Cirque Back in Ink With Zink!

“Cirque Back in Ink With Zink!”
By: Keith Johnson – Seattle, Washington (USA)

* * *

Z!nk Magazine, which featured Varekai in a photo essays last year, has done it again. Their October, 2005 issue features, along with a section celebrating 100 years of Las Vegas, photo spreads from all four current Cirque Vegas shows, totaling 90 pages. The features:


“Oasis” – 18 pages – Mystere – Photos by Thiery van Biesen. Of the four, this one is the least satisfying. The Mystere characters pose in the desert, as much of the old Cirque photography of the show had also done. Here, however, the photos look artificial and many have the distinct look of Photoshop-created constructs. The characters look plopped down on the page, and not properly placed in their surroundings. Some artists and props magically hang in mid-air; others rest on rocks with impossible balance. But the artificiality does help give it a sense of fantasy.

“Cold Fusion” – 22 pages – KA – Photos by Sinisha. These photos, taken on a snowy mountaintop, convey much of the energy of the show. Unlike the Mystere photos, they all look “real.” Some of the shots even capture the energy so well they look like frames from a Kung-Fu movie. Very nicely done.

“Naked City” – 22 pages – Zumanity – Photos by Erik A. Lang. Here are pictures inspired by acts in the show. The water bowl girls are placed in a sudsy bathtub, the “TV Dance” amongst men. There are also some interesting shots of the cast (including the departed Spy Monkeys) shot in a Vegas sign graveyard.

“Water World” – 22 pages – “O” – Photos by Howard Schatz. No location shooting here, these all seem to be taken in the Bellagio O pool. There is some time-lapse multiple imagery as well, and a few pages of smaller images taken during a show, capturing the brilliant imagery of the staging.

“Cirque After Dark” – 6 pages. These include pictures of celebrities from the Zumanity premier and pictures of the Zumanity and KA premiere parties. There is also a tear-out poster included, with a shot from each show (from that shows’ photo spread).

If you’re at all interested in high quality photos of Cirque artists, especially if you’d like to study the costuming, this comes highly recommended. For a page-by-page breakdown of what’s in the issue, an excellent summary by Rod Mariano can be found on Cirque Tribune: http://www.cirquetribune.com/forum/
viewtopic.php?t=1659