Jim and I went to see Cirque du Soleil last night; it was our third time, and as always: amazing. This show is called Corteo, and like all their shows there is a loose "story" that gives structure to the acts. This one was charming. It was a clown imagining his own joyous and opulent funeral procession of all his circus friends and old lovers. The whole thing was presided over by drifting angels, and such dreamlike things would happen, like a Pierrot clown going slowly past on a tightrope -- upside-down or the old clown riding a bicycle through the air, or a bed floating past. At one point it rained feathers. . . and then, a little later, naturally it rained. . . plucked chickens!!.And of course it's not all just gorgeous costumes and theatrics and music. It's really all about the acrobats. WOW. Thanks to youtube, I can show you some hightlights:
This one, was such a delight. Not acrobatics so much as one of the dreamy fantasy sequences. It was just one of the sweetest, funnest looking things I've ever seen. Don't you want one of these balloon harnesses?
And here's one that gives a whole new meaning to "swinging from the chandelier". So beautiful! And I'm sure the men in the audience didn't mind seeing gorgeous acrobat babes in negligees!
There was a bed-bouncing routine that was amazing too, but the youtube videos are all a little long and manic, and don't really convey how amazing it was. And the aerial "throwing" act. . . WOW. You can glimpse a little of it all in this awesome 34-second montage:
Looking at the cast list, almost all the names are Slavic. The first Cirque show we ever saw was Drallion, which featured many Chinese performers. I guess China and Russia have the world beat when it comes to acrobats. Imagine being a circus acrobat! What a strange and dizzying life that would be. If you get a chance to see the show, see it, even if it is dang expensive.
8 comments:
The great unspoken tragedy of this post is that you didn't care enough about poor little Alibaba Saperstein, who has never had the opportunity to see such a show, to get her a front row ticket. Every day, she eats big tropical sorbet sundaes right alongside you to support you in your pregnancy, never complaining a teeny bit that she is getting full or feeling sick. I think that the only best way to make up for it is to bring her a full pancake breakfast out to her tent in your backyard next month. (Actually, that plan is on hold! Aren't there possums about in the neighborhood? I need a possum and mouse free camping zone. Maybe I will move around the furniture in your living room? I don't know yet, I'll see.
Greetings,
This is Seed Garrett. I'm normally just a lurker but felt compelled to leave a comment on this breezy New Mexico evening after reading the comment above. Did I read that right? Little sweet Alibaba Saperstein turned away from the C du S for lack of a ticket? My golly, I love that girl. I'm driving down der myself right this moment to take her to the next showing myself. No Alibaba o' mine is going to miss this show. Alibaba, if you are reading this, if you didn't perish from neglect of your two monster friends, I'm comin to get you right this very pretty second. Sit tight.
That girl looks like a baby...
Oooh I've always wanted to see C du S! I'm so glad you two got to go--after the baby comes, nights out alone are rare. (Well, at least they are for us.)
Thanks for the youtube links. :-)
How cool that you got see Corteo! We had wanted to see it when it was down here, but the budget and timing were all off. We've seen a couple of other shows in years past, Saltimbanco and Quidam - and they were amazing - though not cheap, even back several years ago - but you certainly get a performance you'll never forget.
Thanks for the links - watching them perked me back up, after I couldn't get into the online Oprah event after all, tonight :)
Cirque du Soleil is on my list of shows I absolutely have to see. And, yes, I really do want one of those balloon harnesses - what fun it would be to float like that.
It has always been the "ambient" music and fantasy/mood acts which have stuck in my mind after seeing any of the Cirque shows. I still favor "Mystere."
I like the claw topic.
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