments of the show and seeing that some
moments acting-wise are good, and Dominic wants to stretch it so Giles
will propose something, also Giles will propose artistically
sometimes, so their discussion is really global about the show
together.
Q. At the risk of sounding flippant, has Dominic also become a
musician and Giles a director?
I would say yes. You can hear Dominic singing all of the time. He
knows so much of this music and so much of the timing and every effect
that hes directing like that. Hes a total Beatles fan. He knows all
their music by heart. He worked on that music; he studied that music.
(Dominic was the original director of Love after staging Zumanity
still playing at New York-New York since 2003 and the touring company
of Vareki since 2002.)
Q. Were watching the high-speed skaters rehearsing. Are they the most
gee-whiz moment of the show?
Oh, no, we also have other moments. Some of the wow moments we had
kind of oomphed them more now. Whats interesting I would say is that
the acrobatic act for the Revolution number, the I Wanna Hold Your
Hand choreograph, with the acrobatics, we had to make changes to the
set, which brings performances to a higher level. Were trying to push
and get to a higher place.
We havent taken out any acts or moved them to another show or moved
another shows acts over to Love. Everything is done in regard of
The Beatles Love. We have changes in a couple of acts. We have
Yesterday, which will have new acrobatics. We used to have
choreography for Yesterday, but now it is acrobatics.
Also, we have changed something in I Want You. Thats a new act.
After that, the true numbers, the big numbers like Revolution and
Hold Your Hand, those have been more technicality, more trampoline,
more acrobaticflips and more things in the set, which help us to go
higher with the performance.
We have replaced
we added Twist and Shout with its own
choreography. I Am the Walrus is no longer there, so that was one
other change. Its a great song, but Twist and Shout also is a real
fan favorite. Its one of the top Beatles songs.
Q. These changes are a two-year process. Is it difficult for the
actors to rehearse/prep a new show by day when they still have the
existing show to do every night? How do they avoid confusion in
their brain from day to night making the changes?
Its totally the reverse in the sense that they are so happy to be
able to live through a little creation. We have original cast members,
but we also have new artists over the 10 years who didnt work with
Dominic, so by touching the show again and working with him
we did
some checkpoint, we call it. Now were doing staging officially, so
were really in the mode of creation, and the artists love it because
they have that chance to be there and listen to the direction of what
he wants in those numbers, making those changes and tweaks and be able
to participate inside that. The performers and technical crew want to
work and help to make changes for the show, which is going well.
Q. When somebody comes back after next week whos seen Love three or
four times over the last decade, this is going to look and feel
completely new?
They will see the difference. They will see the new, happy colors.
They will see visually new things because of the choreography and
acrobatic, music and projection. People will see the difference. As
were touching everything, as of the moment today we are at about 70
percent of the changes. We are going to go a little bit further as we
get closer to July. Were in the process, but were not totally
finished.
Q. Is todays technology light-years ahead of what you had to start
with 10 years ago? Is it a quantum leap forward with video, lasers,
electronics?
In technology, yes. In projection, there are more possibilities.
Thats what were trying to push. Also, the artistic creativity of
images, the content itself and also now having the chance to have the
imagery of The Beatles themselves from their own archives. This is so
much better. Youll see inside the show like Abbey Road with My
Guitar still there. Visually, we went with that technology to go
somewhere else. These are the changes that people will see who already
know the show well.
Q. Where did you get the new Beatles imagery?
From them! Weve been working with Paul and archivists from Apple.
Having the archives now makes that all possible. We presented the
changes to The Beatles, Yoko and Olivia. All of that is done together
with them. We have a great relationship with them. Its really a happy
way of doing a new creation.
Q. Did they encourage you? Did they want to leave it the same?
Sometimes, artists dont like to touch whats already successful.
Did artists resist, or did they welcome change with open arms?
They really welcome it because they have confidence in Dominic. We
have shown them what the direction is, they like it, they have places
to give comments, and Dominic listens. Its really open. Theyre not
restricted, they love the show, they think its good and know it can
be better. Theyre really with us.
Q. Were in February, theyll be here in July for the 10th
anniversary. Do you keep going right up until July?
The show were going to have is rolling now. Well continue to add
those changes we know we still have to put in the show, but the big
chunk of work is right now. There are steps in March and April because
some costumes will keep coming in, so all of this polishing I would
say will keep happening until July. Audiences will see these new
elements included when we start again Feb. 25. Were dark until next
Thursday. Dominic came in August to do a checkpoint. From there, some
things were tried and put in the show. Timing also to make sure the
show was really tight. After that, they kept working until we came
back in December for another checkpoint. Youre now watching the big
chunk. Between each of those checkpoints, things were worked on during
the old show.
Q. Does the show get longer? Shorter? Or because of the complicated
mechanics of the unique stage and computer controls, do you have to
keep it to the exact running time?
We are on the same running time. Maybe a few minutes more, I would
say, but not much. We have new cast. For example, yesterday we had a
couple of acrobats who are new to the show, and inside of the dancers
and acrobats, yes, we have new artists.
Q. And everybody in the cast and crew is really up for this?
Totally. I saw them doing like probably six hours of Twist and Shout
without stopping. They were going, going, going, so people are happy
about this part of touching and refreshing this show.
Q. It always amazes me when producers have it right that they want to
change it. I always think once youve got a format solid and it
works, I understand tweaking, but I dont understand wholesale
change.
You could still call it creative tweaking. I mean Love is still
Love. Its just that all our oomphs got a lot more wow.
Q&A with Giles Martin Music Director
--------------------------------------
Two years ago, Giles and Love director Dominic Champagne decided to
transform The Beatles show in a top-to-bottom makeover. The re-
imagined show opens Thursday, Feb. 25, and, during final rehearsals,
Robin Leach talked at length with Giles about his musical changes for
LOVE as it begins its second decade of Strip success.
Q. What was 10 years ago is now Noahs Ark? How much has it changed?
Technology and audio, just that side of things. Its pretty big. We
mixed everything on computers. There are no tapes or recording studios
here. What you can do on a laptop now you couldnt even do on the
computers we had then. If you think about it, 10 years in computing,
thats a lot. Simple things, other simple things, like audio quality.
I was the first person to back up The Beatles catalog by doing the
Love project. It was on four-track and eight-track and two-track
tapes my dad recorded on. Instead of the legacy I thought that Id
leave, I thought that I was going to get fired from the project with
the concept of taking The Beatles tapes and doing a show in Las Vegas.
At that point, it was a completely ridiculous idea.
I thought that at least well back up the tapes so therell be a
legacy there. The funny thing is now I just recently remixed a number
of The Beatles number ones last year, and we went through another
process of making it sound even better. So one thing Im doing is
replacing all the audio thats in the show with all-new audio. Its
going to be glorious, but its taken a few months to do.
Q. How many months?
About three months, but the entire refresh has been over two years
because of the way we work. Once we had tackled the mix technology, we
had to buy better speakers. All of the seat speakers are being
replaced, as well. Before, it was groundbreaking with three speakers
in each seat. A lot of people are doing that now, so we improved the
quality of the speakers. The quality of small things is whats changed
in the world.
Q. Theyve gotten smaller, but theyve gotten better?
Yeah, convenience rules technology. So now we can do things where we
can put more things in the seats. Think about it in the round of the
Mirage theater here. Mixing your left and right is difficult to judge
because youre inside a circle. One thing we can do is bring the image
down using seat speakers much better and clearer and have that left
and right balance. It gives you a much more punchy mix. Its amazing
what you can get out of The Beatles music when you get the balance
right.
Q. Does the public notice that difference, though?
Yes because you feel it. We can tell instantly because we just switch
between the old show and the new show. The demands of people have
changed. The audience wants more energy. So its good to balance
between doing that, yet not lose what we have because 7 million people
have seen the show. The Mirage told me its the Cirque show with the
highest satisfaction. So Dominic and I, when we came in two years ago
to talk about doing this, we sat together and pretended that we hated
Cirque and hated The Beatles and what could the show be like. We
thought it was a bit yellow, looking old and a bit dusty. The key word
we used was vibrant. It needed to be more vibrant.
Q. Because of whats out there today that wasnt here 10 years ago?
Because of what we can do today. We felt regardless of anything having
never seen the show before, thats what it could do with. It would be
more colorful. Actually, Yoko said when we opened, she said it was a
bit dark and not colorful enough. The Beatles were colorful people. We
were a bit brown and white.
There wasnt enough contrast going on, and thats because of the
technology we had at the time. We had the screens in place and the
floor had a shine to it, and that means all of the lights from the
projections filled the auditorium. Which means the acts that worked
really well were the acts with the projectors off because you could
get contrast.
Black and white looked fantastic, and you could focus on the artist.
We had so much latent light in the room, so we were trying to combat
that bizarrely by changing the floor of the theater. We got rid of the
latent light, and you now have that contrast of vibrancy. It wasnt,
Lets add seven new songs and a water cannon.
We loved the show. We changed it and put Twist and Shout in it and
asked how do we improve what we have because people love it, and what
would we have done if we had another four months working on it and the
technology today.
Q. How do Dominic and you work in the sense of who drives who first?
We drive each other. Its really interesting. In this refresh, I
phoned him up and said it would be great to refresh the show, and he
had so many notes. Dominic is obsessed, so he had many notes for the
last eight years on how he wanted to make the show better that it fell
on deaf ears because people are trying to run a show here.
Theyre doing two shows a night five nights a week. Theyre not going
to stop and say wait a second, Dominic wants this, because you have to
let go. We came and talked about it; we get along really well, and we
both agreed, we agree on pretty much everything. We talked about
Eleanor Rigby, and I said to him, Maybe she should be a young girl,
not an old lady.
I also talked about what he was trying to achieve. I know that in one
section of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, hes very poetic and the
girl dancing in that song is supposed to be the young version of
Eleanor Rigby. Me being frank and English, I said, No one knows that.
Why dont we make it the same girl? So then we talk about how that
can work.
Is I Am the Walrus really working? What if we put Twist and Shout
here? I played the music to Paul he never understood why Walrus
was there anyway. He said, Its not in the context. So we thought
lets put in Twist and Shout. Its a very vibrant song.
Q. What else went, and what else came in?
There are a few little changes that are going on, but most of the song
structure is the same. I played around with Let It Be instead of
Hey, Jude, did it, then realized that Hey, Jude has such a great
sing-along moment that Let It Be doesnt do the same thing. You try
things and think, Well, am I just changing a song for the sake of
just changing a song?
Most of The Beatles catalog is in the show. The way Dominic and I
work is hell say to me, Wouldnt it be great to have this? And Ill
say on the music side to him, Wouldnt it be great to have this?
When we were making the show, I said with Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds, I can chop the keyboard up to make them into stars, and
when we open, we should just have flickering stars to each keyboard
sound, and he goes, Thats good. We should do that.
Then hell say in Kite, We have to have it sound really, really
dark. I want it to be about The Beatles having problems in the deep
South, and I want to tell that story to the fans. So I had to work on
how to make this song sound dark and depressing because its not a
dark and depressive song.
So its two ways round. Twist and Shout is the birth of rock and
roll, so I want to create a song using the voices where it opens out.
Can we open out of the stage so it will feel as though the cabin club
is entering the auditorium, and its blowing away the past and it
becomes energetic?
We sit and we come up with stupid ideas. I always say to people that
the thing that doesnt cost any money is coming up with ideas. For us,
thats the fun bit. Hes incredible diligent; every single second is
accounted for. We work out almost closing our eyes what the show will
be like doing music.
Q. So Im intrigued having gotten re-immersed in The Beatles music.
You must have been buried in it for months on end! Did you learn
new? Did you find new? Did you find new genius?
Its difficult for me to get away from The Beatles because, since
Love, Ive remixed all The Beatles number ones and am working on a
Ron Howard film at the moment using The Beatles music, so I have gone
back in.
Love is a different thought process. Youre thinking about doing
things because its such a different discipline. Its musical color,
and I put that here and that here. Its like Jackson Pollock, and I
want it to work like this. You go through stages where you go through
despair
like yesterday complete despair I could never do this, then
today you come up with an idea and youre a genius for about three
minutes before you become crap again.
In the opening of the show, Dominic had to come up with some great
genius to make it work. The character in a very slow manner comes up
the stairs conducting a band in his mind that gets destroyed by the
war. The music dies, then music is born again, but there were no brass
bands on Yellow Submarine that I know of.
Then the other morning, I was awake about 5:30 and I said, Wait a
minute, Mother Natures Son has a really good brass band. Ill try
that. We put it in the other day at the opening of the show, and it
actually works. I love the new music. Its amazing how some things
work. Theyre simple, but they work really well.
Q. So you did find new work with The Beatles? Does it give you a
bigger respect for their genius? When did we discover that they
were geniuses anyway?
I think it was recently. When I was growing up, getting older my dad
was struggling for work at one stage because The Beatles were popular.
I remember that he was trying to find bands to work with. When I was
in school, they were this iconic thing. Then this past Christmas Eve,
we streamed on all streaming services. It was a good decision because
there is a whole generation who doesnt know The Beatles because they
dont buy records. Whats more important, selling records or being
current? Or making people happy? Whatever you want to say. They got 17
million streams in the first two days. Streaming, think about what
that age bracket is. Last time I checked that number streaming, only
two of all artists werent Justin Bieber.
Q. For a group that no longer exists?
Well, they do kind of exist. The thing about music is that music never
dies, and the funny thing about streaming bizarrely is that they dont
even care where it comes from or what age. They just love the sound of
it. Its become non-iconic in a funny way. I mean you dont need the
poster on your wall.
Q. Its still absolutely amazing that you, me, The Beatles are now
going on 50 years.
It doesnt sound old, thats the funny thing. People are still trying
to get the same sounds. Thats part of the genius, actually. Adeles
record producer came to me wanting to know how to get a Ringo Starr
drum set. People still ask this 50 years on, and hes a hit producer.
Theres still that respect that exists.
Q. I remember when they didnt have a penny. When their manager, Brian
Epstein, was scuffling around selling furniture to support them.
That first job was on two-track, Twist and Shout was a two-track, so
actually doing stuff for the show has been challenging, but we get it
done. If you think about the actual process, my dad had a four-track
tape machine available, but they made good songs. Look! Paul just sent
me this. Hes now making four-second musical emojis. You cant keep a
good man down. It shows you how many different things he can do. You
know what hes like; hes extraordinary. Almost unrelenting
creativity.
Q. So this has been a two-year journey?
Its funny you start these things. We started it two years ago. We sat
in the theater and decided to change it. The key thing was it didnt
look as vibrant as we thought it should be.
Q. Like an old book in a dingy London bookstore?
We decided to do something about the floor, and we got told off by the
usher for staying late in the theater. She said, Get out! We had to
tell her that we created the show, and it needed to be brought up to
date.
Q. And thats where it started. It was dingy? Is that too strong of a
word?
Dingy was the word. Its funny how it makes a difference. The stage,
which is incredibly complex and very, very clever, didnt have very
much acrobatic apparatus, so the kids who are amazing had to struggle.
Now there are springboards, and they can do multiple somersaults.
Before, they were just running around or spinning. I think some of it
we could have done 10 years ago, but, in the time that we had, we
needed to stop and present it. Hindsight is a very valuable thing. You
can always make it better, so this became, OK, lets make the whole
show better.
Technology Takes a Sad Song and Makes It Better
-----------------------------------------------
Its one thing to take a sad song and make it better. But a happy one?
It makes the creators of Love seem awful hard on themselves.
When Cirque du Soleil began a one-by-one process to refresh its Las
Vegas shows, it started with Zumanity last year and no one argued
with that. But next up, Love? It was an instant hit for Cirque and
The Mirage in 2006, rivaling the water spectacle O for ticket sales
on the Strip.
Granted, it would have been pretty hard to screw up a sanctioned use
of the Beatles catalog, an unprecedented business venture that rose
from the friendship of George Harrison and Cirque co-founder Guy
Laliberte. But Cirque delivered on its end too, creating a suitably
psychedelic fantasy world and grounding it in the real world of the
Beatles and post-war England.
Still, youre never happy with what you do, says Giles Martin, the
music producer who gave the Beatles songs a new digital life working
with his now-90-year-old father, George Martin, the bands original
producer.
Though Martin and director Dominic Champagne continued to clean the
show as Champagne said of continued tweaks the year it opened they
eventually had to live with the fact that everyone else was happy with
it. The two would sit and complain about something and all of a
sudden people were standing up applauding, Martin says. Once when the
two decided two years ago to work toward a 10th-anniversary makeover,
then we had to persuade everyone it was a good idea.
We just said to ourselves, We can make it so much better, Martin
recalls. The shows beginning to look a bit old, a bit tired. And
thats bizarre, because the Beatles never look old or tired. Theyve
always managed to stay fresh, both in their run as a group and in
their legacy, he says. We felt like it was huge injustice.
Even Paul McCartney, who early on urged the creators to keep doing
their thing and not worry so much about pleasing him, expressed some
doubts. I Am the Walrus is one of the most iconic and famous
Beatles songs, Martin notes. But the act was going on too long and
it wasnt right at that time in the show. Paul even said, I dont
know what the song is doing there. It seems out of context.
Thankfully, the Beatles had more than a few songs to choose from.
Twist and Shout will replace Walrus when Love reopens Feb. 25
after a dormant stretch to initiate the makeover.
Were touching almost everything, says Chantal Tremblay, the shows
director of creation (or hands-on producer). There are brighter
costumes to make the show a little less dark, Tremblay says, and Las
Vegas-derived choreographers Napoleon and Tabitha DUmo came in to set
three songs. The acrobatics have been punched up by listening to the
requests of performers and coaches who said they could do more if
given stage modifications. And a new a new duo trapeze act performing
to Yesterday has a secondary purpose of being able to stand alone
when needed to represent Love on TV or in special appearances.
But if Martin had to sum it up, hed say theres simply more Beatles.
Literally, when it comes to the video screens. The original deal with
Apple Corps., the Beatles business entity, gave the production access
to all the audio, from demo recordings and studio chatter and hard-
core fans can tell the Martins dug through every scrap of it but not
the Beatles film and video archive. Now they have, and the production
is incorporating images youve never before seen, Martin says.
The presence of the Beatles is more there, because we see them,
Tremblay says. Since the in-the-round configuration always made the
video walls an afterthought, some of the images are now projected
right on the stage floor.
Martin says that in the early days of the partnership, both sides were
almost standoffish. Cirque wanted to retain their Cirque identity
and the Beatles wanted to retain their Beatles music. But the hands-
on creators never drew such lines with one another. And now, because
the shows been so successful, and so loved, the Beatles and Cirque
are much more open, and theres such a pride that this is the Beatles
universe were in, Martin says.
Martin had one ear aimed at the Love reboot while he was working on
last falls Beatles 1+, an audio-video reissue of the bands
greatest hits and excavated promotional video. He reimported all the
audio, and remixed it for the theaters 7,000 speakers, including new
ones in the back of each seat. The vocals are much closer to you; the
drums sound much fuller. The whole thing just sounds better, he says.
There are things I can do in this room you can do nowhere else in the
world. I think when we did the show the first time around we were a
bit too safe and treated it too much like a studio. And it wasnt sort
of, live enough and vibrant enough.
The years also gave Martin enough perspective to let go of some of the
most detailed work not everyone noticed, such as a composite version
of Strawberry Fields Forever beginning with a demo recording of John
Lennon playing guitar in his house. I just thought, I missed the
Mellotron, Martin says of the early synthesizer creating the
opening notes. Id want to hear that in a theater this size. So I
took out the complicated thing I did and replaced it. But you know
what? he adds. The thing I did then is no longer new; its 10 years
old.
Even though the Love that reopens Feb. 25 will look and sound
different, the creators want it to feel the same. Weve been careful
not to change the character of the show because its so strong,
Martin says. The strength of the show is the heart of the show, and
we need to make sure we preserve that.
A Day in the Life...
--------------------
Giles Martin, a caretaker of The Beatles musical legacy, is spending
another afternoon inside the LOVE Theatre at the Mirage.
Martin talks of the enormous responsibility bestowed upon him to help
remake a hit show featuring some of the greatest music ever recorded,
as performed by the peerless artists of Cirque du Soleil. As Martin
speaks, the haunting voice of John Lennon calls out through the sound
system, his otherworldly aaaaah-aaaaah-aaaah-aaah from A Day in the
Life acting as this conversations soundtrack.
We felt that if we were going to preserve the integrity of the show,
we needed to do something new, says Martin, whose father, the
producer Sir George Martin, recorded all of The Beatles studio work
from 1962 to 1970 and was instrumental in Loves original soundscape.
We first did this show 10 years ago, and it was groundbreaking. It
still is groundbreaking, but it was 10 years ago.
As the orchestras crescendo builds to the songs legendary
culmination, Martin finishes his thought. We have been fighting for
permission to do something with this show, he says, the symphonys
strings rising to meet his words. Our view was that it looked old and
sounded old and needed to be more vibrant. That was the word we used
vibrant.
As punctuation, the sonic vibrancy of four pianos crashing in unison
fills the theater. CHA-CHUNG! Youve got to love that Beatle timing.
*****
LOVE has been dark for several weeks undergoing its first full-scale
upgrade, returning to the stage on Thursday night in a refreshing
period that should carry through July.
Impressively, Love is 10 years old this summer, a remarkable
achievement for myriad reasons, chief among them that the show has
outlived the eight-year recording career of The Beatles themselves. It
opened in June 2006, a highfalutin event attended by Paul McCartney,
Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, both Martins, Cirque
founder Guy Laliberté and such rock royalty as Brian Wilson, Joe Walsh
and Steve Van Zandt. At one point, McCartney shared a photo op with
the theaters original overlords, Siegfried & Roy, as The Doors Robby
Krieger looked on.
No doubt, Love was mind-blowing in its attention to detail, with all
the hidden audio and visual gems from throughout The Beatles career
an aerial, white-gowned Lucy during that famous number; a pregnant
Lady Madonna tap-dancing in the rain with her beau; a vintage VW
Beetle breaking apart near the end of the performance. The sound
system of more than 6,000 speakers built into the seats had never been
attempted in Las Vegas before, and one of the shows signature scenes
was a white silk drape stretched across the lower half of the audience
during the mashup of Within You Without You and Tomorrow Never
Knows.
The show is an unqualified hit, one of the top sellers staged by any
production company on the Strip, typically hitting between 75 and 90
percent capacity through a decade at the Mirage. Exit surveys put it
at the top of Cirque shows in Las Vegas for its positive fan feedback,
and the bands performance on streaming platform Spotify (70 million
streams in just three days in December) reminds us that The Beatles
never go out of style.
But as has been proven during the companys 25-year run in Las Vegas,
Cirque is forever chasing its own universally high standards. Look at
the shows that have followed Love, particularly Michael Jackson One
and its aggressive choreography, lavish costumes, blaring pyrotechnic
scenes, spring-activated stage and hologram of Jackson. The artists
from Love have looked at that show, and the rotating stage in the $165
million KÀ at MGM Grand, with a hint of envy.
So the Love team convened last year, said, in effect, You say you
want a revolution? and went to work. First, Martin and co-creator
Dominic Champagne, the Cirque artistic director who helped envision
the original show, returned to the theater with wide-open minds. Which
is to say, they pretended to be totally unimpressed by what they were
watching.
Dominic and I came to the show as if we were two guys who didnt
particularly like Cirque du Soleil or The Beatles, Martin says,
laughing at the night they were nearly tossed by an usher who didnt
know they were Loves co-creators. We watched the show and we tore it
apart
we began to realize we needed to do something where we could
completely refresh the show, but not lose the heart of it.
The first move was apparent as the men stared at the shows floor in
the middle of the 360-degree theater. The spotlights created an
unintended glare, and that territory on the floor was ripe for a void
in the showprojected images of The Beatles.
We sat there and watched the floor, looking at it, and the funny
thing was that we started walking around the theater trying to figure
out how many people would be able to see projections on the floor,
Martin says. You might not think much of it, but that was a huge
overhaul. Massive.
Not just massive in upgrading the technology. The use of The Beatles
faces in the show is a shift in philosophy from both the band members
and Cirque officials.
Were adding more Beatles, Martin says. In this backdrop of the
show was a funny marriage, where there was no kissing (laughs). The
Beatles and Cirque got together, but Cirque didnt want much Beatles
imagery, even just an album cover. No pictures of the boys, no seeing
them at all until the ending segment, he explains of the original
approach.
We felt them in the show, certainly, musically, but one of the rules
10 years ago was not to use them as much visually, Champagne says.
We used shadows. We used voices. But now they are going to be more
present in the show and bring in some visually immersive experiences
and some spectacular shots.
As Martin says, the band is so iconic, and so damn popular, still.
No doubt fans want to feel its presence more powerfully.
*****
The most evident shift in the order of Loves acts is at the top,
where Twist and Shout replaces I Am the Walrus. This is an
override of sorts, of an old McCartney directive. Paul wanted a
strong John song at the top, so we went with a strong one, which was
Walrus, Champagne says. But we were still in the early years, and
that was quite a tough moment in the show to explain, with a weird
setup while trying to explain the impact Elvis and rock n roll had
on those guys.
As Martin explains, the first scene in the revamped show culminates
with a bombed-out Britain in World War II, and arriving from the
rubble is this rollicking sound. You hear the voices, the Aaah,
aaah as the song starts, and we have the Cavern Club underneath, and
rock n roll bursts out onto the stage, Martin says, his eyes
widening. That becomes Twist and Shout, but theres a very fast
shift, going from 1940 to 1963, making that jump in about 20 seconds,
so theres the held note of A Day in the Life piano and a lot of
other stuff Ive added, and then these voices emerge in a way that you
cant immediately tell that they are voices.
He pauses and says, Its a very weird process, isnt it?
Unseen but also significant will be upgrades to the theaters sound
system. Martin says he begged and bartered for new speakers
throughout the venue. When they were originally done, it was
innovative to have three speakers in a seat. But they were not great
quality, and we now have units that are much better quality, new
speakers all the way through the theater.
The master audio was also totally remixed, once more by Martin, who is
as adept with digital sound as his father was with audiotape. We went
back and remixed all the No. 1s (for the album Beatles 1) last year,
and they sound a lot better than they did even 13 years ago. We
rebuilt the entire show from the better-sounding quality audio. All of
the original music was redone, and we now have the very best possible
sound in this theater. They also have a built-in desk where Martin
can toggle between original and upgraded tracks, allowing for the show
to be remixed anytime.
Songs that make it as far as mixing have gone through quite a process.
Once a number is selected, a place in the production is createdbut
that doesnt always bring a song into the show. Birthday, the rowdy
treatment from the White Album, was among those tried and tossed.
Closest to reaching reality was Let It Be, near the end of the show
in place of the unfailingly effective sing-along, Hey Jude.
We had to make this choice, and I nearly put Let It Be in the
show, Martin says, but the problem with Let It Be is, it doesnt
crescendo, it doesnt rise the same way Hey Jude does, which allows
you to move to another moment in the show.
Champagne also talks of a restructured Yesterday being prepped for
the new version, saying, I was never really happy at how we never
really served what that masterpiece of a song deserved, he says. Now
we are doing it in a very simple way, treating it with some improved
acrobatics here and there, building on our strengths. You will see new
advancements, without reinventing, with Lady Madonna and While My
Guitar Gently Weeps.
The shows choreographers, Nappytabs founders Napoleon and Tabitha
Dumo, actually led the development of an entire new number behind
Let It Be before the project was shelved.
It was quite a beautiful number, and we were very excited about it,
but we did go back to Hey Jude because of its beautiful buildup to
the finale, Tabitha says. It does not break down.
Napoleon adds, Maybe someday well put it on YouTube and say, See
what we were going to do!
I am just kidding about that.
But seriously, the artists in Love need to be versatile enough to
perform in mediums totally different than those in which they were
trained. Thats one of the Cirque hallmarks. An inline skater from the
Help segment could easily find his way into Twist and Shout,
dancing, not skating.
That has actually happened, where one of the inline skaters who is
not a professional dancer at all is with professional dancers,
Napoleon says. All of our dancers have acrobatic movement. Tabitha
cuts in with, Cirque has such individuality in each act, you have to
be able to adjust to everythingyou have to translate to other acts,
otherwise you would need 400 dancers in a show.
Artistically, Cirque is as flexible as the band that inspired Love.
Thats why this once no kissing marriage has lasted. I have felt
this period as being between two giants, Champagne says. The Beatles
and Cirque. I am almost the impostor, like maybe Steven Spielberg
should be the one doing this, where the artists are saying, Who is
this f*cking guy, coming in and saying he does not like this or that
in a show that is selling out every night? I am coming in and shaking
the tree of a show that is working.
But Champagne has the permission of a Cirque-Beatles-MGM Resorts team
that has grown into what he calls a real family. When you are
working with great artists, and McCartney is a great artist, like
Mozart, you feel good about the creative process, he says. I knock
on wood, because I do not want to feel too good before opening night,
but it is working.
Champagne recalls a story George Martin has told many times through
his history of chronicling The Beatles legacy: He visited John Lennon
and Yoko Ono in New York several years after the bands breakup, and
Lennon said he wanted to re-record everything the band ever did. Even
Strawberry Fields. Especially Strawberry Fields, Champagne says,
smiling. He was talking about how unsatisfied he was about The
Beatles music. Can you imagine? Now I dont want to put myself as
John Lennon, but I kind of felt that with Love.
And his co-conspirator shares in that spirit. I wrote to my dad, who
is 90 now, and I told him I am working with artists who were born
after John Lennon died. Isnt that amazing? Martin says. When we
started this, people really were saying, What the hell are you doing?
I mean, really, what the hell are you doing with this Cirque show in
Vegas? But there is so much heart and soul in this show. We want
everybody to be in this room, and we want to make it even more about
The Beatles.
Refreshed The Beatles Love is vibrant!
----------------------------------------
Love blasts off with a new spring in its step. The acrobatic dancers
even have springs embedded in the new spongy floor to propel them
faster and higher as they belt into a raucous Twist and Shout.
Theres a new, vibrant look and exciting feel to the show that
celebrates its 10th anniversary in July.
Last Thursday, after a two-week shutdown and months of daily
rehearsals while the show was running by night, the cast presented its
new look to the public for the first time. I saw it Friday: Seventy
percent of the show is different and marvelous and magnificent. The
remaining 30 percent will be updated and integrated between now and
when Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Patti Harrison
arrive in July for the 10th anniversary.
The show feels as if its catapulted at high speed into its second
decade of Strip success. Each of the 2,013 seats has had its three old
speakers replaced with two more modern, smaller ones that give it a
bolder, bigger and brasher sound.
Its like eavesdropping on a Beatles recording session as if you are
the producer and not Giles dad, Sir George Martin, who was often
referred to as The Fifth Beatle because he engineered their records.
Thats particularly true in the Lady Madonna recording session that
leads into Hey Jude and Strawberry Fields, with the bubble-blowing
effect from the sudsy piano lid. Giles and his father remixed 80
minutes of The Beatles music for the original Cirque show in 2006.
Since then, Giles has backed up the Beatles catalog and last year
remixed their No. 1 hits digitally. He was perfect to replace all the
audio in Love. The Beatles legacy of genius in their music and
lyrics is intact forever. He now describes it as glorious sounds. I
agree.
The Beatles provided new, previously never seen video from their
vaults at Apple Music to director Dominic Champagne, who has
miraculously created animated, interactive holograms of The Beatles in
black-and-white silhouette.
Enjoy the experience as an open-mouthed, gee-whiz moment. I loved the
aerial ballet that featured four girls and one guy flying and
swooping to Something in the Way She Moves.
The couple on the trapeze for Pauls Yesterday video are magically
interlocked. The ballet for Here Comes the Sun is an emotional
spine-tingler.
The high-above staging of The Octopus Garden is adorable, and
sparklers descending from the ceiling of Lucy in the Sky With
Diamonds seem as large as Caesars Palace headliner Mariah Careys
engagement ring.
One minute, the show can go from eye-popping psychedelic colors to the
purity of a white chiffon tent draped over the entire the audience.
The dancing seems to have picked up a harder and faster beat.
The dancer on roller skates moving and grooving to Help has to be
seen to be believed. The trampoline skater performers for Revolution
seem to speed faster, jump higher and somersault farther.
All of the added effects and action plays out on the computerized
floor, which becomes a giant screen for 24 projectors so lifelike at
one point it looks as if its a glistening lake.
Not only does it change colors, but the sections of colored squares
also go splat into various shapes with the tap-dancing and jumping
dancers as they land. Its modern showbiz technology at its finest
an interactive gym floor.
The show, with its cast of 65 international performers, ends on a high
point of the marching Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club band in new,
vivid and colorful uniforms and performers walking on stilts sculpted
from their musical instruments. Its whimsical fun and very effective
visually.
I didnt want the show to end. Theres so much going on, one has to
return at least five times to capture it all. Its a wondrous and
emotional experience that lasts for days.
In a day and age of ugly schoolyard bully political discourse, you
want to remain in The Beatles wonderland.
THE END.
SOURCES:
1. Brendan Kelly, The Montreal Gazette | http://goo.gl/MPD6So
2. Robin Leach, Las Vegas Sun | http://goo.gl/GiUsG8
3. Robin Leach, Las Vegas Sun | http://goo.gl/tISxuK
4. Mike Weatherford, Las Vegas Review-Journal | http://goo.gl/1TZcJB
5. John Katsilometes, Las Vegas Weekly | http://goo.gl/cF3RFe
6. Robin Leach, Las Vegas Sun | http://goo.gl/nkx8Ut
------------------------------------------------------------
LOOK BACK: Guy Laliberte's Poetic Social Mission
PART 7 of 8: "Moving Stars and Earth for Water"
By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
------------------------------------------------------------
Six years ago, on September 30, 2009, a civilian became a spaceflight
participant aboard Soyuz TMA-16, a manned flight from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to and from the International Space Station
(ISS). Joining two members of the Expedition 21 crew Russian
cosmonaut Maksim Surayev (Commander, from the Russian Federal Space
Agency, FSA) and NASA Astronaut Jeffery Williams (Flight Engineer)
was Guy Laliberté, who paid approximately $35 million USD for his seat
through the American firm Space Adventures, becoming the first
Canadian space tourist in the process. Besides fulfilling a life-long
dream, Lalibertés spaceflight was dedicated to raising awareness on
water issues facing humankind on planet Earth, making his spaceflight
the first in his words poetic social mission in space. And much
of this experience was captured on film and recently spun into a
feature-length documentary entitled TOUCH THE SKY. While the
documentary is a compelling visual look into the experience, the
adventure was also captured by Laliberté himself in the form of an
online journal.
At the time these events were originally taking place, we here at
Fascination were more concerned with the happenings here on Earth
with BELIEVE, ZAIA, ZED, OVO, VIVA ELVIS, and BANANA SHPEEL so we
didnt give much thought to this endeavor. However, thanks to the
recently discovered documentary (the aforementioned TOUCH THE SKY), we
recently re-discovered a text-copy of this journal in our archives,
which allows us to explore this extraordinary time in Cirque du
Soleils history in more detail. Thus in this series well be taking a
look back at Guys Poetic Social Mission through his eyes, from the
journal, in monthly installments, taking you through the initial steps
Guy undertook all the way through to the launch and landing. In Part
1, "The Countdown Begins" we listened as Guy took us through his first
steps. In Part 2, "Training Kicks Up a Notch", Guy got settled in, and
passed a few essential tests. In Part 3, "Getting My Hands Dirty", Guy
gets down into the nuts and bolts of his training. In Part 4, From
Training to Reality, Guy gets a bit more hands on with the actual
equipment hell be flying in. In Part 5, T-30 Days and Counting, Guy
rushes to complete his training with only a few precious days
remaining until lift-off. In Part 6, Departure for Baikonur, we
finished out Septembers logs with Guys departure to the Baikonur
Cosmodrome, Russias launch facilities located in the desert steppe of
Kazakhstan, and the day before his launch into space. And now we
continue with looking at the event itself Moving Stars and Earth
for Water the meaning behind Guys Poetic Social Mission to space.
ONE SMALL STEP
--------------
Guy Laliberté will bring an innovative and creative perspective to
the crew of Expedition 21, said Mr. Alexey Krasnov, Head of Human
Space Flight of FSA, in the initial Press Release on June 4, 2009. We
believe that the objective of his Poetic Social Mission to raise
awareness of water issues facing the world is part of what space
exploration needs to do. We welcome him as a team member and will
offer all the support he needs to achieve his mission. We are also
very impressed with the humanitarian objectives of the ONE DROP
Foundation, founded by Guy Laliberté. With the theme Water for all,
all for water, it wishes to raise awareness to water issues in the
world, ensure that access to clean water is available to all and
putting in place education programs using art. The strong
humanitarian values put forward by ONE DROP Foundation and Guy [is]
shared by the FSA.
"I have been described as many things throughout my 25 years with
Cirque du Soleil. Fire-breather, entrepreneur, street smart,
creative," says Laliberté. "I am honored and humbled today with my new
job description: humanitarian space explorer. Traveling has always
been my way of life and I have been researching the possibilities of
space travel with Space Adventures Ltd since 2004. But I needed it to
be the right time and for the right purpose. This is the time. And the
purpose is clear: to raise awareness on water issues to humankind on
planet earth. My mission is dedicated to making a difference on this
vital resource by using what I know best: artistry. This will be the
first poetic social mission in space. This is also a very symbolic
time for me to join my colleagues of Expedition 21 at Star City since,
after 25 years, this is the year that Cirque du Soleil will be
introduced to Russia after so many years! The timing could not be most
appropriate!"
During his 12-day stay at the ISS, Guy Laliberté's POETIC SOCIAL
MISSION will share information about water issues in the world through
a singular poetic approach. The messages he transmits will raise
awareness for ONE DROP Foundation initiatives that promote Water for
all, all for water.
The Canadian Space Agency salutes Guy Laliberté's initiative as
Canada's first private space explorer. The agency will advise
Laliberté and he will meet with Canadian astronaut Dr. Robert Thirsk
while at ISS. "Canada's leadership role in space exploration is at the
forefront of our mandate," said Dr. Steve MacLean, president of the
Canadian Space Agency. "This humanitarian mission, imagined by a
leading entrepreneur and artist, demonstrates the talent, imagination
and dedication that Canadians are recognized for worldwide."
Eric Anderson, President and CEO of Space Adventures Ltd. added, "I
have known Guy for many years and is a member of our Orbital Mission
Explorers Circle. His approach to his first spaceflight was always
original. Since our first discussions in 2004, he has wanted to travel
in space for a purpose and to express his unique vision. I believe
that his Poetic Social Mission truly realizes his intentions and we
are proud to be able to help him to make it a reality."
A CONCEPT UNVEILED
------------------
While Mr. Laliberte trained at the Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific
Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City Russia (as
weve been reading), much of the purpose of his spaceflight besides
his initial statements - remained unknown, until the morning of
September 2, 2009 just 28 days before launch when the artistic
concept behind the poetic social mission was unveiled:
For 120 minutes, the earth will gaze up at the stars and resonate to
the rhythms of artists and world-renowned figures who will demonstrate
their commitment to water, and pay tribute to this vitally important
natural resource. Each city will have its own theme related to water.
The participants will either take part in the event either by reading
parts of a poem, performing, or sharing an artistic work.
During the past 25 years, my travels on earth have allowed me to meet
extraordinary people: artists, leaders and friends, continued Guy
Laliberté. I am deeply touched that they have accepted to contribute
their voices, their talent and their creativity to my artistic
project. They have done so because they share my concerns about water
and my belief that through art and emotion we can convey a universal
message.
When I decided to join Expedition 21, I knew there would be an
artistic component to my mission, said Guy Laliberté. I am an
artist, not a scientist, so it was my duty to contribute in my own
way. On the very first day of my training, I began to reflect on my
artistic approach. The inspiration came from tales and childrens
dreams. I decided that the artistic framework of our global event
would be a poetic tale. My wish is to touch people through an artistic
approach and if we manage to do so, we will go beyond awareness.
During my training and preparation for this flight, I have found that
many in the international space community share my concerns about
water and support my project, said Guy. They understood my
intentions and they also agree that using an artistic language will
allow us to reach not only the interested space community, but the
people who are not ordinarily interested by activities in space. I
want to thank them for their genuine openness and understanding. Their
support is invaluable to me because it confirms that even if there are
six billion of us, we can work together toward a common goal and
change the world
one step at a time, one drop at a time.
THE GLOBAL EVENT
----------------
Under the theme Moving Stars and Earth for Water, the Poetic Social
Mission was a special two-hour program that raises awareness about the
issues of water in the world today from a variety of perspectives.
October 9, 2009 at 8:00 pm. EDT (GMT-4) in 14 cities around the world
- in Montreal, Moscow, Santa Monica, New York City, Johannesburg,
Mumbai, Marrakesh, Sydney, Tokyo, Tampa, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro,
Paris, London and the International Space Station - this live event
was presented around the world by a global community of artists
representing all cultures and creative disciplines and well known
personalities. Celebrated around the planet, the artists are singers,
actors, filmmakers, photographers, dancers, acrobats, poets, etc. What
they all have in common is a concern regarding access to water and a
desire to illustrate this in their own distinctive way. The artistic
core of the show was a poetic tale written especially for the occasion
by renowned novelist and Man-Booker Prize-winner Yann Martel. The tale
was gradually revealed as the program took us through 14 cities around
the world on a journey that began in Montreal and ends in Moscow.
o) The Opening -- From the International Space Station (ISS), Guy
Laliberté presents the Poetic Social Mission: artists and
personalities uniting to express their concerns about water and how
this precious resource inspires them. He outlines the content of the
program and explains the stage-by-stage unveiling of the poetic tale
at the heart of this artistic endeavor. He introduces former U.S.
Vice-President, the Honourable Al Gore and award-winning scientist,
environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki. Al Gore delivers a visual
presentation on the threats to mankinds access to water and the
security of our planets ecosystems. During a discussion of water
points, David Suzuki presents a comparative display of images
revealing the stress bearing down on our water resources.
o) Montreal -- Canadian astronaut Julie Payette joined internationally
celebrated author Yann Martel to read the first part of the tale in
English and French. Cirque du Soleil staged a unique poetic
performance to the original music of composer Simon Carpentier at
TOHU. Inspired by First Nations myths and legends, the segment
featured acrobatic aerial acts and Inuk singer Élisapie Isaac.
o) Johannesburg/Durban -- Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai
read a paragraph of the tale, linking water and education. World-
renowned musical group Ladysmith Black Mambazo performed on a
boardwalk by the sea.
o) Rio de Janeiro -- Brazilian musical icon and environmental advocate
Gilberto Gil read the next line of the tale, on protecting the
planets ecosystems. A special event featuring Gilberto Gil and
musical group Empolga às 9 took place at Fundição Progresso.
o) Paris -- Environmental advocate Maud Fontenoy read the next part of
the tale, calling attention to global water pollution. In a video
clip, French superstars Garou and Patrick Bruel were joined by Jean-
Jacques Goldman, Lorie, Michel Fugain, Natasha St Pier, Hélène Ségara
and Zazie to sing the words of Luc Plamondon to projections of images
of Yann-Arthus Bertrands critically acclaimed environmental film
Home.
o) Mexico City -- Leading actor, director and producer Salma Hayek
read the next part of the tale, emphasizing the importance of water in
agriculture and food security (feeding the planet). This was followed
by a performance by singer Lila Downs at the Gran Hotel overlooking
Zocalo Square.
o) New York City -- Singer-songwriter, performer Shakira delivered the
next paragraph of the tale, on the life-sustaining powers of water.
This was followed by a surprise performance in one of the most
exhilarating venues in the world.
o) Sydney -- Conservationist and TV host Bindi Irwin, daughter of
beloved Australian wildlife expert Steve Irwin, read the next segment
of the tale, calling attention to our threatened lakes and rivers.
Leading Australian soprano Tiffany Speight performed at The Studio,
Sydney Opera House against a backdrop featuring the work of award-
winning photographer Peter Lik.
o) London -- Musician, writer, video-writer and human rights advocate
Peter Gabriel recited the next part of the tale, emphasizing access to
water as a human right. English soul and R&B singer Joss Stone
performed.
o) Marrakesh -- Poet Touria Ikbal read the next paragraph of the tale,
addressing the relationship between women and water in the developing
world. Moroccos most popular rap group Fnaïre performed in a public
place.
o) Mumbai -- World-renowned Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva read
the next segment of the tale, on the spiritual properties of water. In
a video clip, Academy Award winning composer A. R. Rahman performed
one of his most celebrated songs in a moment specially created for the
Poetic Social Mission.
o) Osaka -- Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, UNICEF ambassador for the protection
of children, read the next part of the tale, on the crisis of melting
polar ice caps. Multidisciplinary Japanese pop star Tatuya Ishii
delivered an early-morning performance at the Twin21 Atrium.
Environmental activist and filmmaker Jean Lemire provides stunning
visual imagery.
o) Santa Monica -- Leading actor Matthew McConaughey read the next
part of the tale, a tribute to the living animal populations of our
oceans. Gregory Colberts etude on water Ashes and Snow was
presented in a most unique venue.
o) Tampa -- Bono and Guy Laliberté engaged in a space-to-earth
conversation.
o) Moscow -- A group of children, our inspiration for a brighter
future, read the next part of the tale. A performance is presented in
Moscows famous State Academic Maliy Theatre featuring Bolshoi Ballet
principal dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze and including the participation
of a group of children and Cirque du Soleil.
o) International Space Station -- Guy Laliberté introduced Canadian
astronaut Julie Payette. Julie, Guy and others aboard the ISS discuss
the importance of the scientific research conducted on board the ISS
over the years, specifically addressing its focus on water issues.
o) Conclusion -- Guy Laliberté delivers closing words from the ISS,
issuing his clarion call to actionAll for Water and Water for Alland
expresses his gratitude and appreciation for the efforts of the many
thousands involved in this unique global happening.
It is estimated that three million people saw Moving Stars and Earth
for Water from different broadcasting platforms. According to research
into audience and readership figures for all types of media, it is
estimated that almost 900 million people in 71 countries were reached
by news about the Poetic Social Mission, which represents an
advertising value of CAN $592 million.
And last, but certainly not least, here's the poem that was read all
around the world...
WHAT A DROP OF WATER HAD TO SAY
-------------------------------
A fable by Yann Martel
MONTREAL
Sun and Moon were arguing, again.
Brother and sister, theyd wandered the Universe
and found in this corner a good home.
Sun adored being the star of the show,
so many admiring planets spinning in his orbit.
Moon, more modest, was drawn to Earth.
Now Moon was looking at her brother glumly.
Whats the matter? asked Sun.
My planet is drying up, replied Moon.
Earth, that speck of dirt? Why do you care?
Because its my garden. I love Earth, Moon pouted,
as she slid into a lunar eclipse so she wouldnt have to see her brother.
If Earth is drying up, continued Sun, why dont you adopt a nicer planet?
Theres Saturn, for example, or Jupiter, theyre both impressive.
You dont understand anything. Youre the dimmest of stars! bawled Moon.
Is that so? huffed Sun, bursting with solar storms.
Excuse me, came a small voice from planet Earth.
What? said Sun and Moon together. Who are you?
Im a drop of water, said Drop of Water. I need your help.
JOHANNESBURG
Drop of Water spoke:
I take many forms, so that all may be pleased.
I can be liquid, as heavy as gold,
as silky as music,
as quenching as poetry.
I can soothe dry throats
and make fields blossom.
I can rush through pipes,
gushing into pots and sinks,
so that while I work,
children may go toschool.
RIO DE JANIERO
Drop of Water continued:
Fresh, I can push and flow down the broadest arteries,
Amazon, Mississippi, Danube, Nile, Euphrates, Volga, Yangtze, Mekong,
so that great green bodies might be fed.
Salty, I can answer the needs of sailors and seas,
so that fish and ships might float in the blue.
And salty or fresh, from blue oceans or green jungles,
I am the softness in the breath of lungs
that restore the planet.
PARIS
So whats the problem? interrupted Sun.
Look at those beaches, there, there and there, pointed Moon.
The ones covered in thick, oozing black? asked Sun.
Those very ones, said unhappy Moon.
I rather like them. They take my heat in very well.
Perhaps, but look at the sad eyes peering through,
blinking seabirds, and hear the coughing fish, gasping for air.
I hadnt noticed, said Sun, looking closer.
And look at those rivers and oceans, there, there and there pointed Moon again.
With the lovely slicks? My light plays off them so beautifully, said Sun.
But look at the lifelessness beneath them.
Theyre floating graveyards, replied Moon.
I hadnt noticed, said Sun, looking closer.
NEW YORK
Drop of Water spoke again:
I can be smaller too, so small that sometimes I,
a drop, am a whale next to the water molecules I meet,
who tirelessly support all living matter,
as discreet as the internal structure of the Statue of Liberty.
No sap or blood can flow without water in it.
Theres no life that doesnt know me intimately,
theres no life that can live without me.
I am the heart and soul, the primeval soup,
of all that cares. I arrive with birth and depart with death.
MEXICO CITY
I can mix the fresh and the salty too, for the good of all,
as when the salty sweat of the farmer pours from the furrow of his brow
into the furrow of the earth he has freshly watered.
Of all that moves, I am proudest of the slow growth of grains,
who never forget to nurture their soul, which they call moisture.
Of all the clothes I can wear hanging in my closet,
I am proudest of the one called food.
When I am food, I am celebrated by all
and every mouth seeks to undress me.
SYDNEY
Drop of Water went on:
I can also be mist, supplying fogs, clouds and morning dews,
or I can be ice, sharing my cool with drinks and penguins.
So you see, Im pure and simple, eager to please, willing to accommodate.
Drink me, heat me, freeze me, sprinkle me, swim in me,
I give myself to each and every with open heart,
yet so many exploit me.
My dear brothers Chad and Aral are vanishing,
and my sweet Murray-Darling is most undarling.
If I cannot move freely and abundantly,
how can I give freely and abundantly?
MARRAKECH
Sun, struck by concern, peered harder still, and the day became hot.
What are those ants that crawl in your garden? Sun asked his sister.
Moon replied, Theyre called humans, my brother.
And what do you think of humans, Moon?
Theyre beautiful but theyre foolish.
When theres trouble in the world, the men send their women home,
and when theres trouble in the home, the women send their men out,
so that too often humans are thinking with only half their brains.
They forget what it was like when they were children,
when boys and girls played as equals, splashing water on each other.
Instead women and girls carry jars of water on their heads
to-and-fro from well to home, leaving exhausted prints in the sand.
Are we not all equal before God?
LONDON
And what are humans doing about their plight? asked Sun.
Drop of Water replied: Though blameless, I have been judged
and unfairly condemned. I am treated like a raw material.
Oil, that impenitent criminal, mocks me,
Can you not turn to vapour? Then save yourself and me!
I remind Oil that Jesus on the Cross had only one complaint:
I am thirsty.
His final attachment to life on Earth was precious water.
Have we still not learned that with loving kindness
we should slake the thirst not only of gods but of each other?
Surely what He deserved by grace, we deserve by right.
To partake of water is no less a need than to partake of love.
Oil laughs, as remorseless as vinegar.
TOKYO
I despair, said Drop of Water, and I retreat to colder, calmer climes.
I seek peace in the meditation of ice.
Icebergs are Buddhist monks I send forth,
released into the world from the great monasteries of the Poles.
Their mantra is the blue light humming within their frozen cores.
Their message is peace and oneness,
but alas they simply vanish.
Every year monks leave me and never return.
MUMBAI
Still I give, continued Drop of Water, or I take, as the need may be.
So when I am holy Ganges, and I am always holy Ganges,
I give to the living and I take away the dead.
Nothing has more good karma than water,
which never seeks release from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth,
but always returns to serve others.
SANTA MONICA
I am moved by your plight, said Sun.
What do other creatures say,
the ones that arent half-brained?
Drop of Water replied:
The ones that live within me are constant in their lament.
They weep and give me their salty tears in hopes of nourishing me.
From shrill krill to barking sharks to blues-singing whales,
all mourn the ruination of their neighbourhood.
As for creatures of the land,
they come to see me every hot day,
bears to my lakes,
hippos to my rivers,
zebras to my water holes,
and all drop their heads in sadness.
Lastly the creatures of the sky,
their misery is such that they buckle and plummet,
and those that can float find comfort directly on me,
while those that would sink seek refuge in lifeboats they call nests.
TAMPA
Sun turned to his sister Moon and said:
You are right to love your garden.
It is beautiful.
Water is a hundred billion clasped hands,
a great chain that embraces the globe,
I see that now.
This planet is like no other I know,
a solitary kite in the sky,
a whistle in the dark,
a song amid the dreary,
a dance in the middle of foot-dragging,
a dazzle of colour splashed onto a drab wall.
Truly this garden of yours is a gem,
a sapphire of incomparable blue.
MOSCOW
Is there any hope? asked Sun and Moon together.
Oh yes, said Drop of Water.
In the beginning was water
and to water there is no end.
Water is a child, holder of future,
so let the child be.
Its a question of balance,
between abundance and scarcity,
between use and abuse.
A day will come soon, I hope,
when I will be owned by none and shared by all,
when I will be sullied by none and nourish all,
when I will be taken freely and given freely.
In the beginning was water
and to water there is no end.
Water is a child, holder of future,
so let the child be.
A day will come soon, I hope,
when we will start over,
at peace with water,
at peace with our future,
one planet, one drop.
# # #
TO BE CONCLUDED...
Next month well conclude with the eighth and final installment of
this series Back on Earth Mission Success! - which brings us
Guys observations while on orbit following his return to Earth.
Stay tuned!
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COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER
=======================================================================
Fascination! Newsletter
Volume 16, Number 3 (Issue #146) - March 2016
"Fascination! Newsletter" is a concept by Ricky Russo. Copyright (C)
2001-2016 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.
{ Mar.08.2016 }
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