Last night, for her birthday gift, Shally and I went to see the Cirque Du Soleil production "Kooza" in downtown San Jose. It's only around for a handful more weeks, and it's not cheap (came out to $100/ticket to sit in the back of the middle section facing the stage), but it was well worth it for each of our first Cirque experiences.
For those who haven't been to a show before, I believe the entire program is Canada's take on the traditional circus - clowns and stunts. The clowns may be effective entertainment for little kids (even though some of the interludes/comments from the clowns were surprisingly crude), but the real purpose they served was filler while the stage was being set up for the next big set piece.
The danger that spectators can sometimes fall into when watching performers who are really really good at what they do, is to begin taking them for granted and thinking, "That might not be that hard." Fortunately, we were stripped of this assumption fairly early on in the show when one of the high-wire artists lost his footing after a leapfrog over another performer, and had to swing himself back up onto the high wire gymnastics style, before giving it another go successfully. Seeing him fall helped strip away the illusion of invincibility and helped ratchet up the tension for every performance, knowing that these were in fact world-class acrobats, jugglers, and athletes.
I think the neat part of the show is well encapsulated in this review I read after getting back: "When I leave the KOOZA show, I self-analyze what emotions tumble through my veins: joy and vigour, mixed with a handful of hope. Why hope? Because Cirque du Soleil proves that a performance stalwart can continue to inspire wonder in its 20th show. Within three hours, it can turn men into boys, children into instant smiles and twinkling eyes."
We happened to sit behind a Vietnamese family with three cute little girls who engaged us in conversation throughout the evening, offering us popcorn, and expressing wonder at the cool things happening on stage in front of them.
Here are the highlights (referenced in this video):
1) Wheel of Death (3:30-5:15)
Without a doubt, the highlight of the show. Those two guys started the whole contraption spinning around the central fulcrum, then began doing stunts like leaps, jump rope, both inside and outside the wheels. I found myself involuntarily going "Whoah!" with nearly every revolution... and my exclamations simply melted into the general sense of amazement that the whole audience was verbalizing.
The rest of these highlights will simply be presented in the order they happened...
2) Contortionists (00:34-00:37, 1:27-1:48)
Otherwise known as the "bendy girls." Look at the first clip where the girl plants her chin on the ground and then crab walks all around her head... that's The Exorcist creepy. I would not have been overly stunned to see one of them turn their head 360 degrees.
3) Trapeze (1:57-2:08)
This was the weakest part of the show for me other than the clowns... while flying around on a trapeze certainly looked like fun, it didn't wow me like most of the other acts did.
4) Unicycle (00:57-1:04, 2:16-2:22)
I think Shally really liked this one. It had a very romantic feel to it, with the unicyclist and his partner looking like they were dancing on 1 wheel - a mobile cha-cha-cha, if you will. Coolest stunt here was the guy twirling the girl around his body (a la upper level swing dancing) while riding around on the unicycle (second clip)
5) High wire (2:23-3:18)
Reading reviews, apparently all 4 of these guys are brothers. I wonder if they teased the guy that fell, like brothers do... "You have to do the dishes until someone else falls!"
Still, the trick with the two guys on bikes carrying the third guy on a chair? Jaw-dropping, especially considering one of them had fallen earlier in the performance.
6) Juggling (5:26-5:30, 5:36-5:40)
Having seen Chris and Shally both do some juggling, I was sorta able to appreciate what this guy was doing. He had rings with different colors on each side, and then while juggling would rotate them before flinging them into the air so we could see the rings apparently change color during the middle of the routine. Also very cool: using the feet to juggle bowling pins.
7) Chair (5:16-5:18)
Less active than the other acts, but it involved a buff Asian gymnast (reminded me of the Asian guy from Ocean's 11) stacking chairs 30 feet into the air and then balancing on them with one hand. Made me feel like I should work out more.
8) Teeterboard (6:08-6:22)
A fitting finale to the night, involving teams of acrobats leaping onto a teeter-totter to launch someone on the other end into the air to do half gainers, twists, and land on someone else's shoulders. Jaw dropping moment: strapping a girl to a single stilt, launching her, and having her land it without falling... wow.
Unfortunately, the show leaves San Jose on 3/16, but if you ever find yourself in Hartford, Philadelphia, Chicago, or Boston in the next few months... check it out.
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5 comments:
Which have you found more entertaining - Cirque du Soleil or Chinese Acrobats shows?
An interesting fictional story (though based on real events) on the circus in its heyday in the US is Water for Elephants (if you haven't read it already) ...
Unfortunately, have not seen any Chinese Acrobats shows outside of the occasional halftime show at sporting events. My speculation is that they would have different feelings - Cirque is more likely to inspire childlike wonder, while Chinese acrobats would inspire thoughts like "Dude, that ROCKS!"
Have not had the chance to read the book, but may pick it up when I get the chance.
i have water for elephants if you want to borrow it.
I went to see that a few weeks ago, and I definitely agree with you that the wheel of death was friggin awesome.
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