Summer Soleil.
In 1998, alone in Las Vegas, I saw Cirque de Soleil for the first time, and began a love affair with its magic which will culminate (for now) with the Melbourne Premiere of OVO this coming Thursday. In the years between I have seen 8 different shows in four different countries, bought five soundtracks, eleven masks, celebrated my engagement, and taken as many friends and relatives as I could possibly gather. I am a member of the Cirque de Soleil Club and unashamedly hooked. Why? Well….because……
Everyone who loves Cirque has a word to describe the shows. “Mind-boggling”, “Bizarre”, “Beautiful”, “Awesome”, “Unique”, “Wondrous”, “Magical”, are just some of the adjectives I’ve heard people use. I can’t argue with any of those. You soon run out of adjectives when describing any Cirque de Soleil production. But the word which I always come back to is “Perfection.” We live in a world where “nothing’s perfect”…or so they say. And yet Cirque de Soleil have never wavered in the pursuit of excellence; their quest for perfection. It’s all too easy to overlook the fantastic original scores, the detailing on the costumes ( thousands of crystals and beads hand sewn), the exquisite way that artists enter and exit on stage, even though the focus could be somewhere else and people wouldn’t notice if they just walked off. Well, I would. It’s those little things that create the magic for me. I take the major production elements as a given: The acts are always amazing; the costumes (so often hand-dyed silk) are exquisite, the overall standard is so high that there’s a danger we might take it for granted. We shouldn’t, because the company itself doesn’t. It’s always looking to push the standard to new heights.
What began as a troupe of street performers in Baie- Saint- Paul, on the banks of the St Lawrence River, has grown into a multi-billion corporation, with Guy Laliberte, who started the company after his days performing with an accordion accompanying stiltwalkers, as its CEO. I don’t begrudge them a single penny. We all benefit from the way they have raised the standard of entertainment and shown us that circus doesn’t have to mean animals in cages. Without Cirque de Soleil there would be no Circus Oz, or any of the other world-wide companies that have re-defined circus. And the corporation and its founder are philanthropists too. There’s the One-Drop foundation – seeking to fight poverty world-wide by sustainable development through clean water available to everyone. There’s Cirque Du Monde, an international programme for street kids, or those impoverished, and there are the thousands of unheralded little kindnesses, like giving preview tickets to kids in trouble, like taking in homeless youngsters who display talent and educating them at the same time as training them. Cynics might say there’s an agenda there, but who cares. It’s results that count.
And so to OVO. Like every show it has a theme, a story. This time it’s about the world of insects, and how they interact with the earth. When the insects find a strange egg with a new species that has much to teach, the world at our feet becomes the entire universe. Those of us who are afraid of insects will learn to love them and believe in their magic, for any Cirque de Soleil show has the ability to make us suspend disbelief. It’s Summer, and the Sun is filling Melbourne with energy at present. If you have never seen Cirque de Soleil, and especially if you have children, forego the tickets to a rock concert or a Grand Final and go to see OVO. It will make you believe in magic and restore your faith in the universe. Yes, really. Find your own quest for perfection under the Grand Chapiteau. You will be changed forever.OVO opens at Docklands on Thursday 17 January, 2013.
Coral Drouyn.
Photos: OSA Images. Costumes by Liz Vandal.
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