Cirque du Soleil - KURIOS - Cabinet of Curiosities
I am fully aware that I have missed a deadline and forgot to post anything, but I wanted to write about the circus I went to on that weekend after that deadline. So here I am, writing about the circus because I forgot I had a blog in the first place.
By now, it has probably just become an excuse but I was busy. I had two exams, lab and plenty of protocols which left little time for writing. Moreover in the past, I wrote so many articles in advance which makes me forget that I don’t do that now anymore.
Anyways back to the topic at hand, the circus visits that weekend. Frankly, I was not the biggest fan of circus in the past since I had a fear of clowns when I was younger but when I heard that this entertainment company was coming to my town, I just had to go.
The entertainment company I am talking about is the one and only Cirque du Soleil. As a child, I heard so much about them being the best of the best while also being the most diverse there is. If you read the facts on their site, it is quite impressive what they have achieved since their humble beginnings with a troupe of 20 artists.
However, being one of the most famous, if not most famous circus, has its downsides as the prices for their performances were quite pricy. Not only the tickets but also the confectionery and souvenirs but I guess it is a small price to pay for the experience.
After the show, I just thought about the logistics of a travelling company such as Cirque du Soleil. They have plenty of tour members, thousands of props, and a whole tent to set up which seats tons of guests. How long do they need to stay and perform for them to break even?
Logistics aside, let’s get back to the topic at hand, Cirque du Soleil. Since their esteemed reputation was quite widespread, I wasn’t the only one excited to go. My mother also heard a lot about them and wanted to watch a show, so we booked a ticket one week in advance.
As it turns out that was a bad idea since the best seats were sold out months in advance and we, in retrospect, didn’t get the seats we truly wanted. However, that didn’t stop us from enjoying a truly magnificent show.
On the day of the show, we arrived to see a huge line of people standing in front of the tent since it has become a norm now that there was a security check in front of every event with plenty of people. Don’t get me wrong I understand the precautions but am just sad what the world has become.
Outside the tent, on the circus ground, there were plenty of photo opportunities with a small red carpet and a themed background. Then there were tables where people could stand around and chat just before the show started.
Inside the tent, there are confectionery and souvenir stands. Since there were no outside food and drinks allowed on the site, the confectionery stands had a monopoly which jacked up the prices to a ridiculous extent which the cinemas could not even compete with.
My complaints aside, the inside of the tent matched the theme of curiosities quite nicely. With a themed play area in the corner for the children to spend their time before the show starts. So, you can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was to see how thought-out the interior looked.
After getting snacks for the show, we went up the stairs to find our seats. Once seated, it just hit me how many people can actually fit inside the tent which looked so small on the outside. The set looked very detailed and in that seat, I was just so excited for the show to start.
Around 4 pm, the characters started coming out but to be honest, I was just confused since I didn’t exactly know what was happening, there were people on stage. But it was just the artist entertaining before the actual show.
Then came the character who announced the beginning of the show. In all honesty, I couldn’t understand a word he was saying because at first I didn’t realize he was speaking German and with all the sound effects, it was just a blur.
Since I forgot the order of the acts, I am just writing what I remember and not in the correct order. Since we were sitting in the first row of the second block to the left of the stage, the artist walked in front of us and that was kind of amazing to see their intricate costumes and props up close.
However, what would have been nicer was a seat in the first block, centre stage. As mentioned, that didn’t happen since the show was a spontaneous decision. Considering we didn’t spend little money on the tickets, the seats were still mediocre at best. I get that there are worse seats in the house but still.
The first act was a classic, the Juggler. Given it was the juggler and could not defy any laws of physics, the juggler did what a juggler would do. Besides the costumes and props, there was nothing too special about the juggler. But impressive nonetheless.
In no way am I trying to say what he was doing on stage is easy, I am just saying that it was not the extraordinary that a circus like Cirque du Solei promised. But I did notice that there was a band playing live music in the background, which somehow made the experience more spectacular.
Next up was the Cradle Duo, where trust between them was essential. One was a human trapeze and the other was the acrobat performing somersaults which makes you wonder if she is going to fall because every time it seemed that her partner wouldn´t catch her but he did.
What I found out later that day was that the woman was Russian and the man was Ukrainian. The only question on my mind was how could they trust one another with their countries being at war or is the circus truly a place where no countries or borders exist and we all live as one?
After the death-defying act, came a comedic one. A tribute to the traditional circus with animals. However, since animals are banned in circuses due to animal cruelty, they reimagined the act in the most creative way possible.
By making the animals invisible. An invisible circus if you will. The performer would announce the “animal” and the act. The “animal” would just come up from behind the curtain and do the act. You would see water splashing and the unicycle moving as if the animal was truly there performing.
After the audience had laughed, came an act that would make the audience stare in amazement. The contortionist. One would only need the shadows on the walls to enjoy the show but seeing the people bending in nearly impossible ways was amazing.
Now that the amazement was over, it was time for some excitement. A simple hand-balancing act. Or so I thought when I was a man stacking some chairs and doing a handstand on them. However, I only needed to look up to see the exact dinner scene happening upside down.
The artists were hanging upside down from the ceiling and doing the same stunts which was astounding. I could only imagine how hard it was to defy gravity and stay upside down for the whole act. How their blood must have rushed to their faces.
Then came the aviator, who stacked cylinders and planks on top of a platform balancing on them all. Considering that the platform was swinging it made the act ten times harder but after a reality-challenging act before it, it was by comparison not much.
After so much excitement, awe and unease came the intermission where the audience could get some more snacks and get ready for the upcoming breathtaking acts. During the intermission, the crew also had time to set up the next act, which was the trampoline which spanned the whole stage.
What I noticed about the crew was how they were also dressed to a certain extent so they would fit in with the theme of the show, which was a nice attention to detail in my opinion. I also noticed how the background characters would still look amazed or play along which made everything more magical.
When the light turns on for intermission, you can also see the rigging for all the acts which came before. It was fascinating to see how the performers got up to the ceiling in the first place. I can only imagine the effort and safety precautions it took to set up the whole circus.
Not long after the first act ended, the second act started with the trampoline or acro net as they like to call it. The artists had amazing costumes and were so synchronised. One moment, I thought they would bounce right into each other, but they didn’t and it was spectacular.
After that came the “Siamese twins” who performed their show while hanging in the air. I just can´t imagine the strength and training it took for them to perfect their show without flying into one another. It was truly a flawless masterpiece.
After two extraordinary acts, came another not-so-death-defying but still amazing yoyo act. Being a Yoyo fan myself I was astonished however I must admit that by comparison, just like the juggler, it was nothing physics-defying or awe-inducing. So, there is that.
Then came a rather unexpected act. It was the theatre of hands, where the audience watched the journey a hand took which was projected onto a hot air balloon. Simple yet creative to say the least but since I am somewhat of an adrenaline junkie and a hands journey wasn’t exciting enough for me.
Last but not least came the Banquine. A group of performers who jump and fly through the air and land on each other shoulders. Until now I am still wondering how those people didn’t break a single bone during the whole performance given the impact of a landing. But it was amazing.
Just as quickly as the show got started, the show ended. Everyone cheered and sprung up from their seats. The cast took their bow and left the stage as the audience left the circus. It was a truly spectacular show and there is nothing I can say to undermine it.
However, after the show, I found out that there was supposed to be an aerial bike act which didn’t happen. It got replaced by a weird comedy act which took too long in my opinion and which I try to erase from my memory.
For the record, there was a small comedy act between the trampoline and the aerial act but I chose to ignore it since it was out of place in my opinion and didn’t fit at all with the rest of the show. Even the juggling and yoyo acts were far more superior than whatever happened that day.
Besides the small setback of the no aerial bike act, I also found out that there were supposed to be four contortionists and only two showed up. Which was somewhat disappointing since I can only imagine what four of them could do when two were already spectacular.
However, the artists are just humans like everyone else so a missing act or a missing performer was not a huge deal since I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t looked so it was a mistake on my part I guess.
But for real those artists show strength, talent and showmanship which the average human cannot compete with so those artists really do deserve all the praise they were given and so much more. It was truly amazing to see what a human can do when dedicating themselves to honing their art.
As for Cirque du Solei, their esteemed reputation as the best of the best holds up quite well even given the small complaints I have had. In the near future, I would love the opportunity to see one of their other shows to see what else they have in store.