Quidam...

[fajrdrako]

Tonight I went to see Le Cirque du Soleil show "Quidam". I think I watched the whole thing with my mouth open in amazement.

~
Impossible to describe any of it, because it was such a world of wonders. Indescribable. They make an evening's entertainment out of doing the impossible, and making it beautiful.

My favourite were the acts shown above, each of which grew in amazement as it continued. The Adam-and-Eve balancing act by Asa Sokol Kubiak and Jérome Le Baut was called "Statue" and I've never seen anything like it. The man-in-a-hoop act which opened the show, they describe this way on their website:

An acrobat becomes master of his own domain from within a giant wheel consisting of two metal hoops joined at six points and measuring over six feet in diameter. In a display of strength and agility, he rolls, turns and spins while nonchalantly performing somersaults and twists. Artist(s) currently performing the act: Cory Sylvester and
Shayne Courtright.

I don't know which performer I saw. Describing the act in words demeans it. It's all light and motion and human flight.

That is not to ignore the other parts of the show.... All of them theatrical, clever, and startling. Some of them funny, some sexy. Beyond the skill involved, it's a masterpiece of staging. The artistry is amazing, because the whole thing is so creatively conceived, so much a combination of costume, lighting, music, motion, colour and idea as well as human feats of dancing, acrobatics, and flexibility. The gentleman behind me kept muttering, "Unbelieveable." It was. Perhaps they have invented the anti-gravity stage, but haven't told the rest of the world about it yet.

A literally breathtaking show.

Comments

[seperis.livejournal.com]

when it came to Austin last year, I was almost shaking during the performance. I just--could hardly believe what I was seeing. It was utterly beautiful.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That was exactly how I felt. You know it's real, but you also know it can't be because people can't do those things. But they can. And the staging enhances it: it's just so deeply dramatic.

[brashley46.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, we've seen Quidam on DVD. We caught the Cirque live in their second touring season, when they set up a tent down by the waterfront. Even then, they were infreakingcredible.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I hope I get more chances to see them. I like their DVDs but there's nothing like the live performance. I love the way they make their own environment wherever they go - not dependent on other people's stage spaces or concession stands.

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

shows like this make it hard to believe you have a similar type of body as those on the stage!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I think it's safe to say that I don't have a body like those on the stage! At one time the woman did a shoulderstand with her arms raised - something I have done often, when I was more fit and doing yoga daily - but she did it on top of someone else's shoulders, balanced in the air. It's hard to even imagine doing it conceptually, but she did it. The amount of skill, concentration and sheer muscle-power must be infinite.

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

But you do have a similar body. You are much more like that woman than you are like a hedgehog or a seahorse. And you are even more like a hedgehog than like a bacterium or a type of sea creature I just heard about were the females are like long snaky things lifing in vulcanoes on the bottom and they only recently discovered the males. They were the thousands of little balls filled with sperm that clung to her body.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

There are certainly some strange living creatures on this earth. I am, perhaps, more like that woman on stage than many people, and certainly more than non-human creatures, and if I had practised stretches and balance much more conscientiously all my life, I might even be able to do some of the things she can.... And it's a safe bet to say that only a few women on earth can do what she does - a few ballerinas, a few yoga experts, a few gymnasts.

I console myself that I know more about medieval history than most people.

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

my remark was certainly not meant in anyway as a critique of you slacking of your yoga practicing so that you are now unable to perform in Circe de Soleil, It was more meant as a sense of wonderment, my heavy clumsy body is essentially the same a that gracefull and flexible one. I have the same sense sometime when I see young childeren at play, climbing those climbing cnstructions (don't know the word) and spinning on the bar. My body feels like a different kind of thing compared to theirs.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes.... and I am probably in better shape than most people my age. I was thinking about the same things you are saying when I was watching a chipmink as I was on my way to work tomorrow. He ran out of some bushes and hopped up on a stone bench at Ottawa University; and I realized that he had, apparently effortlessly, made a jump that was four or five times his own height. For a human, it would be like jumping straight upwards thirty feet - a marvel! For a chipmunk, no big deal.

It certainly is a world full of wonders.

[widget-alley.livejournal.com]

..... I love ze Cirque. I've never seen them live, but I saw their IMAX movie, which was pretty, if slightly pretentious, and I've seen a bunch of their live shows on DVD, which are even COOLER. I want to be able to do... well, anything even vaguely approaching that. (Says the girl who can't do a handstand.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Nice icon!!

If you ever get a chance to see Cirque du Soleil live, take it. The tickets will look as if they cost a lot of money but it will be worth it.

I've never been able to do a handstand. I can do a headstand on a good day. Those people in Cirque du Soleil? They are a different order of being altogether. They make "Le Grand Ballet" look tame.

[benbenberi.livejournal.com]

Cirque du Soleil rocks! I've only seen Quidam on TV, but I've gotten to several of their other shows when they've passed through NY & CT - Allegria, Varekai (twice!), Dralion, and Corteo (just last month). They're all different, all worth seeing live.

And the things they can make the human body do, it's like a completely different set of natural laws applies to them -- it's not just amazing physical feats, but *artistically performed* amazing physicial feats. Old-fashioned circus acts with their drumrolls & hype just don't impress me as much any more.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

No, seeing Cirque du Soleil changes one's level of expectations when it comes to that kind of act. The specacular visual effects are a good part of it - the beauty, the flashes of the unexpected, the sophisticated lighting.

I wish they'd come to Ottawa more often. It sounds as if you get to see them more than I do!

[benbenberi.livejournal.com]

All their touring shows come through NY at least once, and they've discovered lately that Hartford is a good market for them too (more than meets their minimum requirements for population and $$$, and the crowd goes wild!), so shows that haven't been in NY or Boston too recently come there. Between them, there's usually at least one show near me every year. I'm surprised they don't play Ottawa that often. Seems like it should be a regular stop for them.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, I certainly think Ottawa should be a regular stop! As do my friends, who were joking archly about the government grants from Ottawa that go to the Cirque - "our tax dollars in action". A use I approve more than many others, I assure you!

I think they play more often in Montreal. I should look into it. THat isn't so far away.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

P.S. - Magnificent icon! is it by Van Dyke?

[benbenberi.livejournal.com]

No, it's a portrait of the Great Conde by David Teniers. I know lots about Conde, very little about the artist.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I've heard of Teniers, but no more than that. A quick visit to Wikipedia shows me that there were three Flemish artists of that name (grandfather, father, son) and I can only guess that this picture is by David Teniers the Younger (i.e., the father) because of its approximate date - he was roughly contemporaneous with Conde.

Cool.

[elebridith]

Yeehah, another Cirque fan!:-) I have only seen "Saltimbanco" live in Germany yeeeears ago and "Mystère" in Las Vegas in 1997, but I have a few videos and they've just shown "Ká" on TV a few weeks ago. Also, couldn't get my mouth shut all the time. I just love them - since they don't come to Germany that often and are quite expensive (but SO worth it!) DVDs are the next best thing.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Alas, Cirque du Soleil is expensive and doesn't often come here either, but it was handy that when it did come they were playing only a few blocks from my place. And they were fantastic. I should make a fund to ensure I can afford tickets next time they're in town. What a show!