Cirque: Dralion

I've always wanted to see Cirque du Soleil.  I've seen clips of it on TV, though I could not have described exactly what it is.   After seeing is this afternoon,  I'd say that it is modeled on the idea of a three ring circus.  I say that, because there seemed to be three things going on at the same time.

This version had a great deal of Asian influence  (dragons) and many Asian acrobats.  The acts were phenomenal.

They are hard to describe, so I am just going to list some of the great variety of entertainment categories that we experienced.  But first, let me say that I was very intrigued by the set-up, the staging.  Part of keeping the "three ring circle" going was possible because characters and dancers dropped down from the "space station",  a stage-contraption in the ceiling of the arena.   From time to time,  dancers or troops would emerge from openings in the floor of the stage.   There were group numbers, and occasionally one individual was featured.

A number of clowns worked the audience, and also tormented members of the audience with their antics.  They kept picking on one young man in the third row, dragging him up onto the stage and pulling all kinds of cruel tricks on him.  There were a number of those scenes that made me laugh out loud harder than I could remember doing in a very long time.  Eventually, after a long time,  it became obvious that the young man was not just random, but a part of the circus act.

In no particular order, the types of numbers included:

*acrobats swinging and looping and tumbling from those long silk sheets that drop down from the ceiling
*  a group of acrobats jumping rope, three levels high, pyramid style (actually standing on shoulders, and doing a group rope jump!!)
*a juggler who eventually got up to juggling with 8 balls
*tumblers diving through loops
*loop performers hanging from the ceiling, loop performers at floor level
*trampoline jumpers and wall climbers, jumping over, under, around one another at various levels
*a very limber female acrobat who held herself up with one arm and contorted her body in unbelievable ways
*tumblers and contortionists and dancers and singers and an orchestra

I did enjoy it very much.  Many of the performers and acts were just mesmerizing.   It is so hard to believe that all those people could do those things with their bodies  (and loops and ropes and strips of fabric, etc.)


It was a feast (an overstuffed feast) of sound and light and sight, color, music, drums.

Definitely worth the effort!!