Issue #130: NOV 2014 – Released!

The latest issue of Fascination! the Unofficial Cirque du Soleil Newsletter is here!

Well, it’s certainly been an interesting month for announcements, hasn’t it? There’s “Allavita!” by the Cirque du Soleil Group, Events and Special Projects team, which was tasked to create an engaging and unique show concept to be presented during the Universal Expo in Milan, Italy from May 1st to October 31st 2015. Saban Brands and Cirque du Soleil finally unveiled their first collaborative effort since joining forces last year – a TV co-production called “Luna Petunia”, a pre-school series inspired by the Cirque. And last, but not least, is “Creactive”, a partnership with Club Med to dream up the ultimate circus-inspired playground in Punta Cana, featuring unique activities inspired by the wondrous and unexpected world of Cirque du Soleil. It’s no wonder there won’t be a Cirque Week in Las Vegas this year! (There’s various details about these projects in our news section this month should you be interested in learning more about these new projects…)

Speaking of Las Vegas… guess who turns 10 this month? KÀ! Though it would go on to hold a star-studded gala premiere on February 3, 2005, the spectacle began preview performances at the MGM Grand on November 26, 2004. So… happy birthday KÀ!

At the time of its creation, KÀ was Cirque du Soleil’s biggest and most ambitious project to date, in terms of physical size and budget. Directed by Canadian theater and film vanguard Robert Lepage, and ringing in with a purported price tag of $220 million USD, an alleged weekly running cost of $1 million USD, a cast of 75+ artists, and a crew of 158 stage technicians, KÀ aimed to reinvent and revolutionize the world of live theater, and in many ways the Cirque du Soleil itself. KÀ, of course, deals with the theme of duality and is the epic story of a set of twins, separated at childhood, who must voyage through a series of adventures, while relentlessly pursued by enemies, in order to fulfill their destinies in a classic battle between good and evil. The characters of KÀ inhabit a world of many tribes and factions. These tribes are largely segregated from each other and some tribes are in conflict with others. The story of KÀ brings together the different peoples of this world to meet their collective destiny.

To celebrate KÀ’s momentous achievement, we’ve dug into our vast archives for something unique to share at this occasion, finding: “The KÀ Creators’ Notebook”. This journal, compiled and shared internally, features some very interesting behing-the-scenes notes regarding the creation of the MGM Grand show. Picking up just following the official press conference on September 15, 2004, we hear from Anh-Dao Bui (the Assistant to the Production Manager), Céciles Vignes (Internal Communications Advisor), and Stéphane Mongeau (Production Manager), as milestones in the show’s creation are reached – including living through a “Lion’s Den” performance!

Any performance in front of hardcore fans is a “Lion’s Den” one in my opinion. There’s hardly anyone more critical than a hardcore fan, is there? Early last month I joined a band of Cirquesters here in Atlanta to take in Cirque du Soleil’s Amaluna, which I’ve not seen (except on DVD) since it premiered in Montréal in April 2012. What did I think? Although I can’t say I am happy about the cuts (I really do miss the unicycle girls and the tightwire team), nor was our performance a perfect one (the storm duo were out of commission that night and hoops manipulation – the replacement – failed to ignite our passions), it was good to see the show again. Especially considering Lara Jacobs Rigolo, the original Balance Goddess was performing! (Alas, I also miss Marie-Michelle Faber as the Moon Goddess, and Pepa Plana as “Deeda”, but I digress…).

That being said, the teeterboard boys rocked it (even with one or two short), it was great to see Julie McInnes as Prospera too before sheleaves, and, of course, the Amazons didn’t disappoint. Lindsey Bruck-Ayotte is a gymnast and artist from Syracuse, New York who is currently touring with Cirque du Soleil’s Amaluna as one of the Amazon characters and captain of the Uneven Bars team. Lindsey granted The Chapiteau an interview (which they’ve graciously allowed us to share with you) in which she talked about how she started her career in gymnastics, how she ended up in Amaluna, information on the creation process and much more!

And speaking of The Chapiteau…

Fascination! The Unofficial Cirque du Soleil Newsletter has provided news, features and updates to Cirque fans of all ages for more than 13 years. And in that time we’ve contemplated taking our humble text-based publication into new mediums: as a blog, a digest, and even a graphical magazine. Well, now we’ve done it. In cooperation and in partnership with The Chapiteau, we proudly present The Chapiteau-Fascination Magazine, a graphical fanzine for hardcore Cirque fans to keep up with the latest and greatest from the Cirque du Soleil fandom! For long-time readers of Fascination! don’t worry; we’ll continue to publish our monthly text-based newsletter as we’ve always done. And The Chapiteau isn’t going anywhere either. Rather, we’re embarking on a fantastic – and much more colorful way – to archive the news, updates and features both Fascination! and The Chapiteau bring you on a daily and monthly basis instead, together! So download it today and tell us what you think! And best of all? We’re bi-lingual!

English: < http://goo.gl/q6Ctku >
Spanish: < http://goo.gl/pptVO0 >

As always we’ve got the latest news items posted to Fascination! Web, the posts made to CirqueClub’s pages and Cirque’s Facebook links, and, of course, updates to Cirque’s tour schedule. (use the links below to get the issue!)

WEB — https://www.cirquefascination.com/
RSS FEED — https://www.cirquefascination.com/?feed=rss2
TEXT FILE — https://www.cirquefascination.com/Issues/Issue130.txt