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Fascination Issue 164
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T h e U n o f f i c i a l
C i r q u e d u S o l e i l N e w s l e t t e r
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http://www.CirqueFascination.com
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VOLUME 17, NUMBER 9 September 2017 ISSUE #164
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Welcome to the latest edition of Fascination, the Unofficial Cirque
du Soleil Newsletter.
There are only a few quick things I want to highlight this month.
First, a number of Cirque's shows celebrated milestones throughout
the month of August. First, on Saturday, August 12th, Luzia held its
500th performance in Chicago. On Monday, August 14th at 7:00pm,
Michael Jackson ONE celebrated its 2,000th performance. (Check out
this video celebrating the feat: https://goo.gl/zfvC68). On Thursday,
August 17th, "O" celebrated it's 9,000th performance. WOW! (They also
have a video marking this occasion: https://goo.gl/xpU1Za). And on
Wednesday, August 23rd, KA celebrated it's 6,000th performance in
Las Vegas. (https://goo.gl/gsD5RE). Congratulations!
Second, it seems we have a date for the release of VOLTA's soundtrack.
It's Tuesday, September 19th! It is doubtful you'll find the CD on
Cirque's Online Boutique, but it may show up on iTunes. Your best bet
is to pick up the CD album at the show, which is now setting up in
Toronto. Additionally, VOLTA received a new look for its Toronto
premiere. You can see some of the new imagery here, on Cirque's web-
site: https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/volta
Third, Cirque du Soleil's "breakthrough ice experience" received a
bit of an image change as well, and a tease video. Check out these
new images here: https://youtu.be/Ffy-SChiblM
Fourth, Andrea Jones is the new singer of La Nouba. Selloane's last
performances were Friday, August 25th. Meet the new singer in one
of Cirque's newest makeup videos, here: https://youtu.be/ipp7kpaEjnY
And lastly, are you ready to propose? If you're ready to propose to
your significant other, but you're not quite sure how to make it
special enough, you might want to check out the JOYA Wedding Proposal
Packages - which start at $1,000 USD. No, seriously.
"Get engaged in Riviera Maya and take your special someone's breath
away with Cirque du Soleil JOYA, a show already leaving audiences
from around the world speechless," the brochure states. And here's
what comes in this package...
o) Priority access to a VIP lounge and welcome cocktail
o) 1 hour musical pre-show
o) 3 course gourmet dinner
o) Unlimited champagne paired with dinner
o) Specially coordinated "BIG question" moment with
performer and staff.
"As you are planning for your magical lifetime, don't forget to make
the moment they say yes to be just as whimsical!"
Check out the brochure / flyer here:
< https://www.facebook.com/JOYA/posts/1544392658938024 >
Oh, and speaking of JOYA - the last show of the "season" was held on
September 2nd. They'll be back for their "fourth season" on September
27th with "big surprises" (so they say.) So stay tuned.
Okay, so let's go!
/----------------------------------------------------\
| |
| Join us on the web at: |
| < www.cirquefascination.com > |
| |
| At CirqueCast: |
| < http://www.cirquecast.com/ > |
| |
| Realy Simple Syndication (RSS) Feed (News Only): |
| < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?feed=rss2 > |
| |
\----------------------------------------------------/
- Ricky "Richasi" Russo
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CONTENTS
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o) Cirque Buzz -- News, Rumours & Sightings
* La Presse -- General News & Highlights
* Q&A - Quick Chats & Press Interviews
* CirqueTech - The Technical Side of Cirque
o) Itinéraire -- Tour/Show Information
* BigTop Shows -- Under the Grand Chapiteau
* Arena Shows -- In Stadium-like venues
* Resident Shows -- Performed en Le Théâtre
o) Outreach -- Updates from Cirque's Social Widgets
* Webseries -- Official Online Featurettes
* Videos -- Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds
o) Fascination! Features
* "We're Off and Running - A Series of Classic Critiques"
Part 5 of 16: Nouvelle Expérience, Part 2 (1991)
By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
o) Copyright & Disclaimer
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CIRQUE BUZZ -- NEWS, RUMOURS & SIGHTINGS
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LA PRESSE -- General News & Highlights
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Cityneon hires Cirque's former Director of Creations
{Aug.02.2017}
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Former director of creations at Cirque du Soleil Welby Altidor is now
group chief creative officer at Cityneon Holdings. Mr Altidor's
appointment comes right after Lucrum 1 Investments, a consortium led
by Cityneon's executive director and group CEO Ron Tan, acquired 52.51
per cent of shares for S$115.61 millionlast month, the mainboard-
listed firm said on Wednesday. Lucrum 1 Investments is now Cityneon's
largest shareholder, owning approximately 68.86 per cent of the agency
that transforms customer and brand experiences.
What is Cityneon? From their website
Starting our journey as a supplier of electrical appliances in 1956,
we have come a long way. Within a few years of our inception, we
expanded our business to include the design and installation of shop
displays and retail fronts. This is where we began our journey to
transform customer touch points into holistic brand experiences,
culminating in the incorporation of Cityneon Displays and
Construction.
By the early 70s, we were the appointed partner of Australian Trade
Commission to erect booths and provide logistical support for their
"Made in Australia" marquis exhibition the first of its kind to be
hosted in Singapore. It proved to be the turning point for our
company, as it enabled us to showcase our creative prowess at an
international stage, thus opening doors to new frontiers.
Today, we have grown into Cityneon Holdings Limited a full service
ideas agency specializing in transforming customer and brand
experiences, encompassing 4 independent yet integrated business
divisions Interior Architecture, Experiential Environments Events
and Exhibitions. In addition, our group now also comprises our newly
acquired immersive attractions company, Victory Hill Exhibitions, that
focuses on delivering engaging educational and interactive "ready-to-
showcase" exhibitions, designed to wow your senses. Both, Cityneon and
Victory Hill Exhibitions are recognized as leaders in their respective
industries.
Cityneon comprises five business divisions interior architecture,
experiential environments, events, exhibitions and intellectual
property rights. Its wholly owned subsidiary Victory Hill Exhibitions
is best known for creating the highly-acclaimed Marvel Avengers
S.T.A.T.I.O.N.
The group said that it picked Mr Altidor among many candidates because
of "his creative acumen and business intuitions, honed during his 16
years with Cirque du Soleil".
Mr Altidor began his career as a talent scout for Cirque du Soleil. He
became the youngest casting director in the company's history, and has
worked on more than 15 productions. Cityneon wants to use his skills
to spearhead and transform the group's previous creative projects as
well as new business ventures.
"To have Welby, a 16-year creative veteran of the organisation I
admire, now helming our creative team, makes me confident that
Cityneon will stand to benefit from his vast know-how with creating
extraordinary live experiences, recruiting outstanding talents to
execute stunning artistic creations, to help us excel and exceed our
current product offerings," Mr Tan said.
Mr Altidor will be based in Las Vegas, where Cityneon will establish
its second presence. It already has an existing creative office in Los
Angeles.
{ SOURCE: The Business Times Singapore | https://goo.gl/aazck6 }
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Volta brings hair-raising spectacles to Gatineau
{Aug.03.2017}
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Last week, Danila Bim vacationed in Ottawa and was able to catch up on
her personal affairs and give her body a bit of a rest.
But this week, it was time for the Cirque du Soleil aerialist to get
back to work, which meant tying her hair into a sturdy top knot that
attached to a metal ring, and then being hoisted meters above the
circus's stage in Gatineau, suspended by a rope attached to the ring
so that she could swing, dance, contort and spin blurringly fast in
the air.
"The first hang of the day, the first 30 seconds, I feel the pulling,"
Bim said, when she was back on the ground after rehearsing her
routine. "On stage, I don't feel anything. They say it's the
adrenaline kicking in.
"Everything in the circus hurts. Everything. Even if you're the
clown," confessed Bim, a 30-year-old native of São Paulo, Brazil. "I
can't describe pain anymore. It's been 10 years of circus." And yet,
the grin on her face as she spoke of her exploits suggested that for
her, not to mention the tens of thousands who have watched her perform
this year, the exertions are worth it.
Bim is one of the stars of Volta, the high-energy production that
opens Thursday and runs through most of August under a big top at the
Zibi Site. The show debuted with a 12-week, 116-show run in Montreal's
Old Port that ended just before Bim's vacation began.
Volta is distinct from the 40 Cirque du Soleil productions that
preceded it because it integrates breathtaking displays of action
sports such as BMX, trial biking and parkour into a show that also
includes acrobatics, roller skating, rope skipping, bungee work,
ballet and more. The production's star bike athlete is trial biker
Trevor Bodogh, who competed internationally in the X Games and has
appeared on the TV shows Canada's Got Talent and Dragon's Den.
Michael G. Smith, the production's artistic director, says the culture
of extreme sports also informs the story of Volta, which means to
drive home the theme of striving for personal freedom and self-
expression.
Intertwined with more than a dozen circus acts is a narrative about a
character named Waz, the host of the most popular game show in the
world of Volta. Throughout the production, Waz, who has blue feathers
instead of hair, ponders who he is and what he has become. His
reminiscences and encounters with "free spirits" - acrobats and other
performers - assist him on his journey of self-discovery.
"I love the human message of this show. That's why I am here," Smith
said.
Smith added the addition of action sports to Cirque du Soleil's
repertoire will hopefully help make it more appealing and relevant to
attendees between the ages of 20 and 35 - "an audience that we don't
have." As well, the show's athletes and performers skew younger than a
usual Cirque production's cast, Smith said.
One of the challenges for Volta was to find a way to present action
sports with the in-your-face impact of the YouTube videos that have
popularized them.
To that end, the exceptionally deep Volta stage, which is surrounded
by seating for 2,600, includes six massive, retractable ramps that are
made of see-though, heavy-duty polycarbonate that allows for the
biking acts to be as visible and immediate as possible.
Accompanying the story and action is music composed by the French
electronic music project M83.
But while the whole endeavour promises to be a non-stop spectacle of
visual and auditory stimulation, the performers at the heart of Volta
seem most focused on their individual training and craft, which allow
them to dazzle audiences for a few minutes each night with superhuman
feats.
"We've got to make it look easy," said Bim. "The amount of work
it's
tremendous. It is easy now, after training for 10 years."
The first week of the show's run in Gatineau "is going to be harder,"
she said. "You get sore, tired. But then you get used to it."
{ SOURCE: Ottawa Citizen | https://goo.gl/F2BapA }
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Volta transcends; Blossoms into dazzling display
{Aug.04.2017}
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The opening moments of Volta, the latest Cirque du Soleil production,
evoke an all-too-mundane situation. If I'd wanted to get caught up in
the tribulations of a TV game show's competition and watch a batch of
characters glued to their cellphones, I could have stayed home.
Fortunately, those nods to modern daily life quickly recede as Volta
blooms into the kind of extravaganza that Cirque du Soleil fans came
to see, and then some - an exuberant, postmodern hodgepodge of
dazzling circus feats, extreme sports prowess, occasionally ribald
skits and personal affirmation.
The 41st Cirque du Soleil epic, which on Thursday night began its
nearly month-long run under the big top at the Zibi site in Gatineau,
uses the story of a fantastically costumed character named Waz, who
hosts the game show Quid Pro Quo on the planet Volta, as the skeleton
of its narrative.
Waz, who opens Volta clad in gaudy, and even laser-emitting, golden
armour as he strides through the audience to the stage, is challenged
to overcome past humiliations and repression to assert his true self.
His supporting cast along the way includes troupes of everyday rabble
clad in grey rags, the more ostentatious and accomplished "elites"
that the "grey" plebs aspire to become, and the brightly attired, and
supremely acrobatic, "free spirits." That's not to mention Waz's
short-statured sidekick dubbed Shood Kood Wood, whose scene-stealing
comic-relief antics offset Volta's pop-opera pop psychology and
derring-do.
Waz's story is told much more through gestures, facial expressions,
imagery, pomp, dance and even nostalgic video flashbacks than through
words, although Volta does begin with some bilingual warm-up banter
that breaks the wall between performers and audience. On Thursday
night, Shood Kood Wood even fleetingly addressed Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau, who went to the circus with his family and security detail.
Overall, Volta's tale is more felt than followed, providing the
production with welcome pings of emotional resonance to accompany its
spectacle. Waz's progress might not quite be Shakespearean in its
depth, but it tugs at the imagination more than, say, a Jackie Chan
film does.
Meanwhile, the production, which feels quick-moving despite lasting
almost two-and-a-half hours with an intermission, teems with stunts
and thrills that would do a Chan movie proud.
The much-touted novelty this time around is Cirque's embrace of
extreme sports, so that gasp-inducing displays of BMX biking, trial
biking and parkour give Volta contemporary cred and youth-market
appeal.
It helps immensely that the production is set to a potent electro-pop
musical score that can be dreamy or rousing, and that featured singers
and musicians at times stalk the stage and insert themselves into the
action with compelling dramatic flair. All of Volta plays out on a
captivating circular stage that seems intimately close to the most
fortunate, seated-upfront audience members, and which generates
continual surprises with its diversity of lights and physical
configurations.
All in all, Volta's a worthy night out, many steps up from the
forgettable, formulaic TV programming that it takes as a point of
departure. It's even sufficiently moving and memorable to warrant
a repeat viewing.
{ SOURCE: Ottawa Sun | https://goo.gl/8mnqgu }
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Cirque Outta Broadway
{Aug.05.2017}
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Cirque du Soleil's merger with Blue Man Group has sharpened the focus
on Cirque's commitment to expanding its brand around the world. But in
the wake of Cirque's acquisition of the Blue Men, it has become
apparent the company is de-emphasizing its development of Broadway-
style production shows under its Cirque Theatricals division.
The musical "Paramour" was the first such production. The show blended
commonplace Cirque elements as the Korean plank and multiple
trampolines with traditional musical theater. "Paramour" opened in
March 2016 and did solid business before closing in April. But the
production at Lyric Theatre was not the trend-setting show Cirque had
envisioned when it hired former Base Entertainment exec Scott Zeiger
away from that company in January 2014.
Zeiger has since left Cirque as his three-year contract expired
earlier this year. As Zeiger said in a phone conversation recently, he
was hired by Cirque founder Guy Laliberte to develop traditional
Broadway shows. When Laliberte sold his interest in the company to TPG
Capital in 2015, the emphasis shifted on touring shows.
"Paramour' was making good money, and it was a very rewarding
experience, but it wasn't the sort of ground-breaking achievement
Cirque would have hoped for, and there are a lot of reasons for that,"
Zeiger said. "There is the unpredictability of critics, of ticket-
buyers who are different than the people Cirque counts on to sell
tickets when it tours in places like Houston, New Orleans, San Diego,
Atlanta."
As Cirque Chief Executive Officer Daniel Lamarre said, as the company
announced its purchase of BMG, "We are in full negotiations to bring
Paramour' to Europe, and we expect to know about its future in
September," Lamarre said. "We also hope to bring the show back to New
York City, eventually, but right now our focus needs to be on Blue Man
Group and our new partnership."
Zeiger had headed up the talks to send "Paramour" overseas, and was
also heavily involved in development of Cirque's NFL Experience,
opening in November in Times Square. He remains a board member of Base
Entertainment and has several consulting contracts for production
concepts, including a few that might make it to the Strip.
{ SOURCE: John Katsilometes, LVRJ | https://goo.gl/gjMrec }
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Review: Circus meets extreme sports in VOLTA
{Aug.11.2017}
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Cirque du Soleil's latest show, Volta, will bring a mix of the
timeless and the trendy to Toronto audiences this fall.
There are the fanciful costumes, makeup and characters that have
become the Montreal-based company's international calling card over
three decades. And while many of the acts and performers are firmly
rooted in traditional circus disciplines, what sets this show apart is
its incorporation of extreme sports more likely to be found on YouTube
channels and social-media streams than under a circus big top.
Parkour free runners jump and flip and swing through an obstacle
course of steel bars, bridges and surfaces that rise into the sky,
while a team of freestyle BMX riders make up the finale of the show
with a performance on see-through Plexiglas ramps that give the
audience a sort of fish-tank view of the tricks.
"I think when people sat down to think not about how to reinvent
Cirque du Soleil but to push the boundaries and try to do something
different, extreme sports just came to the surface," said Johnny Kim,
the show's assistant artistic director.
It also meshes with the larger story Volta is trying to tell, of a
young man learning to embrace his differences in a fantastical take on
the modern world, complete with social media, smartphone addiction,
and the desires for instant fame and popularity.
The main character, played by Newmarket native Joey Arrigo, finds
respite from that world in the uncomplicated freedoms he remembers
from childhood.
"It's all about becoming that person that you're supposed to be from
when you were a child and, deep down, the person you know you were
supposed to be and that you maybe strayed away from because of outside
influences," Arrigo said.
Added Kim: "It's the freedom of riding your bike, jumping off ramps,
flying in the air."
Strategically, integrating disciplines like BMX, parkour and rope
skipping into the show allows Cirque to tap into a new generation of
circus-goers, but it also elevates the level of complexity in a live
show.
Parkour artist Brandon Livanos, who was trained as a high diver and
acrobat and has worked as a stuntman, noted that this is the second
time Cirque du Soleil has tried parkour in one of its shows.
"There are quite a few challenges, for sure," the South African
performer said, noting that the flips and jumps that appear in
highlight videos are usually best results from dozens of attempts.
"We have to recreate the act every night, 10 shows a week. So the
level of acrobatics has to be incredibly high. We need extremely good
artists to be able to execute that level every single night."
Freestyle BMX rider Steven Moxley, from Oakville, said the inclusion
of his discipline in the show is also a powerful platform for the
sport, which was recently named a demonstration sport for the 2020
Tokyo Olympics.
"With something like Cirque du Soleil, which is very well known around
the world, a random family comes in with their kids and, boom, they've
seen BMX and their child's mind is saying, I want that, too,'" Moxley
said.
It's a great advance from when the 29-year-old started riding at the
age of 15, and was viewed as an outlaw and potential public menace.
"Anything that helps grow our sport is a good thing. I've been in it
as long as I have and it's just slowly progressing."
The integration of street-style sports into a tightly scripted stage
performance has been a cultural and artistic challenge.
Livanos had a laugh when BMX riders were put through performance
classes along with clowns, acrobats, aerialists and dancers during
creation of the show at Cirque's Montreal headquarters.
"The whole drive of that is sexuality and it's super uncomfortable. So
taking guys who have come from the street . . . into this performing
world has been an entertaining process," he said.
Kim said the athletes have surprised their circus counterparts by
mastering some of the choreographed moves of the show.
"A lot of these people love what they do, but they have not
necessarily been part of a production show or in show business to
understand how a theatre operates or what kind of etiquette it
involves onstage, backstage or offstage, so that learning curve has
been big for everyone."
But the BMX riders maintain their independent streak, including
maintaining their own equipment and making small but frequent changes
to their parts in the show.
"Obviously we are stubborn and it's hard for us to adapt to it, but we
have to an extent," said Moxley. "We still try and keep it original
and we'll make a joke before we go out, or challenge each other to do
one different trick that you haven't done in the show. For us, it has
to stay fresh. If not, it will literally feel so boring that you're
not going to want to do it every night."
{ SOURCE: Toronto Star | https://goo.gl/C3NsQA }
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Performer falls, halting Volta show
{Aug.16.2017}
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Cirque du Soleil's Volta show in Gatineau, Que., was stopped
temporarily Tuesday night when a performer fell.
The parkour specialist fell from a set piece and appeared to injure
his head and back, according to a Cirque du Soleil spokesperson.
The show was stopped briefly to allow medical staff to assess the man,
and he was eventually able to get up and walk on his own. He did not
need to be taken to hospital.
As a precaution, the man did not continue his Tuesday night
performance, the spokesperson said.
{ SOURCE: CBC }
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Cirque Commissions Mural for Chicago's Year of Art
{Aug.18.2017}
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Cirque du Soleil announces a partnership with Columbia College Chicago
and the Wabash Arts Corridor (WAC) that will add a new public mural
downtown in honor of the city's Year of Public Art. Local artist
Gloria "Gloe" Talamantes is creating the mural, commissioned by Cirque
du Soleil and inspired by its highly acclaimed production LUZIA,
currently playing a limited engagement in Chicago through Sept. 3.
The Cirque du Soleil-commissioned mural is an addition to WAC's 40+
murals in the South Loop neighborhood. It will also kick off this
year's public art exhibition Street Level, which will unveil eight new
murals that will be presented at street level and highlight a diverse
range of artists at the local, national, and international level.
In a free public event Thursday, August 24 at 2:30 p.m. at the
intersection of Congress Parkway and Holden Court, the final mural
will be unveiled on the western façade of Columbia's 33 E. Congress
Parkway. The event will include LUZIA artists and remarks from
Talamantes, DCASE Commissioner Mark Kelly, Columbia College Chicago
and WAC.
"We are happy to give this artistic gift to Chicago for its Year of
Public Art," said Claudine Rivard, Company Manager of Cirque du
Soleil's LUZIA. "This is a way for Cirque du Soleil to thank the city
and its residents for all of their support, not just for LUZIA, but
for embracing our artists and crews for over 17 productions across 28
years."
Having started as a troupe of street performance artists 33 years ago,
Cirque du Soleil is always looking for ways to give back to the local
communities it visits, either through its social action programs or
through art. The LUZIA mural project in partnership with WAC and
Talamantes will permanently add the signature joy and color of Cirque
du Soleil to Chicago's greatest concentration of street art.
"Chicago is one of the top destinations in the world for public art,"
said DCASE Commissioner Mark Kelly. "It is fitting that acclaimed
international arts organization Cirque du Soleil has commissioned one
of Chicago's own artists for the Year of Public Art. This new mural
brings additional vibrancy to the growing Wabash Arts Corridor."
"Chicago's dedication to public art is deeply rooted in the city's
history," said Neysa Page-Lieberman, WAC's Chief Curator and the
Executive Director of Columbia's Department of Exhibitions and
Performance Spaces. "Columbia and WAC continue the tradition each year
in producing, supporting, and engaging Chicagoans and visitors with
vital arts and programming. The scope of Chicago's public art will
flourish from the recognition and support by the world-renowned Cirque
du Soleil."
About the Mural
Artist Gloria "Gloe" Talamantes' style of work suits the project
perfectly, and in creating the mural, she combines inspiration from
LUZIA with her Mexican heritage.
"I created wispy butterfly wings that carry flowers adorned with
motifs inspired by my roots and culture," said Talamantes. "The design
inspiration comes from my family heirlooms, carpetas tejidas, the
delicate and intricate original crocheted designs of my grandmother
and great grandmother. After watching some of LUZIA, I reflected on
the massive red papel picado that was used in one of the scenes; it
immediately made me think of the many designs that make up my
grandma's doilies."
The dripping effect at the bottom of the mural is a direct reflection
of the water scenes in LUZIA, the first Cirque du Soleil show to
incorporate water into artistic and acrobatic scenes.
"I wanted to create a subtle resemblance to the water while keeping it
connected to my graffiti roots," said Talamantes. "Drips are common
and often the most enjoyable parts of ink tags and natural spray paint
abstracts when doing stylized letters. It is important for me to stay
true to my Mexican and Graffiti culture, for the two have been an
integral part of my life and visual art."
* * *
The Wabash Arts Corridor was launched by Columbia College Chicago in
2013 to transform the college's campus and community into a
destination neighborhood to live, work, study and visit. Since its
inception, WAC has installed more than 40 large-scale murals by local
and internationally-renowned street artists, creating one of the most
significant collections of public art in the city. For more
information about Columbia College Chicago and Wabash Arts Corridor,
visit www.colum.edu or www.wabashartscorridor.org.
The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events is dedicated to
enriching Chicago's artistic vitality and cultural vibrancy. This
includes fostering the development of Chicago's non-profit arts
sector, independent working artists and for-profit arts businesses;
providing a framework to guide the City's future cultural and economic
growth, via the 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan; marketing the City's
cultural assets to a worldwide audience; and presenting high-quality,
free and affordable cultural programs for residents and visitors.
For more information on the Year of Public Art, visit
www.cityofchicago.org/yopa and join the conversation on Facebook
(Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events), Twitter and
Instagram, @ChicagoDCASE #2017isYOPA #ChiPublicArt.
{ SOURCE: BroadwayWorld | https://goo.gl/LjdaxX }
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New South Loop Mural a Gift from Cirque du Soleil
{Aug.26.2017}
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Cirque du Soleil's production, "Luzia: A Waking Dream of Mexico," will
be packing up its big top tents outside the United Center after the
elaborate spectacle has its final performance in Chicago on Sept. 3.
But the company is leaving behind a remembrance of its visit in the
form of a recently completed public mural located at 33 E. Congress
Parkway.
To help honor Chicago's Year of Public Art, Cirque du Soleil, in
partnership with Columbia College Chicago and the Wabash Arts Corridor
(WAC), commissioned local artist Gloria "Gloe" Talamantes to create a
mural inspired by "Luzia," a production whose images of butterflies
and rain are captured in the work. It is the latest addition to the
more than 40 murals in the South Loop neighborhood, and kicks off this
year's public art exhibition, Street Level, which will unveil eight
new murals presented at street level and created by a diverse group of
local, national, and international artists.
In a prepared statement, Claudine Rivard, company manager of "Luzia,"
noted: "We are happy to give this artistic gift to Chicago for its
Year of Public Art. It is a way for Cirque du Soleil to thank the city
and its residents for all of their support not just for Luzia,' but
for embracing our artists and crews for over 17 productions across 28
years."
CHECK THE MURAL OUT HERE:
< http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=10626 >
AND HERE:
< https://goo.gl/3EqdSm >
{ SOURCE: Chicago Sun Times }
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Q&A - Quick Chats & Press Interviews
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Business Times: Daniel Lamarre Weekend Interview
{Aug.07.2017}
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FOR DANIEL LAMARRE, going to work means going to the circus. As CEO of
the Montreal-based performance group Cirque du Soleil, he heads a cult
company that has redefined the circus arts and taken live
entertainment to spectacular new heights in 450 cities around the
world.
Since it was founded in 1984 by two street performers the Cirque has
become, in many respects, "The Greatest Show on Earth" a title once
reserved for a circus of a more traditional kind. The travelling
Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus closed two months ago after a
146-year run and now, whenever Big Top springs up, you can be sure
Cirque du Soleil is in town.
There are no animal acts in a Cirque show, only themed, theatre-style
acts featuring multi-talented performers such as acrobats and
gymnasts, mimes and musicians. Last year, this circus for the new
millennium drew over 10 million people, with 10 permanent and nine
touring shows. In a recent New York Times interview, filmmaker Judd
Apatow said Cirque shows were "scary and funny and beautiful and
experimental" as good a way as any to describe a live entertainment
experience that often defies belief and always evokes wonder.
Mr Lamarre, 64, has been with the company since 2001, working with
owner-founder Guy Laliberte to grow the brand and ride out tough
financial times. In 2015, Laliberte sold a majority stake to an
investment group comprising private equity firm TPG Capital (60 per
cent), Chinese conglomerate Fosun Industrial Holdings (20 per cent)
and Canadian pension fund Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (10
per cent) while retaining the last 10 per cent.
The deal was valued at roughly US$1.5 billion.
As part of the company's diversification strategy, Cirque recently
announced the acquisition of another iconic show, the percussive
performance act Blue Man Group.
Later this year, the company will open NFL Experience Times Square, an
interactive journey in collaboration with pro football's National
Football League. The latest developments herald exciting times for Mr
Lamarre, who was in town for the opening of Cirque's latest Singapore
show, Kooza.
Q. These are exciting times for Cirque du Soleil. How has the
ownership change affected the company?
We are in a great place right now the timing is right for us in live
entertainment. We're evaluating the opportunities for Blue Man and
Cirque and how to go from a circus organisation to a total global
entertainment company.
TPG is an amazing organisation that has grown with Silicon Valley and
gives us access to new technologies.
We are making our first major statement in China with touring shows in
seven cities and are in full pre-production mode for a Vegas-style
permanent show in Hangzhou.
The Cirque brand is highly recognised in China and our expansion there
fits perfectly with the enhancement of entertainment value that's
offered in China. We are going for geographical diversity as well as
diversity in content.
Q. How will the NFL Experience fit into that mould?
We will use our creativity to bring an immersive experience to our
football fans. What it means for Cirque is an entry to the sports
experience with the Times Square location it means 300,000 people
pass by every day, so the potential for success is there. The NFL
Experience, Blue Man Group and our first touring ice show that starts
in Louisiana this October means there's a lot going on right now. We
have 4,000 employees currently and will add another 550 when we bring
in Blue Man Group.
Q. With the disappearance of traditional circuses it means Cirque will
have the Big Top market to itself.
There's a lesson to be learnt with Ringling Bros. We have to make sure
that our shows continue to evolve. We invest a lot in research and
development and new technology to support and enhance our human
performers. With innovators like James Cameron and Samsung with 3-D
and also virtual reality, we're seeing a lot of new technologies.
We won't want to be complacent and our challenge is, "I want to
surprise you with new types of content and visual effects." My role is
to support the creative team to make sure that happens when you look
forward, new technology is what people are expecting.
Q. What was your first impression of a Cirque show, and how will you
keep audiences coming back for more?
The first time I saw a Cirque show it was Saltimbanco I was
totally taken aback, in a state of shock. I remember thinking that
someone is making a breakthrough in the industry. When I joined, I
knew the brand was ready to expand. The new owners of Cirque have
injected oxygen to the company. Guy (Laliberte) reinvented the circus.
Now our goal is to reinvent Cirque du Soleil and turn it into a
totally integrated company within the next two years. Our acquisition
of Blue Man Group sent a clear signal to the market and now we are in
a good position to explore other content. We have this amazing
capability of touring in 450 cities around the world and now we can
leverage on that capability to bring other content to the market.
Q. Give us a glimpse of the future for Cirque du Soleil, and will
Singapore remain a part of it?
Singapore is an important market for us and we want to come back on a
regular basis. A hundred years from now, new technology is going to
change the way we do live entertainment. Interactivity will be one
element people will be part of the live experience. Geographical
diversity will be another thing, with China playing a big role. Our
daily challenge is always to keep looking ahead, always moving
forward.
{ SOURCE: Singapore Business Times | https://goo.gl/HHPwoJ }
-------------------------------------------------------
Meet Camille Santerre-Gervais a "Bug" in OVO
{Aug.21.2017}
-------------------------------------------------------
Cirque du Soleil is perhaps the most prestigious circus in the world.
Its theatrical, character-driven approach and the absence of
performing animals help defines Cirque du Soleil as the contemporary
circus that it remains today.
Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world, with
its own central theme and storyline. Shows employ continuous live
music, with performers rather than stagehands changing the props.
"Ovo," the Cirque du Soleil show that plays at the Royal Farms Arena
in Baltimore on Aug.. 23-27, means "egg" in Portuguese.
And yes, there is a large white egg in this show whose theme is
insects in which performers juggle, leap, fly and bend as ants,
cockroaches, butterflies, a ladybug, flies, crickets, and spiders.
We had a conversation with Camille Santerre-Gervais, one of the bugs
in the show and she explains her experiences touring with the company.
Q. Tell me about yourself and how you got involved with Cirque du
Soleil.
I'm originally from Montreal and ever since I've been a kid I've been
going to all the Cirque du Soleil shows. Every year I would go to the
tent and then I was always like so amazed with everything they do and
I would always tell my mom "I would love to do this one day," and
she's like "okay" (laughs) and then I started doing artistic
gymnastics in college. Then after that in like my Junior year, I
wasn't so sure what I wanted to do after college, and I saw a job
opportunity with Cirque so I applied, did a few online videos, and
then after I graduated they contacted me and told me they had some
training for if I was interested and the training lasted for a month
and then after that they contacted me and offered me a contract.
Q. So how would you compare your training as a gymnast with the
training for Cirque du Soleil?
I think it really goes hand-in-hand because what we do as an artistic
gymnast especially like the bars, on the even bars and that is the
basic icing for what I'm doing in the circus. It really prepares you
well, I think because of your hard schedule and all the conditioning
you do, so I think you're really ready to move on to the Cirque du
Soleil level and then when you get there, of course, it's a big
adaptation because it's completely different like I work with four
guys up there and that's the hardest part is just getting used to
working as a tandem with other people.
Q. Can you tell us more about the show for those who aren't familiar?
It's a love story about a bug, a ladybug, which is the Foreigner as we
call it and so throughout the whole show you see how they're just
chasing after each other. I think everyone can relate to that story
because everyone goes through it and then through all of that you see
all the different insects and colonies that we have and you see all
the acrobatics which leads you to a great ending.
Q. What is your role in the show? What bug are you playing?
The Japanese beetle. We're doing a flying act called the Russian
cradle where it's 4 guys and 6 girls. We're there to protect the
colony and watch out for any bad things.
Q. That's a lot of people involved with that routine. Do you find it
more comforting working with a group or doing your own thing
individually?
I love working with people. Sometimes you can get on each other's
nerves but you make really good friends and they become like family.
We really have fun up there. That's one thing I love is how we support
each other. If you're nervous or something, I like how we have each
other to bring comfort to the group. It's a wonderful feeling and
gives you a better sense of confidence.
Q. I see here that you are a traveling circus. How many stops have you
been on or were planning to go?
So far, we've been in around 70 cities around the globe throughout the
past year and a half.
Q. How's it like living on the road? Do you make time to go visit your
family?
See what we do is that we work like 10 weeks in a row then they give
us 2 weeks off. That's actually one of the best things about arena
touring, how flexible it is for you to go home. Of course, you miss
your loved while on the road for those 10 to 11 weeks but at the same
time, I feel that while on the road, I am with my second family so it
makes things easier.
Q. So what has been your favorite stop so far?
That's hard. (laughs) I really loved Philly. It has a lot of history
and I've learned a lot but I gotta go with Puerto Rico. I had a lot of
fun there.
Q. Are you a first generation performer because sometimes when I think
of circus performers I think of how many have come from backgrounds
where their families were part of the industry.
Nope. I'm the first one. My family really didn't think that I would be
doing this but they're supportive.
Q. So what's your favorite thing about being a part of Cirque du
Soleil OVO?
Performing nearly every night and performing for different crowds, to
kind of see their reactions to what we do. It really is a reward for
all of the hard work we have put in everyday.
{ SOURCE: The Urban Twist | https://goo.gl/MuJ4wv }
-------------------------------------------------------
Wonder where the magic of VOLTA's projections come from?
{Aug.21.2017}
-------------------------------------------------------
{This is a transcript of an interview with Thibault Duverneix,
interactive video designer on VOLTA}
My name is Thibault Duverneix. I'm an interactive video designer on
the project VOLTA. Welcome to my studio, Gentilhomme. For me, what's
really important in a project like VOLTA is that you forget about the
technology. I really want to be able to create emotions, feelings that
will support the story being told by the Director and the Director of
Creation-as if by magic. Specifically, we work with film, computer-
generated effects, 3D, things that are generative-that is,
interactive-that will react to the music, that will be organic and
that will never be the same from one show to the next.
You could say that the show is split into several different parts. We
have content that we've filmed using vintage lenses from the '70s,
really like how you would make a movie. We've also worked with a lot
of computer-generated effects, but always trying to get something
real-with a very photo-realistic quality-and having a very very clear
thread through the design to be sure that it all fits well together
and, especially, into the story of the show. When we undertake a
multimedia project like this one, we roll it out in four phases. We
start with the concept, which involves trying to work at a pretty high
level without worrying too much about how we're going to execute it-
really coming up with big ideas based on Bastien's script and what
Jean is looking for, but also what the other creators are looking for,
whether it's acrobatics, music, choreography or set design. Then we
move on to design.
In the design phase, we create mood boards, colour scripts. We really
try to set the tone for each scene and make the progression of each
act coherent. We also start developing our interactive tools, our
production tools, do research and development, and really begin
equipping ourselves for the production phase, which comes next. In
production, we've already done our storyboards and our mock-ups; we
know exactly where we're going. We start prototyping things, then we
start filming, assembling images-really putting each number together.
Once production is finished, we go on to integration. Now we get into
the big top. We really want to make sure that everything we've done so
far will integrate well into the big top environment and the tour
context, and also make any necessary adjustments before the premiere.
Here we're with Gage, our creative coder-he's the one who developed
the whole lighting system for the big top. Now we're in the interface,
which makes it possible to take audio react with the drum; we're
connected to the kick, the snare. We can also add vocals, which
animate the lights throughout the big top, volumetrically mapping with
the lights in 3D. So we can see the whole system that's used to make
the cues for each scene; we take input from the band, we can change
colours and design effects in real time. This is a tool we developed
specially for the show, which has really made it possible to bring the
surrounding lighting effects to our level.
We're with Daniel Iregi, who's working on the system that manages the
cameras. This system makes it possible to control all the show's
interactive cameras and integrate them into the audiovisual system
that's used for the Quid Pro Quo TV show or Quid Pro Quo 1000. It also
serves as a show control for the whole interactive part. So we have a
camera module that can be used to control all our cameras and manage
cues, and another module that is connected to the Cool-Lux, which
actually manages the entire show.
The hardest part of a project like this is really maintaining very
high quality while remaining flexible and responsive in order to make
frequent changes to follow the show's human and musical development.
It's a huge challenge to integrate multimedia on such a scale under
the big top, by the very nature of the location; but it's really a
challenge we wanted to take on. We said, "Okay, it is actually
possible to make it interactive; we can have big video systems and we
can make lights that are controlled by an interactive system that will
also react to the music." So we really took a gamble given all the
challenges involved, but I think the results will really pay off.
SEE THE VIDEO HERE:
< https://youtu.be/L9--s7cLuR0 >
{ SOURCE: Cirque du Soleil}
=======================================================================
ITINÉRAIRE -- TOUR/SHOW INFORMATION
=======================================================================
o) BIGTOP - Under the Grand Chapiteau
{Amaluna, Koozå, Kurios, Luzia, Totem & Volta}
o) ARENA - In Stadium-like venues
{Varekai, TORUK, OVO, Séptimo Día, & Crystal}
o) RESIDENT - Performed en Le Théâtre
{Mystère, "O", La Nouba, Zumanity, KÀ, LOVE,
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:
Montevido, UY -- Aug 30, 2017 to Sep 16, 2017
São Paulo, BR -- Oct 5, 2017 to Dec 17, 2017
Rio de Janeiro, BR -- Dec 28, 2017 to Jan 17, 2018
Rosario, AR -- Feb 14, 2018 to Feb 18, 2018
Buenos Aires, AR -- Mar 15, 2018 to Mar 25, 2018
Cordoba, AR -- Apr 16, 2018 to Apr 29, 2018
Koozå:
Shanghai, CN -- Oct 1, 2017 to TBA
Beijing, CN -- Dec 15, 2017 to Feb 11, 2018
China City #3 -- TBA 2018
China City #4 -- TBA 2018
China City #5 -- TBA 2018
Kurios:
Portland, OR -- Aug 24, 2017 to Oct 8, 2017
Vancouver, BC -- Oct 19, 2017 to Dec 31, 2017
Tokyo, JP -- Feb 7, 2018 to Apr 8, 2018
Osaka, JP -- 2018
Nagoya, JP -- 2018
Fukuoka, JP -- 2018/2019
Sendai, JP -- 2019
Luzia:
Atlanta, GA -- Sep 14, 2017 to Nov 19, 2017
Los Angeles, CA -- Dec 7, 2017 to Feb 11, 2018
Costa Mesa, CA -- Feb 21, 2018 to Mar 25, 2018
Boston, MA -- TBA 2018
Washington, DC -- April 2018
Monterrey, MX -- TBA 2018
Guadalajara, MX -- TBA 2018
Mexico City, MX -- TBA 2018
Totem:
Brussels, BE -- Aug 31, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017
Madrid, ES -- Nov 10, 2017 to Jan 14, 2018
Seville, ES -- Jan 25, 2018 to Mar 11, 2018
Barcelona, ES -- Mar 23, 2018 to Apr 15, 2018
Munich, DE -- TBA 2018
Port Aventura, ES -- TBA 2018
VOLTA:
Toronto, ON -- Sep 7, 2017 to Nov 26, 2017
Miami, FL -- Dec 15, 2017 to Feb 4, 2018
Tampa, FL -- Feb 15, 2018 to Mar 25, 2018
------------------------------------
ARENA - In Stadium-Like Venues
------------------------------------
Varekai:
Oslo, NO -- Sep 1, 2017 to Sep 3, 2017
Malmo, SE -- Sep 6, 2017 to Sep 10, 2017
Tallin, EE -- Sep 14, 2017 to Sep 17, 2017
Riga, LV -- Sep 20, 2017 to Sep 24, 2017
Minsk, BY -- Sep 28, 2017 to Oct 1, 2017
Helsinki, FI -- Oct 5, 2017 to Oct 8, 2017
Stockholm, SE -- Oct 11, 2017 to Oct 15, 2017
Allentown, PA -- Nov 9, 2017 to Nov 12, 2017
Syracuse, NY -- Nov 15, 2017 to Nov 19, 2017
Sioux City, IA -- TBA 2017
Springfield, MO -- TBA 2017
Biloxi, MS -- TBA 2017
Lake Charles, LA -- TBA 2017
Hidalgo, TX -- TBA 2017
Sugar Lands, TX - Dec 20 to Dec 23, 2017 (FINAL SHOW)
TORUK - The First Flight:
Christchurch, NZ -- Sep 1, 2017 to Sep 10, 2017
Auckland, NZ -- Sep 15, 2017 to Sep 24, 2017
Brisbane, AU -- Oct 5, 2017 to Oct 15, 2017
Sydney, AU -- Oct 19, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017
Melbourne, AU -- Nov 2, 2017 to Nov 12, 2017
Adelaide, AU -- Nov 16, 2017 to Nov 19, 2017
Bangkok, TH -- TBA 2017
Japan -- TBA 2017
China -- TBA 2018
OVO:
Boston, MA -- Sep 6, 2017 to Sep 10, 2017
Laval, QC -- Sep 13, 2017 to Sep 17, 2017
Zurich, CH -- Oct 5, 2017 to Oct 8, 2017
Geneva, CH -- Oct 11, 2017 to Oct 15, 2017
Salzburg, AU -- Oct 18, 2017 to Oct 22, 2017
Leipzig, DE -- Oct 25, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017
Hamburg, DE -- Nov 1, 2017 to Nov 5, 2017
Berlin, DE -- Nov 8, 2017 to Nov 12, 2017
Mannheim, DE -- Nov 15, 2017 to Nov 19, 2017
Cologne, DE -- Nov 22, 2017 to Nov 26, 2017
Stuttgart, DE -- Nov 29, 2017 to Dec 3, 2017
Nuremberg, DE -- Dec 6, 2017 to Dec 10, 2017
Munich, DE -- Dec 13, 2017 to Dec 17, 2017
London, UK -- Jan 7, 2018 to Feb 11, 2018
Hanover, DE -- Mar 14, 2018 to Mar 18, 2018
Oberhausen, DE -- Apr 5, 2018 to Apr 8, 2018
SÉPTIMO DÍA NO DESCANSARÉ:
Bogota, CO -- Sep 3, 2017 to Sep 23, 2017
Monterrey, MX -- Oct 19, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017
Guadalajara, MX -- Nov 8, 2017 to Nov 18, 2017
Mexico City, MX -- Nov 28, 2017 to Dec 22, 2017
Select US Cities -- 2018
CRYSTAL - A BREAKTHROUGH ICE EXPERIENCE:
Lafayette, LA -- Oct 5, 2017 to Oct 8, 2017 (PREVIEWS)
San Antonio, TX -- Oct 13, 2017 to Oct 15, 2017
Pensacola, FL -- Oct 19, 2017 to Oct 22, 2017
North Little Rock, AR -- Oct 26, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017
St. Charles, MO -- Nov 2, 2017 to Nov 5, 2017
Minneapolis, MN -- Nov 9, 2017 to Nov 12, 2017
Worchester, MA -- Dec 7, 2017 to Dec 10, 2017
Quebec City, QC -- TBA 2017
Montreal, QC -- TBA 2017 (GALA PREMIERE)
---------------------------------
RESIDENT - en Le Théâtre
---------------------------------
Mystère:
Location: Treasure Island, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark: Thursday/Friday
Two shows Nightly - 7:00pm & 9:30pm
2017 Dark Dates:
o September 9 - 13
o November 8
Special Performance Dates:
o Fri, Nov 24, 2017
o Fri, Dec 29, 2017
o Sun, Dec 31, 2017 | 4:30pm & 7:00pm
2017 Single Performance Dates:
o Sun, Oct 01 | 7:00 pm
o Fri, Oct 20 | 7:00 pm
o Sun, Oct 22 | 7:00 pm
o Fri, Dec 08 | 7:00 pm
"O":
Location: Bellagio, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Wednesday through Sunday, Dark: Monday/Tuesday
Two shows Nightly - 7:30pm and 9:30pm (as of Aug 12, 2015)
2017 Dark Dates:
o October 8
o November 29 - December 12
La Nouba:
Location: Walt Disney World, Orlando (USA)
Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday
Two shows Nightly - 6:00pm and 9:00pm
*** CLOSING DECEMBER 31, 2017 ***
Zumanity:
Location: New York-New York, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark Sunday/Monday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
KÀ:
Location: MGM Grand, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark Thursday/Friday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
LOVE:
Location: Mirage, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Thursday through Monday, Dark: Tuesday/Wednesday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
MICHAEL JACKSON ONE:
Location: Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Two Shows Nightly - Dark: Wednesday/Thursday
Schedule: 7:00pm & 9:30pm on Friday, Saturday, Monday & Tuesday
4:30pm & 7:00pm on Sunday
JOYÀ:
Location: Riviera Maya, Mexico
Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday
One/Two Shows Nightly:
9:00pm (Weekdays)
7:00pm & 10:15pm (Fri, Sat & Holidays)
=======================================================================
OUTREACH - UPDATES FROM CIRQUE's SOCIAL WIDGETS
=======================================================================
o) WEBSERIES -- Official Online Featurettes
o) VIDEOS -- Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds
---------------------------------------------------
WEBSERIES: Official Online Featurettes
---------------------------------------------------
*) CIRQUE STORIES
"Cirque Stories," an exclusive Cirque du Soleil YouTube series
which highlights artists' journeys to the circus. Follow along
with us every week as we go behind the scenes and discuss the
path to become a Cirque performer. In these first episodes,
discover how some of the Cirque du Soleil artists from our Las
Vegas shows get there in their own unique #CirqueWay.
o) EPISODE 3 - WHO IS ROSS GIBSON?
Who is Ross Gibson? You might know him as the amazing flying
Red Bird in Cirque du Soleil's Mystère. Learn about Ross'
journey into discovering his passion for performing from
Olympic Gymnastics, as well as a glimpse into his home life
in the exclusive Cirque du Soleil "Cirque Stories" series.
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/Ak-RXDk28Jo >
*) "COME TOGETHER... AGAIN" THE BEATLES LOVE GETS AN UPDATE
o) Episode 0: Teasing Our New Webseries {Jul.14}
In celebration of our 10 year anniversary, we took you on a
journey to experience the magic backstage. We're coming
together once again to give you a much more intimate look
behind the scenes!
LINK /// < https://goo.gl/Ar9EBj >
o) Episode 1: The Celebration of The Beatles {Jul.17}
With over 5,000 performances, and close to 8 million
spectators, this show is not just a tribute to The Beatles,
but also a celebration.
LINK /// < https://goo.gl/pUwUUA >
o) Episode 2: New Music! {Jul.28}
Giles Martin spent a good part of last year's refresh
re-mixing the soundtrack with state-of-the-art speakers.
Now, everything you hear is new, and it feels like you're
right inside the control room with The Beatles!
LINK /// < https://goo.gl/Gc2Zyn >
o) Episode 3: Sugarplum Fairy {Aug.04}
The show's refresh added more life to the Sugarplum Fairy
character. The artist who plays the Sugarplum Fairy, tells
his tale of how rock and roll fever has really brought his
character to life.
LINK /// < https://goo.gl/g19zLN >
o) Episode 4: The Theater {Aug.11}
How do they do it? Our 360 degree theater is unlike any
typical proscenium theater. Our technical show team works
day in and day out to ensure our stage comes to life every
night.
LINK ///< https://goo.gl/Y4Gk1E >
o) Episode 5: New Makeup {Aug.18}
Did you know that 9,801 hours were spent on 272 new costumes
last year? With each new costume, there is a story and it is
a story worth telling.
LINK /// < https://goo.gl/DPzktN >
o) Episode 6: Trapeze {Aug.25}
Last year, we wanted to incorporate more acrobatics into the
show. So we dedicated an act entirely to trapeze, and made
changes to other acts in the show so that we could flip more
freely.
LINK /// < https://goo.gl/nHTFqT >
o) Episode 7: Revolution {Sep.01}
The Revolution act gets some major upgrades during the
refresh to give artists something that they could really
have more fun with. One of those upgrades include changing
the phone booth into a van.
LINK /// < https://goo.gl/MBbb4o >
*) MUSIC VIDEO w/LYRICS
o) Kurios - "Steampunk Telegram"
Lyrics:
We've been sitting here
We've been sitting here
Fanfare, fever
Long-lost lever
We've got high hearts
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/DoZ293Y1jzo >
o) La Nouba - "A Tale"
Recited:
I begin a tale
With a breath, I inhale
I cast a spell uses the words to propel
Set you a sail
To a Place Where Dreams of men dwell
Nightmares await Efficiently
To test one's faith
By how well
You can deal with a tale
That tells Itself
Said the storyteller
a bestseller is what I have in mind
Ladies and gentlemen
Settled in once upon a time
is Where you'll find me
La Nouba.
Sang:
Ya me zone be me mi quao
Ya me zone be me mi quao
Di sey zone be me mi dock io
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/qKw3ImTGUUk >
o) Varekai - "Kèro hiréyo"
(sung in Grommelot - Cirque du Soleil's invented language):
Kè féra hyèro sono
Kè bèra hioro dodihyé-hyé
De béra ya hierro dono
Wooèh fèra hioro
Dodiè hyèdla
Hala hièrosso kèrreh
Kè féra hyèro sono
Ké bèra hioro dodihyé-hyé-hyé
Davi révéka
Sofèro sohyèro sono
Sèlya, sènyo
Kèra hiré
Kèro hiréyo
Dahiré hoyo
Kérého, bérého, dérého
Yéro yahiré
Ké féra hyèro sono Ké bèra hioro donihyé-hyé-hyé
Dévera yahy herodo
kooèh fèra hioro
Donihyé-hyé
Kérohiro
Sofèro sohyèro soro Sélia
nahi
Séyénosma
Kérahiré yoro
Séliono kéryé ro ya
Kérahiré
Séyédosma
Kérahiré
Kè féra hyèro sono
Ké bèra hioro donihyé-hyé-hyé
Davi révékan
Sofèro sohyèro soro Sèlya,
sènyo
Kèra hiré
Kèro sélya
Nana goman
Youtangoman
Youkanno
Nana goman
You tango Manillo
(repeat verse until the end)
(Chorus)
Nana goman
Youtangoman
Youkanno
Nana goman
You tango
Manillo
(repeat)
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/Ob9JJxMBIvc >
o) Luzia - "Pambolero"
Correr, nadar, volar y colapsar,
Morir o no morir eso no importa
Eres la razon
por la que vivo
Na na na
Solo el cielo sabe donde vamos ...
Donde ir
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Rodar, cruzar los campos y volar
Sobrevolando el aire de verdad
Eres la razon
por la que vivo
Na na na
Rodar, cruzar los campos y volar
Sobrevolando el aire de verdad
Na na na
Solo el cielo sabe a donde vamos
* * *
English Translation:
Running, swimming, flying and collapsing,
Dying or not dying that does not matter
You are the reason
For which I live
Na na na ...
Only heaven knows where we are going ...
Where to go
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Roll, cross the fields and fly
Overflying the real air
You are the reason
For which I live
Na na na ...
Roll, cross the fields and fly
Overflying the real air
Na na na ...
Only heaven knows where we are going
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/5Ca5AH9o8wU >
o) Amaluna - "All Come Together"
Julie:
1-From the sea
To the moon
Through the Light
We Shall be free
You and I
Did we all come together
2-From the wind
Through the rain
Can you feel
That we are free
With the world
As we all come together
Jennifer:
3-From the sea
To the moon
Through the Light
We Shall be free
You and I
Did we all come together
4-From a Dream
Through a world
look upon
The overflow
We call love
As we all come together
5-From the sea
To the moon
Through the Light
We Shall be free
You and I
Did we all come together
6-From the wind
Through the rain
Can you feel
That we are free
With the world
As we all come together
Jennifer and Marie-Michele:
7-From the sea
To the moon
Through the Light
We Shall be free
You and I
Did we all come together
Jennifer and Julie:
8-From the sea
To the moon
Through the Light
We Shall be free
You and I
Did we all come together
Fast Share (bow pageant):
1-From the sea
To the moon
Through the Light
We Shall be free
You and I
Did we all come together
2-From the sea
To the moon
Through the Light
We Shall be free
You and I
Did we all come together
3-From the sea
To the moon
Through the Light
We Shall be free
You and I
Did we all come together
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/S8_TZiZulxo >
---------------------------------------------------
VIDEOS: Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds
---------------------------------------------------
*) CIRQUECAST
CirqueCast is a Vodcast (that's video podcast) for Cirque fans
by Cirque fans featuring artist interviews, Cirque headlines,
and the inside scoop to your favorite Cirque du Soleil shows!
Join your hosts José Pérez (TheChapiteau), Richard "Richasi"
Russo (Fascination!), Ian Rents (Hardcore Cirque Fans), and Dario
Shame (a big 'ol fan), as we bring you a behind-the-scenes look
into Cirque du Soleil, complete with discussions and the latest
Cirque news.
o) EPISODE 21 - Blue Man Group Acquisition Discussion
August 3, 2017
We are back with another discussion episode! Join us on
episode 21 as we discuss Cirque du Soleil's acquisition of
Blue Man Group, Crystal - the new arena ice show, Varekai
and La Nouba closing, and more!
LINK /// < https://youtu.be/nQAeL-zx5v4 >
*) OTHERS...
o) Behind the Scenes at REFLEKT
< https://youtu.be/2kE6VrLJSLM >
o) TOTEM Rings Artist Make-up Tutorial
< https://youtu.be/Bnj0gILTWIQ >
o) VOLTA Sneak Peek: Slack Line
< https://youtu.be/AWdk4P4oBrw >
o) Experience CREACTIVE from Club Med
< https://youtu.be/ir6hGy6zxII >
o) Share with us your CirqueWay Life!
< https://youtu.be/ORsfQw23DKw >
o) Kurios Banquine Flyer Make-Up Tutorial
< https://youtu.be/MjbScmY0zEg >
o) New La Nouba Singer
< https://goo.gl/7GQHun >
o) MixMatch Marketing on VOLTA
< https://goo.gl/yXzH1d >
o) Varekai Musicians Parade via GoPro
< https://youtu.be/gvaS9Ow65Q4 >
o) Brass Musicians Mag Chats with Kurios's Marc Sohier
< https://youtu.be/A6tRwJNLl58 >
o) A Day in the Life of Brandon Pereyda
< https://goo.gl/VGcCAm >
=======================================================================
FASCINATION! FEATURES
=======================================================================
o) "We're Off and Running - A Series of Classic Critiques"
Part 5 of 16: Nouvelle Expérience, Part 2 (1991)
By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
------------------------------------------------------------
"We're Off and Running - A Series of Classic Critiques"
Part 5 of 16: Nouvelle Expérience, Part 2 (1991)
By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
------------------------------------------------------------
A few weeks ago, as I was flipping through a few classic Cirque du
Soleil programme books (as is my wont), I was happily caught off-guard
by a brief history of the company that it had written about itself in
Saltimbanco's original European Tour programme, published sometime in
1996. Not because the historia was in English, French, and Spanish,
but rather I found the wording a bit more colorful
haughty
than what
you'd find from the company today. Something about its whimsical and
heady nature spoke to the way Cirque du Soleil saw itself then,
containing a youthful verve and arrogance that is simply no longer
present. When did Cirque lose this dynamic sense of self, this
liveliness, and vivacity about its past, present, and future?
Unfortunately, not long after. Thereafter the speak becomes less joie
de vivre and more lié aux affaires, and Cirque du Soleil turns from a
rag-tag band of street performers into a bona fide corporate entity
right before our very eyes. This is not a new revelation far from
it in fact but this re-discovery struck a chord of curiosity within
How did others see Cirque du Soleil during this period?
Think about it: as Cirque's multitude of shows travel around the globe
in either arenas or under the big top, at each stop, in each city,
there is a write-up in the local press. Sometimes the coverage is just
a brief blurb about the show and its theme, occasionally there's a
short interview with a performer, a stage hand, or creation director,
and other times it's an assessment of the show itself, evaluating its
technical and acrobatic merits with what had come through before. But
the reviews we see today are too current, discussing these shows
through a contemporary lens; shows that have/had 15 to 20 years
touring the globe, shows we would refer to as "classic" or
"signature". What I'd become interested in knowing was what some of
the first reviews, peeks, and evaluations of these shows were as they
took their first steps across North America. How did the press see Le
Cirque du Soleil in 1998, 1994, 1990, 1987?
It was time to peck through the archives.
What I found was extraordinary, and more than I expected. And I'm
sharing these discoveries here in Fascination through a series of
collections, beginning with the 1987 tournée of Le Cirque du Soleil
(better known today as Le Cirque Réinventé), and continuing on from
there. This month we continue on with 1991's reviews of Nouvelle
Expérience.
# # #
CIRQUE TAKES COSTA MESA BY HUMOR, THEATRICAL VITALITY
By: Jan Herman | LA Times
February 25, 1991
What astronaut Neil Armstrong said when he landed on the moon may
safely be applied to the touring Cirque du Soleil, which arrived in
Costa Mesa over the weekend: "That's one small step for a clown, one
giant step for clownkind."
This hypnotic, dazzling, one-ring "circus of the sun" touched down for
the first time ever in Orange County with an inspired display of
theatrical vitality, the likes of which are rarely to be seen under
any Big Top tent.
The show, titled "Nouvelle Experience," not only combines acrobatic
grandeur, picturesque beauty and ingenious humor but keeps all of it
on an intimate scale and still manages to tell an epic fairy tale
symbolizing human conflict and renewal.
Mime soloist Geoff Hoyle--replacing David Shiner but not mentioned in
the official program--plays a lone traveler who inexplicably finds
himself in alien territory occupied by all sorts of devils and angels
and especially by the Flounes, a delicately bizarre species of
gibbering clowns who are the most endearing characters of the
production.
The Flounes, together with Hoyle, serve as a touchstone to the
evening's varied entertainment. In his role as a sly Mr. Sniff,
moreover, Hoyle brings to the performance a satirical sense of smell
that puts the crowd in stitches, along with a three-legged dance
number that Fred Astaire might have admired if not envied.
There are many other acts, all of them breathtaking--from
contortionists, aerialists and tumblers to tight-wire walkers and
balance artists. But everyone--even the trapeze fliers who soar
between the two peaks of the blue-and-yellow Big Top--performs to a
compelling jazz-rock score that unifies the action.
So fluid and assertive is the music, alternating from catchy to
propulsive to haunting, that it determines the rhythm and mood of
virtually every moment in the production. In fact, this is one stylish
circus you can leave humming the score.
For all its dazzle, "Nouvelle Experience" is a fresh and youthful show
more heartfelt than slick. The daring feats may be wondrously
spectacular, but they're not always perfect. On any given night you
are bound to see some unintended misses, which heightens the suspense.
High-tech production values remain top notch, with both costumes and
lighting as striking as ever. The company is also up to full-strength
again, since the addition of a Chinese juggler and a British wire
walker who joined the tour in San Diego.
* * * * * *
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: CIRCUS OF THE FUTURE
By: Glenn Collins | New York Times
April 12, 1991
The secret is out. The Cirque du Soleil is not a circus. "What we do
is not circus, it's theater," said Franco Dragone, the show's artistic
director. He said it loudly, confidently, but with the barest hint of
mockery.
"It certainly is a circus, you just don't like circuses," countered
Gilles Ste-Croix, creative director and co-founder of the show from
Montreal that opens Sunday night. Mr. Ste-Croix was trading barbs with
Mr. Dragone on a recent afternoon outside the troupe's blue-and-yellow
tent festooned with jaunty pennants snapping in the Hudson River
breezes of Battery Park City in Manhattan.
Mr. Ste-Croix turned to a visitor. "You see, we disagree about
everything," he said in his accented English. "This is exactly why we
work so well together."
When the Cirque du Soleil begins its New York run on Sunday (previews
started yesterday), audiences can assess for themselves just how
circusy the Cirque du Soleil really is. The troupe's new extravaganza,
"Nouvelle Experience," will run through May 5 under its new, $750,000
big top at West Street and Battery Place.
SYNTHESIS OF SKILLS
Only three of the performers have returned from the Cirque's original
six-week run at Battery Park City in 1988. That show won rave reviews
for its dynamic new-vaudeville synthesis of theater, music, dance and
traditional circus skills. Not only was the production hailed as a
savvy, high-tech art circus, but in addition, its seamlessly
choreographed world of theatrical fantasy influenced a new generation
of performers.
The new show, which cost $1.25 million to produce, has a full
complement of variety artists, including energetic newcomers from
Montreal, Russian aerialists and acrobats, a Chinese parasol juggler
and trapeze artists from France. Oddly enough, the focus of the show
is a 37-year-old, Boston-born beanpole of a European-trained clown,
David Shiner.
"Definitely, Cirque is circus," said Mr. Shiner, who should know,
having starred in the Swiss national circus. Although purists insist
that a circus must have a ring and animals to circumgalumph it, Mr.
Shiner dismissed such quibbling with an intense wave of his hand.
The Cirque du Soleil "is in the round, though it has no ring," he
said. "It does a different style of circus, that's all. It casts its
own spell. But it has acrobats, clowns, a trapeze. And the name Cirque
is in the title." Ecological Harmony
"It's not a circus, it is more than circus," Mr. Dragone said with his
sly smile. "It is a show that marries elements of dance, theater, mime
and circus, and creates something new, that goes beyond them."
The troupe began work on the new show in 1989, starting with a
philosophical substrate: the ecological theories of James Lovelock
the scientist who helped propound the Gaia Theory that the earth's
biosphere is a single self-regulating, living organism -- and Albert
Jacquard, whose theories posit an ecology of human relationships.
"The show is in no way didactic, it doesn't preach any Gaia message,
but we feel our ideas of ecological harmony infuse the show," said Mr.
Dragone, who joined the show in 1985.
"People enter the tent sad, tired, distracted," said France La Bonte,
the show's "Ringmistress." "Our job is to take them with us, make them
forget they are adults, and become the children they still are."
Chorus of Clowns
Ms. La Bonte is the queen of the Flounes, a Greek Chorus of clowns who
instigate much of the action during the show. The word floune, in
fact, is a coinage from "flo" -- Quebec slang for child -- and clown.
Mr. Shiner's bossy clown character is also a key comedic enforcer, as
well as "the spine of the show," said Mr. Ste-Croix, who was a founder
of the company, a troupe of street performers formed in 1980 that did
not adopt the Cirque du Soleil name until 1984. Mr. Shiner "is
Everyman, and throughout the show he embarks on a journey of
innocence," said Mr. Ste-Croix. "He starts as an adult, and ends up as
a child. In the process, he is empowered -- and transformed."
Such is the transformational power of the Cirque du Soleil that its
influence on other troupes has been considerable. Paul Binder, the
artistic director of the Big Apple Circus, has acknowledged that the
interloper from Montreal forced his one-ring circus to confront its
essential nature in its new show, which celebrates "a contrast between
the nouveau circus form and the original circus form."
LEADING A REVOLUTION
"Cirque is tremendously influential because it's the circus of the
future," said Brian Dewhurst, a 58-year-old English wire-walker who
plays the Great Chamberlain in the show. "Cirque is leading a
revolution in redefining the concept of circus, and bringing it into
the next century."
Mr. Dewhurst has the credentials to assert this: the scion of a multi-
generational European circus family (his parents were knife-throwers
and his 22-year-old son Nicky is a wire-walker), Mr. Dewhurst has
starred in European circuses and performed on the Ed Sullivan show in
1965.
Another important element of the new show is the Cirque du Soleil's
tent, constructed in Bordeaux, France ("a good vintage, our tent, I
think," said Mr. Ste-Croix). It has a capacity of 2,500, 700 more than
the circus's old home.
"The new tent is so large, the first time we saw it we felt it was a
cathedral," Mr. Ste-Croix said of the interior space, which has the
look of a huge blue beach ball. "It inspired us to create things to
fill that space."
Fill it they have, and the show -- be it circus, theater, or whatever
-- is constantly changing. "It is very much alive," Mr. Dragone said.
"We keep juggling elements, adding things, losing things. The concept
must keep evolving, or it will die."
* * * * * *
THEATER IN REVIEW
By: Richard F. Shepard | New York Times
April 17, 1991
When it comes to circuses, the no-ring Cirque du Soleil, which arrived
in New York with stunning eclat over the weekend, is to the three-ring
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey extravaganza playing Madison
Square Garden what Le Cirque is to Mama Leone's in dining circles.
Cirque du Soleil, akin perhaps to elegant nouvelle cuisine (this new
production is, in fact, called "Nouvelle Experience"), serves smaller
portions than the big Ringlings spread, but each of the nearly score
of courses on its menu must appeal to the most demanding gourmet.
Cirque fills the tent it has pitched at Battery Place and West Street
with creative choreography and compelling music that is at once
urgent, extremely tuneful and often eerie. There is neither ring nor
formal stage. There are no animal acts, either, but as one winces
admiringly at the pretzel bends of the seemingly boneless
contortionists, gawks at the fellow who perches and balances atop a
precarious tower of piled-up chairs, and gasps at the devil-may-care
wire walkers and high flyers, the wildlife is not really missed.
The star of this assortment of talent is a clown, a marvelous and
extraordinarily intelligible mime named David Shiner. He is the
binding for the show, the figure of a hayseed tourist wandering
through extraterrestrial realms. Mr. Shiner sports no red nose or
whiteface, but he is brilliantly funny, whether diving into the
audience to drum-beat a bald head or staging a make-believe shooting
of a silent film. His silent eloquence is expressed in a body that
communicates like a semaphore, abetted by punctuating fingers and a
head whose merest twitch speaks volumes.
While Ringling has always said it was a circus for "children of all
ages," Cirque may be a little more selective; one might say it is a
circus for sophisticated children of all ages. Call it what you will,
Cirque is a wonderful show, high art and all -- with popcorn, if you
like.
* * * * * *
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL JUMPS THROUGH HOOPS TO BROADEN ITS AUDIENCE
By Lewis Lazare | Chicago Reader
August 1, 1991
Cirque du Soleil isn't exactly the household name in Chicago that
Ringling Brothers is. But the marketing powers-that-be at the
Montreal-based circus are counting on strengthening its base of
support and its visibility here when its new show, Nouvelle
Experience, opens September 13 at Cityfront Center near North Pier.
Those who caught Cirque du Soleil when it first visited here in the
spring of 1989 already know the company is one of the most successful
of a small band of new-wave troupes trying to resuscitate the circus
as an art form. With the once grand Ringling Brothers and Barnum and
Bailey three-ring extravaganza now a somewhat tawdry relic of its
former self, Cirque du Soleil is trying to bring back the daredevilry,
sophisticated choreography, and sense of theater a great circus can
deliver. In one ring it combines traditional acts--clowns, trapeze
artists, tightrope walkers, and contortionists among others--with
original music, dramatic lighting, fanciful costumes, and stylized
choreography.
Cirque du Soleil's month-long run here two years ago started out
drawing sparse crowds and ended with full houses. This time
communications director Jean Heon wants to ensure larger audiences
right from the start. Regular visits to major U.S. markets are
essential to Cirque du Soleil's growth, and Chicago--with it's large,
sophisticated, and affluent population--is a major stop on Cirque du
Soleil's U.S. route and the only one in the midwest. The not-for-
profit company was incorporated in Montreal in 1984, and it started
out touring for five or so months a year, which is what the weather
allowed in Canada. But the founders soon realized that to develop the
show they envisioned, they'd have to adopt a 12-month tour schedule;
that way they could sign the best acts to full-year contracts and take
in enough money to maintain the show's high production values.
Cirque du Soleil made its U.S. landfall in September 1987 in Los
Angeles. It has been praised by most U.S. critics for its efforts to
elevate the circus experience, but Heon and his team aren't content to
let the critics sell their show for them. They conduct regular surveys
to gauge audience response and discover more about customer
demographics. Heon knows, for instance, that the typical visitor is
between 22 and 44, affluent, and well educated.
But in this acutely cost-conscious era, ticket pricing is one area
where potential audiences must be reeducated. Tickets for the current
production range from $12.50 to $35.50, making the top ticket $3
higher than the most expensive ticket for an off-Loop hit such as Lend
Me a Tenor and considerably more than a typical Ringling Brothers
ducat. Heon says the prices are necessary to cover expenses and are
justified by the production's high quality.
"This is like a Broadway show," explains Heon, "and it's costly to put
on." Approximately 89 percent of the circus's operating budget comes
from ticket and souvenir merchandise revenue, with the remainder
coming from grants and corporate sponsorships. Because the circus is
still relatively new to the U.S., Heon says it has been tough trying
to line up the same kinds of sponsorship here. He hopes more will be
forthcoming.
The new production was titled Nouvelle Experience to make sure
Chicagoans who saw Cirque du Soleil on its last visit know this is a
completely new show. With its spacious new $600,000 tent--it has a
thermostat-controlled air circulation system and must be hydraulically
raised at each new site--the circus was able to add a flying trapeze
act for the first time and boost seating capacity from 1,750 to 2,500.
The extra seats will allow it to offer more tickets at the lower end
of the price scale without adversely affecting income.
* * * * * *
NOUVELLE CUISINE: CIRQUE SERVES CIRCUS OF ANOTHER SORT
By: Richard Christiansen | Chicago Tribune
September 1, 1991
Like Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," the visitor to Cirque du Soleil
knows instantly that he has surely left the real world behind. The
kingdom of the Cirque-lights, color, music, motion, laughter and
enchantment-is not of this world, but of another, entirely different
state of being.
We had our first experience with this magical land in 1989, when the
touring Cirque du Soleil put down its big blue-and-yellow-striped tent
on the lakefront for its Chicago debut. On Sept. 13, with a completely
new show entitled "Nouvelle Experience," it returns to the Cityfront
Center near North Pier, ready to cast its spell on audiences once
again.
As its name suggests, Cirque contains elements of a circus-a very good
circus. There are tightrope walkers, trapeze artists, contortionists,
acrobats, jugglers and clowns under the big tent. But "circus" is not
quite the word for Cirque. It is, rather, a theatrical production, a
million-dollar presentation that is designed, choreographed and
directed as a stage spectacular. There are no animal acts, no three
rings, no orchestra stand;
and, though each individual act is special, all the performers are
integrated into a single, unified production that is danced, sung and
acted as carefully as a Broadway musical.
The Cirque's other-worldly mysteries are grounded in real-world
mechanics, of course. Founded in 1984 with a one-year-only funding of
about $1.4 million, it now has a yearly budget 10 times that amount.
It employs 170 persons, 35 of them as on-stage performers and 5 as
musicians, and uses a caravan of 34 trucks and trailers to transport
its tent, box office, kitchen, laundry room, offices, washrooms and
physical therapist's workplace on its globe-trotting travels.
Based in Montreal, where it still receives government funding, the
not-for-profit Cirque now runs each of its shows for two years,
playing to a total of more than 500,000 persons annually in its 2,500-
seat tent as it travels to such destinations as Toronto, Quebec City,
New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., in North America, and London
and Paris in Europe. Besides its own production, Cirque already has
plans for installing a similar, theatrical presentation in Japan and
has made arrangements to incorporate some of its avant-garde artistry
into the repertoire of the 75-year-old old, family-run Circus Knie of
Switzerland.
Amazingly, Cirque springs from a country that has virtually no
tradition of circus. Guy Laliberte, the organization's founding
president, was only in his early 20s, "a street perfomer with hair
down to my butt," when he applied for government money in 1984 with
"my crazy idea to start a circus." Fortunately, it was the 450th
anniversary of sovereign Canada, and there was funding available for
new arts projects.
Along with a few other performers/entrepreneurs-including Gilles Ste-
Croix, now the Cirque's casting director-Laliberte created a fledgling
operation that, thanks to success in its first year, was given further
funding to continue. In 1987, the Cirque made its U.S. debut in Los
Angeles, creating a small sensation there and cementing the troupe's
future as an international attraction.
The Cirque's rapid growth has not been without problems. Its European
tour last season ran afoul of the Persian Gulf war and the recession,
forcing an early closing; and to this day customers are confused about
the "circus" part of "Cirque," believing that it's merely a small
touring circus.
On the contrary, it is a highly polished, diligently rehearsed,
carefully conceived work that takes at least a year of preparation and
12 weeks of rehearsal before it is ready for the public.
Ste-Croix and an assistant spend up to 35 weeks each year on the road,
searching for acts in North America, Asia and Europe that they believe
might fit into the Cirque design.
The acts are divided into two categories: house numbers, which the
Cirque organization teaches and works into the repertoire with its own
staff, and specialty numbers that are already fully realized by mature
artists. In either case, Ste-Croix says, "We want a person open to
artistic change, someone who can fit his talents into our concept and
see the world as we do."
It is understood that anyone who enters the Cirque becomes a part of a
larger work in which the performer must play roles that require acting
and dancing skills quite apart from his or her own immediate talents.
The performers come from all over and in all ages. Brian Dewhurst, 59,
a veteran English vaudevillian, performs hilariously and
breathtakingly on the tightrope with his 22-year-old son, Nicky
Dewhurst. Stacey and Bruce Bilodeau, 20-year-old twins from Quebec,
are daredevil gymnasts who, in the last two years, have added dancing
and acting to their tumbling skills.
David Lebel, 31, a Quebec street performer before joining Cirque, now
finds himself as one of the show's flounes (a word derived from a
union of Quebecoise for "children" and "clowns"), the group of
childlike zanies who help unite the show with their antics.
It's a big, closely knit troupe, living together at home and on the
road and not without its occasional frictions. On the whole, however,
it is a relatively happy family unit, according to Laliberte. "We all
have to live out of our luggage," he says, "but we try to provide good
food, good working conditions, good comradeship; because, if the
performer is not happy, it is very hard from him to project happiness
to the public."
From the quartet of teenage Canadian girls, who were taught their
prize-winning contortionists' act by a Chinese teacher, to the Russian
circus star Vassiliy Demenchoukov, whose balancing act climaxes the
"Nouvelle Experience," they are united by director Franco Dragone in a
fantasy world that he and his design team have created after months of
discussion and debate.
Specially composed jazz-rock music paces the production, elaborately
executed costumes actually form the personalities of the show's
outlandish characters, and state-of-the-art lighting effects create an
eerie and exciting landscape for the nonstop action.
Talented on their own, the performers merge in a show that unites
their specialties into an even more spectacular whole. As Lebel says,
"They will break their backs to make you look good."
With money from the provincial and national governments to help in
developing work, and with the Ecole nationale de cirque in Montreal
acting as a valuable training ground for many young performers, the
Cirque du Soleil has a chance to develop its own tradition of ground-
breaking performance art.
"We want to inaugurate new projects, open new markets," Laliberte
says. "Our job is to entertain and exalt; and, to do that, I always
say that you have to be in the game for just two reasons: passion and
pleasure. That's what it's all about."
* * * * * *
VIVE LE CIRQUE DU SOLEIL!
By: Richard Christiansen | Chicago Tribune
September 15, 1991
There's a wondrous moment in each of the marvelous acts that make up
the Cirque du Soleil's vibrant new production of "Nouvelle Experience."
It's a moment unique to the magical theatrical experience that this
Montreal-based organization provides in its bountiful show; and, in a
way, it has absolutely nothing to do with the circus.
To be sure, the circus acts that have been assembled for the Cirque
are terrific in themselves-clowns, tightrope acrobats, contortionists,
trapeze soloists, stiltwalkers, teeterboard jumpers, high flyers and
balancing artists of the very top rank.
But Cirque does more than offer up these thrilling acts. It presents
them in a brilliantly designed production that artfully integrates all
the disciplines of performance art into one stunning theatrical whole.
It dresses its performers in sumptuously colored costumes, sculpts and
silhouettes them with the latest in lighting technology, makes them
dance to thrilling jazz-rock fusion music and sets them down under its
big blue-and-yellow striped tent in a fantastic environment that is
more like an extra-terrestrial spaceship than a circus arena.
The performers enter with a bounce from the rear of the tent, lighted
from behind and shrouded in billowing fog, as if they are a lively
breed of aliens approaching Earth for a close encounter of the third
kind. Once viewed, they do indeed seem to be from another planet,
their faces painted in vivid colors, their tights and pantaloons dyed
with streaks and patches of gorgeous colors. They speak in a gibberish
not known to man but which, after a few minutes, becomes intelligible;
and they walk in stiff, spasmodic steps, as if adapting themselves to
the strange new terra on which they find themselves.
Then-here comes the wondrous moment-when the circus performers create
their own kind of miraculous motion, by flying over the heads of the
audience or climbing near to the top of the tent on a ladder built of
straight-back chairs, these creatures of the Cirque stand aside in
awe, imitating or complementing the movements of the performers and,
in so doing, providing a sympathetic showcase for the artists they are
watching.
For example, while the four lissome young teenage girls who bend their
limbs into amazingly contorted shapes are turning themselves into
human clothespins in the center spotlight, one of the Cirque's
brightly dressed flounes (an invented word combining Quebec slang for
"little kid" and "clown") appears in the shadowy background, watching
the proceedings with a small child. Gradually, as the contortionists
increase the difficulty of their performance, the clown and the child
begin their own acrobatic turns, gently mirroring the moves that they
see before them.
They have become our representatives on the dizzying circus planet in
which we've been placed, watching with childlike wonder and entering
into that exotic habitat with joy and delight.
This is but one of the ways in which Cirque du Soleil draws viewers
into its world.
Before the show has started, with a stroke of imagination that it
would be a crime to give away, one of the show's customers is
literally carried off from the audience and plumped into the midst of
the strange land of the Cirque.
By the time the production has come to an end, a little less than
three hours later, in an equally magical manner, that person has
charmingly become an integral part of the Cirque's exotic universe.
For the next few weeks, in the lakefront land strip just off McClurg
Court and east of Illinois Street, the Spaceship Cirque will be
anchored here in Chicago.
It is a show with many highlights-the breathtaking acrobatics on land,
air, tightrope and trapeze are particularly mind-boggling-and it is,
to be honest, a show with a few slow spots, as when the likable chief
clown Geoff Hoyle carries on a bit too much with his fellow zanies.
Overall, however, it is a show that lifts one's spirits as few
experiences in the theater can.
* * * * * *
THE ART OF DOING IT WRONG
By: Lawrence Bommer | Chicago Tribune
September 27, 1991
Spectacular lighting and flamboyant costumes notwithstanding, the
Cirque du Soleil basically is a big family that performs circus acts.
Or, more accurately, a family of families.
Take Brian Dewhurst, a tightrope walker who's the third of four
generations of English circus artists. Brian's 22-year-old son Nicky
and his 26-year-old daughter Sally work in the Cirque as,
respectively, a tightrope artist and acrobat; trained gymnasts, both
briefly pursued other careers in show business-but the circus was in
their blood. After all, their grandfather performed as a clown and
their mother had sung opera.
In "Nouvelle Experience," the Cirque's latest sensation, Brian
Dewhurst, plays the Grand Chamberlain, a fussbudget clown who serves
as right- hand man to ringmistress France La Bonte. Dewhurst: "I'm the
power behind the throne, a man who thinks he runs everything but who's
really a bumbling wizard. When I crack a whip to show my authority, it
ends up hitting me."
Even his tightrope act goes strategically wrong. "I'm invited (by
Brian's son Nicky, pictured here at right) to walk a wire but I keep
wackily falling off. Eventually I'm able to take a few correct steps"-
after which the audience makes its gratitude apparent.
There's an art to doing it wrong. "You have to show you can do it to
make the audience believe you when you can't. They can tell insecurity
and they pick up tension. That's when they start to worry that you're
going to hurt yourself which is not what we want."
Dewhurst is modesty itself when it comes to describing the art of
tightrope walking. "It's just a matter of practice. Almost anyone can
do it if they're willing to devote the many hours that doing it well
will require." Favorite moments in the show? "Of course working with
my son is a joy. And I love working with the Flounes (the gentle,
earth-colored clowns who supply so much magic); they provide so much
ingenious physical comedy."
# # #
That's all for in this issue, but there's plenty more to come!
o) Issue #165, OCT 2017 - Saltimbanco, Part 1 (1992)
o) Issue #166, NOV 2017 - Saltimbanco, Part 2 (1993)
o) Issue #167, DEC 2017 - Alegría, Part 1 (1994)
o) Issue #168, JAN 2018 - Alegría, Part 2 (1995)
o) Issue #169, FEB 2018 - Quidam, Part 1 (1996-1997)
o) Issue #170, MAR 2018 - Quidam, Part 2 (1998)
o) Issue #171, APR 2018 Dralion, Part 1 (1999-2001)
o) Issue #172, MAY 2018 Dralion, Part 2 (2001-2003)
o) Issue #173, JUN 2018 Varekai, Part 1 (2002)
o) Issue #174, JUL 2018 Varekai, Part 2 (2003-2004)
o) Issue #175, AUG 2018 Varekai, Part 3 (2005)
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COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER
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Fascination! Newsletter
Volume 17, Number 9 (Issue #164) - September 2017
"Fascination! Newsletter" is a concept by Ricky Russo. Copyright (C)
2001-2017 Ricky Russo, published by Vortex/RGR Productions, a
subsidiary of Communicore Enterprises. No portion of this newsletter
can be reproduced, published in any form or forum, quoted or
translated without the consent of the "Fascination! Newsletter." By
sending us correspondence, you give us permission (unless otherwise
noted) to use the submission as we see fit, without remuneration. All
submissions become the property of the "Fascination! Newsletter."
"Fascination! Newsletter" is not affiliated in any way with Cirque du
Soleil. Cirque du Soleil and all its creations are Copyright (C) and
are registered trademarks (TM) of Cirque du Soleil, Inc., and
Créations Méandres, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No copyright
infringement intended.
{ Sep.06.2017 }
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