This year’s annual Cirque du Soleil one-night-only spectacular “One Night for One Drop: Quest for Water” has several new elements. It’s the first time that performers from other Strip productions will join Cirque artists. It’s the first time that British singer-songwriter Leona Lewis joins the cast along with young dancer Miles Brown of ABC’s “Black-ish.”
And it’s the first time that former “The Beatles Love” at the Mirage dancer and choreographer Hassan El Hajjami will be the show’s artistic director, and because he speaks from experience of caring for his grandmother in a water-less village in Morocco, the show will be named “Quest for Water.” In fact, in his contract with Cirque, he won the right to a funded water system for her village so that the residents there would have running water.
About 100 artists — 50 from Cirque and 50 from other Las Vegas shows, including “Jubilee” at Bally’s — will team up as the cast for the March 18 performance at the Smith Center. It’s an all-volunteer cast and crew with rehearsals now under way at the “Zarkana” stage at Aria led by Hassan, whose stage name is Haspop.
Q. This is quite the journey from a tiny, no-water village in Morocco to Las Vegas, Hassan. We, too, are a city in the desert!
Yes, it is. I have a story. When I was young, I was visiting my grandmother in Morocco. I was shocked by the fact she didn’t have water at home. I had to walk with her to the well every day to bring water back home. I was shocked because I was living in France, and it’s the same in America — we have everything. You have water, you brush your teeth, you wash your food, you do dishes, you bathe, everything. In Morocco, she didn’t have any access to running water in her home. Her quest, my quest for water, became the theme for this new fourth “One Drop” show. She lived in Moulay Yacoub, a smaller village in the center of Morocco. We had a donkey, and I walked with her three miles to the well. It was six miles back and forth every day.
Q. You were born in France, lived in Morocco and made it to America and Cirque?
Yes, born in France, and I live in America. I came to Cirque for “The Beatles Love” show at the Mirage. I was cast in 2005. I performed 2,000 shows from 2005 to 2009 and ended my run there in June 2009. Afterward, I went to Los Angeles, where I did “America’s Got Talent,” then “France’s Got Talent” as a hip-hop dancer. I went on tour because I was very popular in Japan, Hong Kong and Venezuela. Cirque called me back to take part in an earlier “One Drop” show and for the opening of “Zarkana” here and their show at Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. Then back to Paris for the big TV show “The Star.” I was the coach and judge of 14 kids who had to sing and dance with a celebrity.
Q. You were selected from your submission for this year’s “One Drop.” How do you make it different from the past three years? Is that the biggest challenge?
What I put onstage is my personal story. I think it’s powerful. All the directors have very different views. I’m French-Moroccan, so I think I have this side of a French-Moroccan view with European theater, too. We’re going to see how powerful I can make the message within the entertainment. I’m confident but very stressed out! I’m going to put all my energy and effort to have the best show so I can help to have clean water for the charity and the children.
Q. Your village back home in Morocco now has water?
My contract with Cirque when I was working at “Love” was I was able to provide for my family. We have running water in the house there now. My grandmother passed away three years ago, but she got to use the running water.
Q. So that is the dream, the vision of the new show? Your personal experience sparked it all? Nine-year-old hip-hop dancer Miles Brown, who plays Mice on ABC’s “Black-ish,” emulates your own story?
That’s the vision of when I was a little boy walking for water. I put some dream sequence into it because the child is going to fall down the water hole. He gets to see the world of his imagination, and he’s going to go through a troubled world. Maybe he’s going to come back. We will find out on March 18 what’s going to happen.
Q. You saw “One Drop” last year under another director, and now you’re moving out of a Cirque home-base theater and into the Smith Center. There are a lot of different things this year?
For me it’s a challenge to have the Smith Center because it’s not a Cirque stage. Fortunately, I’m from Europe where the theater is a black square, so that part is normal. So far we have 100 artists, and half of my cast is from Cirque, the other half is from other Las Vegas shows. We did a workshop audition. We selected 50 from the 300 people who came. It’s a mix and match of artists, including with a “Jubilee” dancer right after their show closes Feb. 11.
Q. Is difficult to take people who are not Cirque and put them with Cirque?
They have the opportunity to work with us and to be able to test Cirque: How it goes, how we work on staging and choreography. I think it’s a big experience for them, and they can be seen by casting people from Cirque and maybe get cast from their current job to be put into a Cirque show. There are different disciplines between Cirque and other shows. Everybody has been doing well, though. We have a nice cast. That’s why we did this audition, to find the best. I didn’t take an artist just because they are an artist. I chose them because they have charisma and express something I would like to have onstage. It’s like more like expression. You can be the best at what you do, but onstage it’s very different. You have to have this explosion of happiness and shine. You have to shine onstage. I’m very picky on how I choose my artists.
Q. How many choreographers for this year’s “One Drop”?
So far four because I’m also a choreographer. We have an African choreographer, we have an aerialist choreographer and dance hip-hop choreographer and me. I do a little bit of everything.
Q. I always think for “One Drop,” it starts out sad because you drive home the terrible realization that there are people in the world who do not have water, not even access to it. Does it end on a happy note here?
It ends on a happy note, but you’re going to feel the sadness in some of my tableaux because that’s the reality. I’m not going to shy away from the reality of what’s happening today.
Q. How bad is it for somebody who turns on the tap and realizes that there’s no water? How bad is it to live without water?
I was living with water in France and America, but when I was in Morocco, I was asking, “How is it possible that you don’t have any water at home?” I was shocked. It’s so bad because you usually have water at home, and that’s it. You can do whatever you want. My grandmother was old and walking to get water. It was bizarre. When I see my own kids opening the tap, I ask what they’re doing and to calm down because we don’t have water in Morocco. I explain to them how it’s bad to not have water. You have to be careful how you use water today. That’s the message, but it does end on a happy note. Leona will sing for the last song, and it’s going to be a happy song.
{ SOURCE: Robin Leach, Las Vegas Sun | http://goo.gl/3amFzB }
