Run away to a dream world where time stands still, all magic is possible and you’re the star of the show.
Tumble through the air and through clouds to land in the arms of 10-foot-tall blue people. Learn how to speak the native language of Na’vi. Then ride on the back of the Toruk Makto over the mountains of your new home, Pandora.
Run away to this magical world with Cirque du Soleil as they tell the story of the first flight of the Toruk.
Toruk: The First Flight is the newest in the Cirque du Soleil series. The production of acrobats, puppets, kites and music will debut Nov.12-14 at CenturyLink Center in Bossier City before continuing the international tour.
Toruk is a prequel to James Cameron’s 2009 film Avatar and takes place in the fictional planet Pandora — home of the Na’vi people. The live production is set thousands of years before the events in Avatar.
In Avatar, Jake Sully, a paraplegic Marine from Earth, is dispatched to Pandora disguised as a Na’vi person. He faces many challenges and must make tough decisions when humans threaten the Na’vi’s home. After a series of events, he becomes the sixth person to ever ride the Toruk Makto — the giant flying “dragonbird.”
The live show follows the story of the first person to take flight on the ferocious bird-like creature.
“You have to see it to believe it,” said Rob Laqui, Cirque du Soleil puppeteer. “All the work going into it is going to be unlike what anyone has experienced. If you’re a fan of Cirque or a fan of Avatar, this really is the show to see.”
Toruk is an original story taking place long before the setting of Avatar, so Laqui said seeing Avatar isn’t required for understanding and enjoying the Cirque show.
The show’s large cast and crew have been in Shreveport-Bossier City since Aug. 24 preparing for the November kickoff — and it’s been no small feat.
Laqui, acrobat Lisanna Ohm and director of creation Neilson Vignola gave The Times a behind-the-scenes tour of Pandora telling the crew’s personal adventures of running away with the circus in the sun — and what it takes to survive in the world of Pandora and Cirque du Soleil.
BUILDING A VILLAGE
One of the toughest challenges of joining the circus is being away from home for so long, Laqui said.
“When you’re on the road for 10 to 12 months for years you don’t have the same structure in life as most people do,” Laqui said.
It often means missing out on events and special occasions and missing friends and family while away from them.
“You really are a nomad,” he said. “You have to be able to adjust to that life to do the work you want to do.”
There are about 100 people on the Toruk tour including the 35 performers from the United States, Canada and other countries around the world. . To make it as comfortable and easy as possible for the workers during their months living in Louisiana, CenturyLink transformed into a village of sorts for the Cirque family.
Rooms usually reserved for administration, offices and costume changes now are used for a wardrobe workshop and fitness center. Even the hallways normally for public access are covered with backdrops and props being worked on bytouring and local crews.
By the end of the show’s run, more than 650 locals will have worked in different behind-the-scene positions, such as runners or stagehands or in the wardrobe or carpentry departments.
The cast and crew rehearse 10-to-12 hours, six days a week, only having one day off to explore their temporary Shreveport-Bossier City home.
In that time, Laqui, Ohm and Vignola have visited Red River Revel, Marilynn’s Place for brunch and have hiked around Caddo Lake and Toledo Bend.
During their international tour, they will explore many more places and have new adventures, but living on the road still comes with its hardships.
“It’s a dream come true — that’s one side of it. The other side is you work hard. The sacrifices you need to make to do what you need to do is great,” Laqui said. “But what’s worth it is that you get to do this, and that’s the whole point.”
LANDING THE DREAM JOB
Laqui dreamt of running away with Cirque for years before he was cast for his role as puppeteer in Toruk.
Sometimes it’s even hard for Laqui to believe he’s part of the Cirque world since it took him more than a decade to be cast for a show.
“It’s all been a dream come true,” he said. “I auditioned for Cirque 12 years ago as an actor and had been in their files. This is the project that came a decade or so later that I fit.”
The wait was worth it. His background as a puppeteer was noticed and he was chosen as the first puppeteer to work with Cirque full-time.
“It’s the first time Cirque has employed a puppet team because of the scale of the puppets and the way they are used,” Laqui said.
The puppets are large enough for the puppeteers to fit inside to control movement.
Those familiar with Avatar may recognize direhorses,d the viperwolves and Toruk. There also will be new creatures introduced in the show.
“They’re basically used throughout the entire show,” he said “If we’re doing our job right you won’t even know we’re there.”
Puppeteers are unusual in Cirque du Soleil shows, Vignola said, but during the design creation process of Toruk he saw a need.
“I put down all the names of the people I needed to handle the show and then I looked at my chart and said, ‘Wow, I’m using puppeteers all throughout the show.’” Vignola said. “I was hiring our acrobats to do the puppets, but I might as well hire real puppeteers. Why hire acrobats to learn to be puppeteers and not hire puppeteers right from the start?”
Vignola also cast a kite choreographer for the same reason. The show will feature many birds who will become animated in the air, including the Toruk.
“The kite act is so important to us so now I have a kite specialist who is a good mover and a bit of an acrobat too so he can do other stuff in the show,” Vignola said.
Toruk is breaking many more Cirque du Soleil molds. Vignola hired a two-person team of professionals known for video directing to use 40 projectors to cast images on the arena, the set and, at times, the audience.
The images along with the narrator will assist in storytelling.
“It kind of goes to show that you have to really commit to these things and they’ll happen if you direct your career and your life in that direction,” Laqui said. “You never know. I had no idea they were doing this show before I was cast. When they were describing the contract to me it was a perfect fit. I couldn’t have asked for any different experience.”
MAKING IT HAPPEN
For young audience members attending the show and imagining themselves twirling, spinning and flying with the other acrobats in Pandora, Laqui and Ohm said it takes time, dedication and strength to make it happen.
In Toruk, Ohm will play Tipani Chief, the leader of the Tipani clan.
Before joining the Cirque du Soleil company two years ago as an acrobat in the show “Light” in Las Vegas Ohm was a gymnast for 20 years. The technical experience helped to prepare her for Cirque, but she said the competitive nature of gymnastics is different from Cirque’s performance focus.
Before being cast for Light, she trained in aerial arts and reached out to others who worked with Cirque to learn the ropes.
Two years after Light, she finds transitioning from one Cirque show to the next can bring new learning experiences — Cirque shows are usually centered around acrobatics, but Toruk adds a deeper storyline requiring the performers to train in unexpected ways.
“With Toruk we’ve done a lot of investigating within ourselves and what our Na’vi character would be, so it’s more theatrical and emotional in addition to the acrobats,” Ohm said.
When not performing, Ohm is a freelance graphic designer. She encourages young performers to learn trades outside of the craft in order to have occupational options.
“Stay in school but pursue your dreams as well. You can do both, but it’s important to have an education,” she said.
It takes confidence, self-motivation and focus to make it in the performance world, Laqui said, and a lot of training. It also takes the strength to push through challenges and not get discouraged.
Despite challenges, the performers and director said it’s all worth it to be able to share their talents and the show with people all over the world. Plus, the job does come with its many perks — such as wearing the blue Na’vi costumes complete with Mohawk yarn hair, pointy ears and long tails.
“We have fun playing with our tails. It’s an interesting addition to our costumes — we trip over each other’s and our own,” Ohm said. “They get caught around the ropes and vines, but it’s been fun learning how to move with them and make them a part of ourselves.”
CREATING A DREAM WORLD
What’s made the Canadian production series Cirque du Soleil a hit since its official debut in 1984 is its unique spin on the traditional circus. Cirque began in big top circus style and continues to have similar-styled traveling shows. It’s also a longstanding entertainment staple in Las Vegas. But Cirque is different in that it’s centered more on the creative design and theatrics of the performers than many traditional circuses.
“It’s theatrical. People are going to come in and be immersed into the world of Pandora,” Ohm said. “They’re really going to feel like they’re in a whole universe that’s different than earth — different plants, different wildlife and Na’vi who aren’t humans.”
The show will be on the floor of the CenturyLink Center with the audience seating surrounding the setting.
“What’s also great about this arena is there really isn’t a bad seat,” Laqui said. “It’s a great sense of intimacy for the audience to really interact with the space.”
The initial rehearsals were for five weeks in Montreal, the home base for Cirque, but the company didn’t have the space needed to rehearse the entire show for the amount of time needed. They chose CenturyLink Center in Bossier City to layout the plans for the first run because of its technical and space offerings.
“It’s a nice place to be. The possibility to be at CenturyLink Center is a huge plus,” Vignola said. “We have the chance to be in a place where we can install everything. It has all the space we need..”
The creative team in Montreal trained the touring team before they hit the road to Bossier City with 26 semi-trucks full of the sets and enough supplies to stock a village. They will return to Montreal after a five-city test run for an official premiere Dec. 21.
Toruk is the seventh show Vignola has worked with in his 15 years with Cirque du Soleil. The new show posed new challenges for him since he and the other designers had to find a perfect balance of telling the story of Toruk in a way representative of both James Cameron and Cirque du Soleil’s vision and style.
“It’s a huge challenge. The expectation about Cirque is huge and (expectations of) Avatar are huge, so everyone’s waiting to see what we end up with,” he said. “Our goal is to make sure everyone who comes to see the show will be pleased whether they’re coming to see a Cirque show or an Avatar show.”
An added challenge was making something new and exciting for the audiences.
Vignola worked with the set designer and stage director to come up with the original design. Two years ago they presented the design to both parties.
“The first time it took us an hour and a half to present our idea and at the end (James Cameron) just looked at us and said, ‘You know, it’s over my expectations. I didn’t know you would go that far with your storyline.’” Vignola said. “He loved it. And since then we improved the story and it’s even better than what he saw.”
The Toruk team continues to work with Cameron and his production company, Lightstorm.
After design approval,Vignola and other directors moved forward to hire a wardrobe team, music composer, prop masters and others key roles for the crew. Next, he led the casting process for the acrobats, musicians, puppeteers, dancers and singers who would perform on stage.
Working with a group so diverse in talents, experience and backgrounds has been beneficial to Vignola — who can use the multi-faceted performers for various roles — and for Laqui who is taking this time to learn new skills.
“Just to work with the caliber of people with this company and this show has been absolutely mind blowing,” Laqui said. “You have a group of people who are so passionate about their work and want to do the work to share this with so many people. It’s awe-inspiring and it drives me to be better — a better performer, better puppeteer.”
To get to this point, Vignola said it takes determination, diligence and courage to live the Cirque life.
“I started Cirque by touring. My family and I went on tour for two years and I had to sell my house and car and I wasn’t scared,” Vignola said. “I’m probably here today because I was ready to do it. I took chances because it was the right thing to do at the time. Just take chances sometimes and go for it.”
{ SOURCE: The Shreveport Times | http://goo.gl/sRhftm }
