======================================================================= ______ _ __ _ __ / ____/___ ___________(_)___ ____ _/ /_(_)___ ____ / / / /_ / __ '/ ___/ ___/ / __ \/ __ '/ __/ / __ \/ __ \/ / / __/ / /_/ (__ ) /__ / / / / /_/ / /_/ / /_/ / / / /_/ /_/ \__,_/____/\___/_/_/ /_/\__,_/\__/_/\____/_/ /_(_) T h e U n o f f i c i a l C i r q u e d u S o l e i l N e w s l e t t e r ------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.CirqueFascination.com ------------------------------------------------------------ ======================================================================= VOLUME 18, NUMBER 3 March 2018 ISSUE #170 ======================================================================= Welcome to the latest edition of Fascination, the Unofficial Cirque du Soleil Newsletter. * * * PARAMOUR IS BACK! * * * And here I thought the facelift Mystere's Alice the Snail received would be the talk of fan circles (and it was), or that adding Cyr Wheel to Totem and Volta would get fans talking (it did at that), but actually the bigger news is that PARAMOUR is back! Well, almost. Stage Entertainment recently put out a casting notice for "The European Premiere of Paramour for Spring 2019 in Hamburg, Germany!" They're currently looking for singers, actors, and dancers. Rumors for Paramour re-surfacing in Germany kicked up the moment the closing announcement was made, but it looks like it's finally happening folks! Stay tuned! * * * ONE HELLUVA NIGHT FOR ONE DROP * * * Although yours truly could not be there, a number of my friends were in the house for the sixth annual "One Night For One Drop" show on Friday, March 2nd at the MJ ONE Theater at Mandalay Bay, and what a night it was for them! (I'm slightly jealous, but what can you do?) Jewel was at the center of the special performance (see her stunning costume here: http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=11306 - the gown, designed by Sandra Fox and created by Randy Handley, embodies the spirit of Alaska's wildlife (where Jewel is from); the entertainer will act as a "Source" and "ethereal guide" for Nukka, the show's main character, but we'll learn a bit more about that later on.) The event was again a grassroots effort driven by the extended Cirque du Soleil family. Nicky and Laetitia Dewhurst of "Zumanity" directed the performance, with composition and music direction from Jean-Francois Blais (also of "Zumanity"). The production unspooled Jewel's remark- able life story, from a budding folk artist in Homer, Alaska, a wilderness town of 5,000; through struggles while living out of her car and chasing gigs in L.A., to her breakthrough with "Pieces of You" in 1995, and through her current role as artist, philanthropist, and mother. "Working with the Cirque team has been an incredible experience in art and craftsmanship," Jewel told People Magazine just before the show. "The people are all incredible. The way I am being transformed into a whole new person. I feel like a princess, or more like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz." The show drew from Jewel's ups and downs throughout her life and career. "This is a story inspired by events in my life, about family, the search for love, abandonment and betrayal but ultimately the power to forgive the soul," she says. All proceeds from the show went to One Drop, an international non-profit foundation started by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté that provides access to safe water. "For me, water is like love. With it, we flourish. Without it, we wither," says Jewel. "But love, like water, is a renewable source if we know where to look and how to care for it." Learn more about ONE NIGHT FOR ONE DROP 6 within. * * * CORTEO RE-LAUNCHES! * * * On Monday, February 19th, Cirque du Soleil held a conference to kick- off Corteo's North American arena tour to the press. (You can watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/Corteo/videos/10155242511306179/) While the press conference took place in Quebec City, QC (where the troupe has been practicing these last few weeks), the tour officially launched in Louisiana on March 2nd. Since 2013, Cirque du Soleil has launched four of its arena shows in Louisiana - Varekai (2013), TORUK (2015), OVO (2016), and Crystal (2017) - and returned to New Orleans this month to re-launch the North American tour of Corteo. Have you ever wondered why Cirque du Soleil has made Louisiana a major hub for its pre-production and a launching point for its arena tours in recent years? The answer is simple: tax credits. The company is a participant in the Musical and Theatrical Production Tax Credit program offered by Louisiana Entertainment, a division of Louisiana Economic Development (LED). "Our creative culture, talented entertainment workforce and many state-of-the-art facilities make Louisiana an ideal location for live performance productions such as this," LED Secretary Don Pierson said. "It is no surprise that Cirque du Soleil has found such success in starting its touring productions here." "In addition to the professional support and assistance provided by the management teams at Louisiana arenas, our touring troupes appreciate the warm hospitality, excellent local cuisine, and skilled technical labor in Louisiana," said David Pitman, Cirque du Soleil's director of tour planning and arena shows. "The Musical and Theatrical Production Tax Credit is a unique program which encourages Cirque du Soleil to choose Louisiana as the location where our arena productions are brought to life." As a participant in Louisiana Entertainment's live performance program, Cirque du Soleil's show launches have accounted for more than $20 million in spending in the state and 450 Louisiana resident jobs created. For the current Corteo show, Cirque du Soleil estimates Louisiana expenditures of $2.5 million, including employment for 50 Louisiana residents. Louisiana's unique tax incentive for musical and theatrical productions provides tax credits ranging from 7 percent to 18 percent on certified in-state expenditures, plus an additional 7 percent tax credit for certified payroll expenditures for Louisiana residents. Projects are subject to a $1 million cap per year. In either case, good luck to the cast and crew of Corteo! * * * ABOUT TORUK'S POP UP BUILDING * * * Cirque du Soleil opened a stadium show in southern China in January, in a building designed to be trucked away in pieces after the 120th performance ends on May 1. Sanya, a resort city on the southern shore of China's Hainan Island, didn't have a building that could handle the show, physically or technically. Cirque, which did a couple of productions in Europe in rented pop-ups last summer, bought a portable modular stadium from Spantech, a European company that specializes in non-permanent buildings. Cirque's portable stadium for Toruk is about the size of a football field, though it can be expanded or made smaller at will. It seats 3,500, as compared to the 6,000 that could be fit in at Bell Centre, or the 2,500 that Cirque can accommodate in the peaked tents it uses for smaller, less technically demanding shows. Etienne Allard, Cirque's director of infrastructure, says that 3,500 is actually an optimal crowd size for Toruk, and makes for a more intimate experience. That impression is further enhanced, he says, by draping curtains around the curved stands, creating a concert-bowl shape within the shed-like, rectangular building. The pop-up arena took two weeks to set up, and though it's warm in Sanya right now, the aluminum-clad arena is insulated for cold weather and can handle a snow load. "We could set it up in Montreal in winter," Mr. Allard says. * * * SOMETHING DIFFERENT: ZUMANITY WEDDINGS * * * How's that old saying go? Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue? Bah who needs that! Are you looking to spice up your wedding just a bit? How about a Zumanity Wedding by Cirque du Soleil? Cirque has been offering weddings at Zumanity since the beginning of 2016, but we've just recently began seeing ads on social media advertising the experience. We just couldn't resist asking a couple of questions about it, and received prompt attention by the resident show division crew in Las Vegas. "Your love is unique and extraordinary," the pamphlet I was sent begins. "At Zumanity, we not only understand but celebrate that! Our 'Mistress of Sensuality, Edie' will perform your marriage ceremony in the intimate and dramatic lobby of our beautiful Zumanity Theater, where two additional artists from our show will escort you down the aisle and rejoice in your union. Enjoy the show afterwards from VIP seating in one of our special 'Love Seat' sofas, where your love and commitment will fill your hearts as our sexy acrobats, soaring aerialists, and zany clowns dazzle your senses. Available to adults 18+, a Zumanity Wedding is a wedding experience that will leave everyone talking about the unexpectedly sexy and risqué way you chose to tie the knot!" Here's what's included in the Zumanity Wedding package: o) Intimate ceremony performed by our “Mistress of Sensuality, Edie” in the lobby of the Zumanity Theater o) Escort by two (2) Zumanity artists o) Professional Photo/Video package by Cashman Photo: o) Dedicated photographer o) High resolution images for archiving and printing o) Web resolution images for social media sharing o) Online ordering of prints and photo products o) A High Definition video of the ceremony o) A live “webcast” of your ceremony with 30 days of replay o) Keepsake Marriage Certificate + official certificate filing with the State of Nevada** o) Sparkling Wine Toast (for participants age 21+) o) 2 VIP Sofa Seats (Category A) to watch the show. (Additional guests, 18+ of age, are welcome to purchase show tickets separately.) Naturally there are some caveats, such as other Zumanity MCs will be substituted as necessary in case Edie is not available. And that parties to be married are responsible for obtaining an official Marriage License from the Clark County Marriage License Bureau, and must present prior to the ceremony along with government-issue photo identification. (And that's because the "keepsake certificate" is for souvenir purposes only. If needed, the couple must request legal copy of the Marriage Certificate from the Clark County Clerk beginning up to 15 days post-ceremony.) Do all that and your Zumanity marriage will be legal and binding in the State of Nevada! So, how do you get in on the action? It's pretty easy. Check out the following link - https://goo.gl/Eg63GG - find the "Inquire Now" button and click. An email will be auto-generated to the Zumanity team who are ready to check with show management on availability for the date you choose! Are you ready for the price? $3,500 inclusive of taxes and fees. So what are you waiting for! (Note, weddings are held prior to the 7:00pm performance only. Not available on Wednesday or Thursdays. Arrive at 5:45pm on the date you choose to keep everyone on schedule. Ceremony at 6:00pm. Package contract must be completed and paid in full three days prior to ceremony.) * * * IN THE ISSUE * * * We continue our look back at classic show critiques with reviews of Quidam from 1997 and 1998, leap into the heart of CRYSTAL through texts from the show's press kit, and check out One Night for One Drop via articles, Q&A's, reviews, and text from the program book only given out at the one-of-a-kind show. Okay, so let's go! /----------------------------------------------------\ | | | Join us on the web at: | | < www.cirquefascination.com > | | | | At CirqueCast: | | < http://www.cirquecast.com/ > | | | | Realy Simple Syndication (RSS) Feed (News Only): | | < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?feed=rss2 > | | | \----------------------------------------------------/ - Ricky "Richasi" Russo =========== CONTENTS =========== o) Cirque Buzz -- News, Rumours & Sightings * La Presse -- General News & Highlights * Q&A -- Quick Chats & Press Interviews o) Itinéraire -- Tour/Show Information * BigTop Shows -- Under the Grand Chapiteau * Arena Shows -- In Stadium-like venues * Resident Shows -- Performed en Le Théâtre o) Outreach -- Updates from Cirque's Social Widgets * Webseries -- Official Online Featurettes * Videos -- Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds o) Fascination! Features * "WHO WILL SAVE YOUR SOUL?" - A Special Collection of Articles about One Night for One Drop 2018 * "CARVING CRYSTAL: Melding Circus Arts and Ice Sports" Texts from the Press Kit Edited By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) * "We're Off and Running - A Series of Classic Critiques" Part 10 of 16: Quidam, Part 1 (1996-1997) By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) o) Copyright & Disclaimer ======================================================================= CIRQUE BUZZ -- NEWS, RUMOURS & SIGHTINGS ======================================================================= *************************************************************** LA PRESSE -- General News & Highlights *************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------- Visionary Violinist and Composer Meg Okura To Release Two Albums this Spring {Feb.06.2018} ------------------------------------------------------- Established violinist and composer Meg Okura ushers in the Spring season with two new recordings: NPO Trio Live at The Stone, the debut album from NPO Trio, which features Okura on violin, alongside Sam Newsome on soprano saxophone and Jean-Michel Pilc on piano, out Friday, March 15, and IMA IMA, which features The Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble with Tom Harrell out Sunday, May 13. While Live at The Stone introduces the impressive tightly-knit trio, who as a group weave through musical idioms of jazz and classical – from impressionism to minimalism, blues to free jazz, IMA successfully blends the musical cultures of East and West for a new and exciting direction in modern jazz expression. With this highly-anticipated double release, Okura showcases both her truly versatile musicality. IMA IMA will be celebrated at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola on August 20th. Newly established avant-garde and world music label, Chant Records is excited to announce the arrival of NPO Trio with the release of Live at The Stone, which was recorded by the trio, led by Meg Okura during her residency at The Stone in the East Village, New York in April of 2016. Following the 2017 release of a duo album by Sam Newsome and Jean-Michel Pilc, Magic Circle, the duo multiplied its dimensions by adding the violinist to their line-up. NPO Trio is now a dynamic group of like-minded friends celebrating freedom of expression through music and sounds. Although the music presented by these three is improvisational, listeners will also hear hints of familiar melodies including well-known Yiddish songs and even excerpts of John Coltrane. Okura explains that she has always felt emotionally connected to Yiddish melodies. The melodies are always sad and happy at the same time (typically a minor melody with major chords), just like the Japanese expression of happy sad. Reminiscing upon her childhood, Okura recalls consoling herself by truly believing that, "…sadness is absolutely necessary for me to experience true happiness in the future. And everytime I hear Jewish songs, it reminds me of my childhood." The entire concert at The Stone consisted of three extensive improvisational parts. The first part, which is 38 minutes in total, is divided into 6 shorter segments, each given individual titles for the purpose of this album. The melody often quoted during these first six tracks is a famous Yiddish song by Mark Warshawsky (1848-1907), "Oyfn Pripetchik". The song is about a rabbi teaching his children about the value of education and perseverance. It also mentions exodus, reminding us of the sacrifices made by our ancestors, which presents us with the freedom we have today. Track 7, "Unkind Gestures" is a shorter improvisation, which pays homage to John Coltrane's Giant Steps. With unique instrumentation including Shinobue (Japanese flute) IMA IMA brings together some of New York's finest jazz artists including Sam Newsome, Pablo Aslan, Brian Marsalsa, Anne Drummond, Brian Marsella and Riza Printup as well as special guest trumpeter Tom Harrell. Hailed by the New York Times as "vibrant" and "sophisticated", Okura's Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble presents IMA IMA as a celebration of womanhood, particularly motherhood. Okura became an Ima (meaning mother in Hebrew) seven years ago, so along with being a tribute to Okura's grandmother, who recently passed away, it is only fitting that IMA IMA will be released on Mother's Day this year. Okura explains that although many refer to this period of time as an interruption, she prefers to regard it as a constant state of disruptions. "The earliest compositions on this album being the ones from my pregnancy period only support that claim. However, I do not believe motherhood has had a negative impact on my music." Okura explains that disruptions forced her to think more creatively and resourcefully, and so inevitably made her music stronger. It inspired the Japanese native towards integrity, and excellence in her composition, improvisation and performance. Being anything other than the first-rate was not acceptable. "The last thing I wanted to do as a mother was to use motherhood as an excuse for not being able to achieve excellence." Ima Ima -(L'dor Vador) by The Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble was supported by New Music USA, made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Anonymous. To follow the project as it unfolds, visit the project page: https://www.newmusicusa.org MORE ABOUT MEG OKURA Formerly a concert violinist, Okura made her U.S. solo debut at the Kennedy Center with the late Alexander Schneider's New York String Orchestra. She then moved to New York City and earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in classical violin from The Julliard School. Advancing her career as a jazz violinist while at the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles, Okura was soloist and the concertmaster for the orchestra backing up Herbie Hancock, Shirley Horn, Diana Krall, and Terence Blanchard, under the batons of music icons as Quincy Jones, Jerry Goldsmith, and Jack Elliot. Okura quickly became one of the most sought-after violinists on New York City's music scene, appearing on dozens of recordings with a wide range of artists including David Bowie, Lee Konitz, Diane Reeves, Heidi Grand-Murphy, Sam Newsome, Jesse Harris, Jeremy Pelt, Ziggy Marley and many more. She has toured internationally with the late Michael Brecker, Steve Swallow, Tom Harrell, appearing at venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Barbican, Madison Square Garden, Village Vanguard, Blue Note Tokyo, Hollywood Bowl and at numerous festivals and concert halls around the world. In 2016, Okura held a week-long residency at the Stone in New York City, performing and presenting 12 concerts with her 10 different groups. Recipient of numerous grants and awards including Metlife Creative Connections Grant (Meet The Composer), Brand Personality Award (Asia Pacific Brands Foundation), Manhattan Community Arts Fund (Lower Manhattan Cultural Council), Jerome Composers Commissioning Program (American Composers Forum), and most recently, New Music USA Project Grant, Okura has also composed/ arranged for several film and television programs such as The Congregation (documentary) and Louie (TV series), as well as, the New York Symphonic Ensemble, Sirius String Quartet, and C. Eule Dance. She has herself also appeared on many movie soundtracks as a violinist, and erhu player, has been featured in three Cirque du Soleil productions (Varekai, Wintuk and Corteo), and has collaborated and performed with Oscar nominee actor and Columbia recording artist Terrence Howard. For the past ten years, Okura has also been a member of a Jewish/Middle Eastern band "Pharaoh's Daughter" led by ex- orthodox singer-songwriter and cantor Basya Schechter. { SOURCE: Jazz Corner | https://goo.gl/tiDvtz } ------------------------------------------------------- 'Her America': Twin performers featured in campaign {Feb.13.2018} ------------------------------------------------------- Elsie Smith and Serenity Smith Forchion, the identical twin sisters known best for founding a world-class circus school in Brattleboro, are now getting some attention for their personal outlooks in a new online video campaign called "Her America." "Throughout this project, we were seeking ways to portray the complexity of American women today, after the 2016 election," Lea Goldman, Lifetime editor and chief, told the Reformer. "We really wanted to talk to women who were living many realities of the American political and social debates, women who bridged what seemed like opposing sides." The goal, she said, was to amplify "the voices that go unheard and unrecognized." From Arizona's first female Asian American state senator to a disabled gun enthusiast in Wyoming, "Her America" spans the political and social spectrum. Spots from the campaign started airing on Lifetime on Monday night and will be shared on the network's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. A production team of more than 20 women talked with women from every state. Subjects were asked: "If you could broadcast your story to the world, what would you share?" "We scoured the country to find stories," Goldman said. "College papers, local radio stations, word of mouth. Sometimes, we showed up in a community and just asked around. Every town in this country has a woman everyone just knows. Our stories touch upon all the subjects women talk about when they are among their girlfriends or sisters - the challenges of marriage, our complicated relationships with our mothers, the hustle to pay the bills, sex. All of it." Goldman called Elsie Smith and Serenity Smith Forchion, the twins who once worked with Cirque de Soleil and founded the New England Center for Circus Arts in Brattleboro, "dynamic women business owners, performers and enthusiasts of rural living." "We found all of their realities fascinating - especially their candid ability to talk about life as twins, making parallel but very different life choices," she said, noting that Elsie chooses to live in a "tiny house" to reduce her carbon footprint and not have children while Serenity has three kids. "They live right next door to each other, run a business together and perform in tandem. Their choices, that often seem so large for women, were in fact just one factor in a complex and shared life." Goldman said the twins shared that they vote for Democrats on the national level but sometimes vote Republican in local elections. "They favor local Republicans who are socially open-minded but fiscally conservative," she added. To watch their segment, visit heramerica.com/film/elsie-and-serenity- vermont-brattleboro-film-page. Serenity considers herself a very private person when it comes to family, politics and herself. "It took a lot of consideration for me to say yes to this type of exposure," she told the Reformer. "But I am coming to realize that when I am gifted the opportunity to speak up, I am not being who I need to be for my children if I demure." She hopes the video campaign will "inspire the normalization of speaking up and having a personal perspective in a generous, nonjudgmental conversation." "I am concerned that too many times we tell our stories to the people who already know the story, already know the answers, already agree," she said. "How can we connect with the 'other,' how can I hear from the 'other?'" Elsie said she is happy to share her unique story with others but often worries about how her words will be translated in the media. She hopes the exposure might spark more interest in NECCA. "It's a place where magic is normal and transformation is an everyday experience, and I think we need this in the high stress and argumentative world we find ourselves in now," she said. "Circus is only possible with teamwork and collaboration, and you have to be respectful of and work with other people's strengths and weaknesses. You can't argue and demean and put down and talk at each other or circus just doesn't happen." Elsie said she feels like a "pretty normal person," aware some might laugh at the statement. "I may have grown up in a log cabin without electricity and run away to join the circus before coming home to live in a 'tiny house' with a pig farmer and start one of the most respected circus schools in the world but I am just like so many other people," she said. "I work hard, I want the best for the people around me, I care about the image I project to the world, I am saddened by the troubles I see around me, I struggle with how I can be the best citizen of the country and the world, and I want to make a difference. I worry about money, I question how I can afford health insurance, I shovel snow and cook and clean and manage a household. My story is really not that different than anyone else, and perhaps by being so normal while being sort of extraordinary, that will help people to hear how we are all so much the same. We have so much common ground to connect on." { SOURCE: Brattleboro Reformer | https://goo.gl/tyKby3 } ------------------------------------------------------- Guy Laliberté Dishes One Night For One Drop {Mar.02.2018} ------------------------------------------------------- Each year, a visual extravaganza descends on Las Vegas in the form of One Night for One Drop, an annual philanthropic event in which Cirque du Soleil cast and crew donate their talent and time to create a unique and breathtaking theatrical in support of One Drop, an international non-profit organization dedicated to providing access to safe water. Tonight is the night for that extravaganza, as the 6th edition of the fundraiser-this year inspired by the life and music of the artist, Jewel, takes place at the Michael Jackson ONE Theatre at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. It will benefit those without access to safe water around the world as well as local projects in Southern Nevada focusing on innovative educational programs through tickets sold, as well as auction items like an exclusive Audemars Piguet timepiece that was custom-made for One Drop; ticket to the Monaco Grand Prix; ten flight hours on the Bombardier Challenger 350 aircraft; and an exclusive getaway at Guy's Hawaiian estate. In advance of the event, we sat down with Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté-a visionary, accordionist, stilt-walker, fire-eater, creative guide, philanthropist (he's helped to raise $30M to support One Drop's mission since creating the event in 2013), and first Canadian private space explorer: His mission was dedicated to raising awareness on water issues facing humankind on planet earth. Under the theme Moving Stars and Earth for Water, this first Poetic Social Mission in space aimed at touching people through an artistic approach: a special 120-minute webcast program featuring various artistic performances unfolding in 14 cities on five continents, including the International Space Station. Here, this creative genius speaks to Haute Living about his event, giving back, and how he manages to consistently find so much wonder in a world that seems darker every day. Q. Why did you decide to create your own foundation? Giving back is an essential aspect of my desire to help build a better world. This mentality has always been a part of my DNA. Deciding to build my own foundation in 2007 was a natural decision at that point in my life and in Cirque du Soleil's. I truly believe that philanthropy and social responsibility should be an integral part of any business and should be treated with the same result-oriented approach as any other line on the budget. At Cirque, from day one, we started laying the groundwork towards becoming a truly responsible corporate citizen and we started finding creative ways of giving back. Since the inception of One Drop, Cirque has always been instrumental to the foundation. Our One Night for One Drop annual event in Las Vegas is the best proof of it and shows how much Cirque continues to be involved in our mission. Q. Why is the cause so personally important to you? Needless to say, water is essential to life, and knowing that so many people around the world live without this resource at hand has always been unimaginable for me. Every single minute a child dies from diseases caused by contaminated water and poor hygiene. And worldwide, 2.1 billion people don't have access to safe water at home. Can you stop for just one second and imagine what it would be like to live without water? Or to watch your child get sick because there's no fresh water around? The United Nations recently defined 17 Sustainable Development Goals that could transform the world. Goal 6 is to ensure access to water and sanitation for all by 2030. But as the situation stands now, there is still tremendous work to be done. At One Drop, we've made it our mission to do our part in providing access to safe water to as many people as possible in the world's most vulnerable communities. Because we know that water is an active and powerful force; and that when it is used wisely, it can change the world. Q. When and how did you make the conscious decision to create One Night For One Drop? Because Cirque has such an important and predominant presence in Las Vegas with seven different productions on The Strip, there is an incredible variety of talent available; and Las Vegas being in the desert and having its own water related issues, the community is very aware and close to the problems of water. So, it became obvious that we had all the right elements aligned to create a successful fundraising event over there. One morning, in 2011, I met with the team and asked what can we do collaboratively for One Drop, and we decided that a one-night performance would be a great way to celebrate the power of water. So I said: "Let's paint the strip blue!", and we did! In 2013, the first One Night for One Drop event took place and it was a huge success. Because all the other productions go dark for one night, everybody can come together to create, perform, collaborate and volunteer in this global philanthropy event. This year, we're proud to be celebrating the 10th year anniversary of One Drop and the sixth edition of One Night for One Drop. Q. This year's event is inspired by Jewel. What in particular speaks to you personally in terms of Jewel's life and music? I don't know Jewel personally but I know part of her life story. Starting at a young age, she had to survive and thrive under extremely difficult circumstances. Nothing came easy and she had to put in a lot of hard work from living on the streets to becoming a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter. That resonates with me. But furthermore, it's her awareness and investment in the cause of water that made her a perfect ambassador. Having grown up on a farm where she didn't have water at home, and as a homeless person with kidney problems that required her to drink a lot fresh water which she didn't have access to, that made her realize the importance of this resource and she started Project Clean Water to give people around the world access to clean water. This year, Jewel has partnered with One Night for One Drop, to donate funds, and offer her music and life story to help bring this precious resource to those in need. Q. Last year's event was a circus narrative involving time travel. What's in store for guests at this year's event? Last year's performance had and evocative theme, a grumpy old circus ringmaster, representing mankind, looking back on his life hoping there would be a way to right his wrongs, in a way showing how we as people are mistreating the earth. The show was created by writer director team Nicky and Laetitia Dewhurst, and after the enormous success of last year's show we asked them to take on the challenge of creating One Night for One Drop 2018. This year we can expect something completely different because the show is inspired by the life story of Jewel. Nicki and Laetitia have taken relatable themes from her life such as love, family, betrayal and the courage to forgive and have woven them into this incredible new production with the landscape of Alaska, where Jewel grew up, as the background. Q. How do you keep testing yourself, and keep your life full of wonder in the way of Cirque du Soleil? For me, it's always been about using our imagination to create amazing things, allowing people to let their creativity flow and to come up with new ideas and new projects with very limited boundaries; and eventually, being able to reach the next level because you've tried something no one else dared. At Lune Rouge, the new company I founded in 2015, the guiding principle is to promote innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. We invest in the development of projects with a focus on technology, arts, entertainment and real estate, as well as on initiatives that generate positive social and environmental impacts. Q. What to you is the greatest luxury in life and why? At the risk of sounding mortal (laugh…), spending quality time with my family, being around my kids, that is truly the ultimate luxury. At the end of the day, it's the only thing that makes you feel complete. { SOURCE: Haute Living | https://goo.gl/LRJuzz } *************************************************************** Q&A -- Quick Chats & Press Interviews *************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------- Cal McCrystal – "Britain's funniest director" {Feb.09.2018} ------------------------------------------------------- Cal McCrystal – once dubbed "Britain's funniest director" – is more in demand than ever. And the next project of this master of the comic set piece is to stage Gilbert and Sullivan's 1882 operetta Iolanthe for the English National Opera. The clowning veteran has an impressive back catalogue as an actor, director and physical comedy consultant for stage and screen, but Iolanthe – about a confrontation between the House of Lords and the fairy kingdom – is only his second operatic production. His first came in 2014, when he directed an adaptation of Haydn's Il Mondo Della Luna (Life on the Moon) for English Touring Opera. It proved a useful introduction for staging the art form because he learned how the relationship with the conductor works – "what belongs to him and what belongs to you," he says. "It was also valuable in allowing me to see how versatile singers are these days. I did a very physical production and the singers were keen to develop the breadth to be able to run around and fall over while they were singing." Then, 18 months ago, ENO's artistic director Daniel Kramer invited him to stage one of Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas. "He said: 'Which one do you want to do? Don't say Pirates or Mikado, because we already have those in the rep.' So I read and listened to them all and Iolanthe was the one I thought I'd have the most fun with," says McCrystal. Over the course of his career working in film and theatre, he has become known for his particular style of comedy, which will feature prominently in Iolanthe. Its origins lie in his training: three years on an acting course, at what is now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, were followed by further studies with master clowns Pierre Byland and Philippe Gaulier. "I'm very happy for it to be described as physical comedy, or even clowning," McCrystal says. "I started directing shows with physical clowns and we developed our style together. The difference was, unlike most of those people, I also had a Shakespeare/Chekhov conservatoire training, so I tend to mix the two. "When I do Alan Bennett or Joe Orton or Alan Ayckbourn I bring in these physical elements. I don't think the big laughs come from clever lines – I think you laugh when people fall over, or fall down stairs, or whatever it is." He first directed theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe. In 1996 he worked on Let the Donkey Go, which became a festival hit, and with the Mighty Boosh and clown company Spymonkey, as well as creating comedy routines for Cirque du Soleil. Nicholas Hytner asked him to join the National Theatre as associate director in 2011 to work on One Man, Two Guvnors to mastermind the physical comedy for the show. He continued to be in demand and even consulted on the physical comedy in films including The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and both Paddington movies, which included providing facial expressions for the bear from darkest Peru. How has his approach to comedy influenced Iolanthe? "Some might say I've gone too far in places, but I know exactly where those places are and I'm not tempted to pull back. I've added a few extra gags to the dialogue without touching the lyrics or the period – so no Brexit jokes." This means potentially new challenges for the ENO's principals and chorus. He says: "I am pushing them physically but they love the challenge. Every day has been enormous fun. Aside from the very complex choreography they have to learn, the biggest challenge is to simplify. I want all the performers to strip back. Don't play it like a comedy – play it as if you believe it and allow the audience to laugh at you." Q. What was your first non-theatre job? As a teenager, I worked in my local pet shop on Saturdays. I earned £3 a day. Loadsamoney! Q. What was your first professional theatre job? I spent two years presenting children programmes for ITV. Q. What's your next job? Back to my beloved Giffords Circus for our 2018 show, My Beautiful Circus. Q. What do you wish someone had told you when you were starting out? That I would still be happily working in the industry 37 years later. Q. Who or what was your biggest influence? Mel Brooks. Laurel and Hardy. Philippe Gaulier. The performers I work with. Q. What's your best advice for auditions? Don't be scared. We want you to be good. Q. If you hadn't been a director, what would you have been? Hopefully, I would have continued to perfom. Occasionally, McCrystal admits to seeing eyebrows raised at how far he pushes the material. "In the first half there's a very beautiful duet for Strephon and Phyllis and the performers are singing it just as they should, sitting on a tree stump looking into each other's eyes. But I can't just have that and so I have a lot of sheep coming in behind them." We had real sheep in the promo video I made and I'll never work with them again. That's official. Giving away one of the show's secrets, he admits these will not, in fact, be real sheep. "We had real sheep in the promo video I made and I'll never work with them again. That's official." Of course, he has consulted his colleagues. "I said to the conductor, Timothy Henty: 'Where in this beautiful piece of music do you forbid me to get a laugh?' He said: 'I'd rather you didn't do it on this a cappella, or on this harmony, but here, here, here and here would be fine' – and the places he identified were exactly the places I wanted them." Gilbert and Sullivan is, of course, definitely comic opera and McCrystal is clear he is hoping for plenty of laughter in the house. "I'm not just spending my time saying: 'Oh, there's a laugh on that line, put a pause before it'. I'm stuffing it with jokes that are more about our production than what is in the text. I love the text and I hope I'm bringing out every laugh that's there, but I'm also adding our own." What about people who are not sure whether the creators' work is for them? "I'm trying to make a show that everyone will love. I hope that people who have never seen Iolanthe before will say: 'Oh my God, is this Gilbert and Sullivan? When's the next one?'" CV: Cal Mccrystal Born: 1959, Belfast Training: Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Ecole Philippe Gaulier Landmark productions: Cooped, Spymonkey (2001), Stiff, Spymonkey (2000), Let The Donkey Go, Peepolykus (1996), The Mighty Boosh, Edinburgh Fringe (1998), Varekai, Cirque du Soleil (2002), Zumanity, Cirque du Soleil (2013), One Man, Two Guvnors, National Theatre (2012), Office Party, Barbican (2008), Don Quixote, Royal Shakespeare Company (2015) Awards: Perrier award for best newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards for The Mighty Boosh Agent: Troika ------------------------------------------------------- A Q&A w/Alanna Baker - OVO's Black Spider {Feb.17.2018} ------------------------------------------------------- Cirque du Soleil is the largest theatrical producer in the world, worth nearly one billion Canadian dollars and known internationally for spectacular shows that have played every single continent on planet Earth, bar Antarctica. Since its inception – over 30 years ago – Cirque du Soleil has won numerous awards including four Primetime Emmys, a Bambi, a Rose d'Or, three Drama Desk Awards and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Here Mandy News talks to one of the company's busy acrobats Alanna Baker, who has enjoyed touring the world as a Cirque du Soleil character for five years. Q. Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about how you got into the industry? I'm Alanna Baker. I'm 25 years old and from West Sussex, England. For the past five years, I have been working for Cirque du Soleil, touring Australia, Taiwan, Japan and North America. In addition to my role as an acrobatic character, I also have the backup act of the show, on Cerceau (aerial hoop). Q. How did you become involved with Cirque du Soleil? And please tell us more about the OVO show! Where do I start?! When I was eight years old, I saw my first Cirque du Soleil show, Dralion, in London at the Royal Albert Hall and that's when my dream first started. I said to my parents that's what I wanted to do when I'm older. Of course, for them they thought this was a long shot but were happy to keep me heading in that direction and the bigger the goals and dreams the better. Neither of my parents did gymnastics but they decided to put me into it from a very young age of five. I guess I was always interested in it, doing handstands and cartwheels around the living room, garden, and wherever I found the space. My older brother used to train with me as well, so we'd train together. They both say they don't know where our talents came from but I guess we were both naturally talented. I started out in regular recreational classes at home in Storrington. Then I got moved into sports acrobatics gymnastics, so I was in a women's pair or a trio, and I was a flyer to start with because I used to be small. Then I grew and I became a porter and had my own flyer. I started in Horsham and transferred to Heathrow; that was where I mainly trained and started competing for Great Britain. I went on to become European champion in 2011 and third in the world in 2012. When I started competing for Great Britain and I was doing the major competitions – European championships, world championships, world cup – Cirque du Soleil became more noticeable and the talent scouts came to those competitions. So I started to see posters and stuff, and I was like, "OK, I'm starting to work in the right direction". Actually, we had a closed audition at my gym, so I thought: "I'm going to audition. I may as well, I'm still competing." Then I spoke to a talent scout at the world championships and informed them I was interested and when I knew I was reaching my peak, I thought, "this is my best shot." I did the closed audition and, six months after I finished competing, I got a call to come and join. It was really being in the right place at the right time and having what they were looking for, because in acro-sport there's not a whole variety of shows you can go on… maybe three shows in the whole of Cirque du Soleil with acro-sport; OVO, 'O' in Vegas and Varekai. I then went to Montreal where the international headquarters for Cirque are and did a three month general training programme, not guaranteed a contract. Luckily enough I was what they were looking for and I got offered a contract to join OVO Big Top in Australia. Since then I have travelled to Taiwan, Japan, North America and now Europe. OVO, meaning egg in Portuguese, is all about the day in the life on an insect and how, no matter who you are, what you look like, we accept one another and are a colony of fun and loving energy and excitement. I started out as a flea in the show and was originally the base in a women's pair, because that was my background. That's what I did with Poppy (my flyer from sport). I joined with a different flyer and did that for six months. Then I left because they were replacing the women's pair for a mixed pair. Then I came back as the base in a trio, who were all fleas. When I was in Japan I started to learn the Black Spider role. So, now I'm an acrobatic character and I do a bit of everything. I'm in the majority of the show, which for me I prefer. My main acts are diabolo – I don't do diabolo, I'm the assistant – and then I am part of the contortion act. I'm on corde lisse, which I learnt when I was there, and wall; it's like a big rock-climbing wall. You may have seen something similar in Deborah Colker's other work. Q. Could you please tell us about what it takes to become fit for a show like OVO, and then to maintain that fitness throughout the schedule of performing? For me, I'm very into fitness which helps a huge amount when working on any Cirque du Soleil production. It takes a lot of strength and agility to perform with ease and safety every night. Most artists already bring this with them from the sport they are experts in, but keeping that strength, maintaining and building on tour is also important, if you want to grow and improve in your repertoire. I work out six days a week before I go into work and then usually have a training or two before the shows. For me, it's my happy place. I go by myself and really get in the zone. Q. How long does pre-production for a show normally last? I know that creating a Cirque du Soleil show can take up to two years or more as they literally start from scratch. But in my case with OVO, I did the transfer from big top to arena so it was a 're-creation' process which only took around six months. It was more adapting the show to make it suitable for viewing in arenas, meaning it needed to be looked at in a much larger scale as the seating area is a lot further in distance than our big-tops. Q. You said that you saw your first ever Cirque show when you were eight. How did that feel and how did it feel when you became a part of the company? Still to this day I have to pinch myself when I'm on stage, realizing that I'm actually lucky enough to be living my dream. I feel so privileged and lucky to be working in such an amazing company. Q. What is coming up for the rest of 2018 and beyond? I'd love to continue to work with Cirque du Soleil for many years to come still. I'd like to do a creation of a new show and then end up in a resident show in Vegas in years to come, to settle down. Q. What advice would you give to any performers/dancers wanting to get into the industry? Firstly, if your dreams don't scare you they're not big enough! Never give up on those dreams. It takes a lot of dedication, hard work, sacrifices, failures, successes, lessons learnt day in day out. It all adds up. Remember nothing worth having comes easy, but my god will it be worth it in the end. If I can do it, so can you! { SOURCE: Mandy News | https://goo.gl/A8EbQM } ------------------------------------------------------- Luzia's Laura Biondo Is a Force To Be Reckoned With {Feb.23.2018} ------------------------------------------------------- As one of the top freestylers in the world, Laura Biondo is changing the playing field by inspiring the next generation of athletes worldwide. Originally born in Venezuela, Laura Biondo has traveled and lived around the world. After playing professional soccer in Italy for Foroni & Bardolino, Biondo discovered freestyle soccer from her brother. She immediately fell in love with it because of the creativity, passion, and community it involved. Soon after discovering freestyle, Biondo began to master it. With countless hours of practice, dedication, and persistence, Biondo became recognized around the world for her skills. She began traveling to competitions internationally and won titles including the Latin American Champion 2014 in Curitiba, Brazil, 2014 European Champion in Brussels and 2015 Superball World Open Champion. She was even second runner-up at the Red Bull Street Style World Championships. Along with competing in major events, Biondo also further established her credibility by setting 5 Guinness World Records for freestyle including the most "around the world" ball control tricks in one minute. Though Biondo excelled at freestyle soccer, she wanted to do more with her platform to make a bigger impact. She wanted to push the limits and create an equal playing field for women in the sport. As a result, she was the driving force behind creating a women's division in the world famous freestyle competition Superball. "I remember going to Superball and asking each day before the competition if there was going to be a women's division. Each day I asked … and finally on the day of they agreed! Only four or three girls participated … but everyone loved it. This was extremely important to me because you need competition to improve and grow the sport, and we finally had it." Aside from competing, Biondo is also an ambassador for the WFFA – The World Freestyle Football Association with headquarters in Canada where she is Chief Administrator for the women's division. "My current role is giving the girls a voice within the association. I have a female presence within the organization to make sure females get what they deserve. The association is currently looking to develop structure, and set up a foundation that will last a very long time, and I am excited to be a part of that process. I want equal opportunities for men and women in the sport." Currently, Biondo is an artist in Cirque du Soleil's production "LUZIA" where she is the first ever freestyler to perform for the company with counterpart Abou. With this platform, she has performed in over 670 shows in front of over 2 million people! She is growing the sport of freestyle through a mass audience, and is thrilled with the reception each act gets. "I get to show the sport of freestyle to those that would never see it. I'm able to inspire others, and show that females can perform at the top level. Maybe a girl sees me perform and says I can do that in basketball or parkour. You want to impact the kids and showcase your own values so they can have someone to look up to." For Biondo, her mission continues daily as she strives to inspire female athletes and give them a voice through freestyle soccer. "I love the sport and I want to see more girls involved in it. I want to be a role model that girls can look up to. I'm not going to solve all of the problems with equality, but I want to inspire those that can and make an impact." { SOURCE: Red Bull | https://goo.gl/rQtrLS } ======================================================================= ITINÉRAIRE -- TOUR/SHOW INFORMATION ======================================================================= o) BIGTOP - Under the Grand Chapiteau {Amaluna, Koozå, Kurios, Luzia, Totem & Volta} o) ARENA - In Stadium-like venues {TORUK, OVO, Séptimo Día, Crystal & Corteo} o) RESIDENT - Performed en Le Théâtre {Mystère, "O", Zumanity, KÀ, LOVE, MJ ONE & JOYA} NOTE: .) While we make every effort to provide complete and accurate touring dates and locations available, the information in this section is subject to change without notice. As such, the Fascination! Newsletter does not accept responsibility for the accuracy of these listings. For current, up-to-the-moment information on Cirque's whereabouts, please visit Cirque's website: < http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/ >, or for a more comprehensive tour listing, visit our Itinéraire section online at: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?page_id=6898 >. ------------------------------------ BIGTOP - Under the Grand Chapiteau ------------------------------------ Amaluna: Buenos Aires, AR -- Mar 15, 2018 to Apr 1, 2018 Cordoba, AR -- Apr 26, 2018 to Apr 29, 2018 Santiago, CL -- May 31, 2018 to Jun 14, 2018 Lima, PE -- Jul 22, 2018 to Aug 12, 2018 Quito, EC -- Sep 6, 2018 to Sep 16, 2018 Koozå: Senzhen, CN -- Mar 1, 2018 to Apr 1, 2018 Hong Kong, CN -- Apr 19, 2018 to Jun 3, 2018 Kurios: Tokyo, JP -- Feb 7, 2018 to Jun 3, 2018 Osaka, JP -- Jul 26, 2018 to Oct 29, 2018 Nagoya, JP -- Nov 22, 2018 to Jan 27, 2019 Fukuoka, JP -- Feb 15, 2018 to Mar 31, 2018 Sendai, JP -- April 2019 Luzia: Costa Mesa, CA -- Feb 21, 2018 to Mar 25, 2018 Washington, DC -- Apr 12, 2018 to May 13, 2018 Boston, MA -- Jun 27, 2018 to Jul 29, 2018 Guadalajara, MX -- TBA 2018 Monterrey, MX -- TBA 2018 Mexico City, MX -- TBA 2018 Totem: Seville, ES -- Jan 25, 2018 to Mar 11, 2018 Barcelona, ES -- Mar 23, 2018 to May 20, 2018 Malaga, ES -- Jun 1, 2018 to Jul 1, 2018 Alicante, ES -- Jul 20, 2018 to Aug 19, 2018 Zurich, CH -- Sep 5, 2018 to Oct 14, 2018 Paris, FR -- Oct 15, 2018 to Dec 2, 2018 VOLTA: Tampa, FL -- Feb 14, 2018 to Mar 18, 2018 East Rutherford, NJ -- Mar 29, 2018 to Apr 22, 2018 Uniondale, NY -- May 17, 2018 to Jun 10, 2018 Oaks, PA -- Jul 12, 2018 to Aug 5, 2018 Seattle, WA -- TBA 2018 ------------------------------------ ARENA - In Stadium-Like Venues ------------------------------------ TORUK - The First Flight: Sanya, CN -- Feb 1, 2018 to May 1, 2018 Singapore -- May 24, 2018 to Jun 3, 2018 Bangkok, TH -- Jun 14, 2018 to Jun 24, 2018 Cologne, DE -- Oct 25, 2018 to Oct 28, 2018 Hamburg, DE -- Oct 31, 2018 to Nov 4, 2018 Berlin, DE -- Nov 7, 2018 to Nov 11, 2018 Turin, IT -- Nov 15, 2018 to Nov 18, 2018 Bologna, IT -- Nov 22, 2018 to Nov 25, 2018 Frankfurt, DE -- Nov 28, 2018 to Dec 2, 2018 Zagreb, HR -- Dec 7, 2018 to Dec 9, 2018 Pamplona, ES -- Feb 6, 2019 to Feb 10, 2019 Munich, DE -- Jun 5, 2019 to Jun 9, 2019 OVO: London, UK -- Jan 7, 2018 to Mar 4, 2018 Antwerp, BE -- Mar 8, 2018 to Mar 11, 2018 Hanover, DE -- Mar 14, 2018 to Mar 18, 2018 Oberhausen, DE -- Apr 5, 2018 to Apr 8, 2018 Krakow, PL -- Apr 13, 2018 to Apr 15, 2018 Gdansk, PL -- Apr 19, 2018 to Apr 22, 2018 Saint Petersburg, RU -- Apr 28, 2018 to May 5, 2018 Moscow, RU -- May 8, 2018 to May 20, 2018 Kazan, RU -- May 23, 2018 to May 27, 2018 Tolyatti, RU -- May 30, 2018 to Jun 3, 2018 Ekaterinburg, RU -- Jun 6, 2018 to Jun 10, 2018 Sochi, RU -- Jul 12, 2018 to Jul 29, 2018 Liverpool, UK -- Aug 16, 2018 to Aug 19, 2018 Sheffield, UK -- Aug 22, 2018 to Aug 26, 2018 Newcastle, UK -- Aug 29, 2018 to Sep 2, 2018 Glasgow, UK -- Sep 5, 2018 to Sep 9, 2018 Nottingham, UK -- Sep 12, 2018 to Sep 16, 2018 Leeds, UK -- Sep 19, 2018 to Sep 23, 2018 Manchester, UK -- Sep 26, 2018 to Sep 30, 2018 Birmingham, UK -- Oct 3, 2018 to Oct 7, 2018 Dublin, IE -- Oct 10, 2018 to Oct 14, 2018 Belfast, IE -- Oct 17, 2018 to Oct 21, 2018 Lille, FR -- Nov 8, 2018 to Nov 11, 2018 Bordeaux, FR -- Nov 14, 2018 to Nov 18, 2018 Toulouse, FR -- Nov 21, 2018 to Nov 25, 2018 Montpellier, FR -- Nov 28, 2018 to Dec 2, 2018 Strasbourg, FR -- Dec 5, 2018 to Dec 9, 2018 Nantes, FR -- Dec 12, 2018 to Dec 16, 2018 A Coruna, ES -- Dec 21, 2018 to Dec 30, 2018 SÉPTIMO DÍA - NO DESCANSARÉ: Guatemala City, GT -- Mar 10, 2018 to Mar 18, 2018 Coral Gables, FL (Miami) -- Apr 18, 2018 to Apr 22, 2018 Inglewood, CA (Los Angeles) -- May 3, 2018 to May 6, 2018 Asuncion, PY -- Jun 20, 2018 to Jun 23, 2018 CRYSTAL - A BREAKTHROUGH ICE EXPERIENCE: Phoenix, AZ -- Mar 8, 2018 to Mar 11, 2018 Tucson, AZ -- Mar 14, 2018 to Mar 18, 2018 San Diego, CA -- Mar 21, 2018 to Mar 25, 2018 San Jose, CA -- Mar 28, 2018 to Apr 1, 2018 Portland, OR -- Apr 4, 2018 to Apr 8, 2018 Abbotsford, BC -- Apr 11, 2018 to Apr 15, 2018 Penticton, BC -- Apr 18, 2018 to Apr 22, 2018 Prince George, BC -- Apr 25, 2018 to Apr 29, 2018 Spokane, WA -- May 2, 2018 to May 6, 2018 Red Deer, AB -- May 2, 2018 to May 6, 2018 Saskatoon, SK -- May 16, 2018 to May 20, 2018 Medicine Hat, AB -- May 23, 2018 to May 27, 2018 London, ON -- Jun 14, 2018 to Jun 17, 2018 Hamilton, ON -- Jun 20, 2018 to Jun 24, 2018 Youngstown, OH -- Jun 27, 2018 to Jul 1, 2018 Baltimore, MD -- Jul 5, 2018 to Jul 8, 2018 Estero, FL -- Jul 12, 2018 to Jul 15, 2018 Sunrise, FL -- Jul 18, 2018 to Jul 29, 2018 Orlando, FL -- TBA Hershey, FL -- TBA CORTEO: New Orleans, LA -- Mar 2, 2018 to Mar 4, 2018 Houston, TX -- Mar 8, 2018 to Mar 11, 2018 Milwaukee, WI -- Mar 29, 2018 to Apr 1, 2018 Rockford, IL -- Apr 5, 2018 to Apr 8, 2018 Columbus, OH -- Apr 12, 2018 to Apr 15, 2018 Knoxville, TN -- Apr 19, 2018 to Apr 22, 2018 Lexington, KY -- Apr 27, 2018 to Apr 29, 2018 Cincinnati, OH -- May 3, 2018 to May 6, 2018 Chattanooga, TN -- May 10, 2018 to May 13, 2018 Lincoln, NE -- May 17, 2018 to May 20, 2018 Broomfield, CO -- May 24, 2018 to May 27, 2018 Loveland, CO -- May 31, 2018 to Jun 3, 2018 Oshawn, ON -- Jun 21, 2018 to Jun 24, 2018 Ottawa, ON -- Jun 27, 2018 to Jul 1, 2018 Kingston, ON -- Jul 4, 2018 to Jul 8, 2018 Saint Catharines, ON -- Jul 11, 2018 to Jul 15, 2018 Bridgeport, CT -- Jul 18, 2018 to Jul 22, 2018 Nashville, TN -- Jul 26, 2018 to Jul 29, 2018 Charlotte, NC -- TBA Quebec City, QC -- Dec 6, 2018 to Dec 9, 2018 Montreal, QC -- Dec 19, 2018 to Dec 30, 2018 --------------------------------- RESIDENT - en Le Théâtre --------------------------------- Mystère: Location: Treasure Island, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark: Thursday/Friday Two shows Nightly - 7:00pm & 9:30pm Extra Performance Dates: o Fri, Jan 26, 2018 | $35 Dress Rehearsal @ 7:00 p.m. o Fri, Feb 02, 2018 o Mon, Dec 31, 2018 | 4:30 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. Single Show Dates (7:00pm Only): o Wednesday, Mar. 7. 2018 o Thursday, Mar. 8, 2018 o Sunday, May 20, 2018 o Thursday, May 24, 2018 o Monday, Nov. 26, 2018 o Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018 2018 Dark Dates: o Wednesday, Jan 3, 2018 o January 13 - 24, 2018 o Sunday, Feb 4, 2018 o Wednesday, Mar 14, 2018 o Wednesday, Apr 11, 2018 o June 2 - June 6, 2018 o Saturday, Sep 29, 2018 o October 27 - 31, 2018 "O": Location: Bellagio, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Wednesday through Sunday, Dark: Monday/Tuesday Two shows Nightly - 7:30pm and 9:30pm Special Performance Dates: o Tue, Feb 20 - 7:00pm & 9:30pm o Tue, Jul 17 - 7:00pm & 9:30pm o Tue, Oct 09 - 7:00pm & 9:30pm o Tue, Dec 11 - 9:30pm only o Mon, Dec 31 - 4:00pm & 6:30pm 2018 Dark Dates: o February 4 o March 2, 5 - 13 o June 2 & 3 o August 6 - 14 o September 16 o November 26 - December 11 o December 27 Zumanity: Location: New York-New York, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark Sunday/Monday Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm KÀ: Location: MGM Grand, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark Thursday/Friday Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm LOVE: Location: Mirage, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Thursday through Monday, Dark: Tuesday/Wednesday Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm 2018 Dark Dates: o March 2 MICHAEL JACKSON ONE: Location: Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Two Shows Nightly - Dark: Wednesday/Thursday Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm 2018 Dark Dates: o January 3, 4, 10, 11 o January 17 - February 4 JOYÀ: Location: Riviera Maya, Mexico Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday One/Two Shows Nightly: 9:00pm (Weekdays) 7:00pm & 10:15pm (Fri, Sat & Holidays) ======================================================================= OUTREACH - UPDATES FROM CIRQUE's SOCIAL WIDGETS ======================================================================= o) WEBSERIES -- Official Online Featurettes o) VIDEOS -- Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds --------------------------------------------------- WEBSERIES: Official Online Featurettes --------------------------------------------------- *) ASK CIRQUE! ASK CIRQUE! is a BRAND NEW SERIES that will take fans backstage and behind the scenes of all Cirque du Soleil Shows. However, this series is different from all of Cirque's other behind the scenes videos - because YOU, the audience, rule the show! What questions have you always wanted answered? Now is your chance! Comment on any social media platform and tag #AskCirque. What are you waiting for? Join the hosts Fabienne Daigle and Carla Sifoni (CDS Content and Social Media advisors)... they are ready to answer! o) EPISODE 4 {Feb.12} 1. Esi Acquai-Harrison – TOTEM artist 2. Yves Sherrif – Cirque du Soleil Talent Scout 3. Daxter Curtis – The Beatles LOVE artist 4. Elena Suarez – VOLTA artist 5. Xavier Brossard-Ménard – Cirque du Soleil Talent Scout 6. Eric Fool Koller – LUZIA artist 7. Adria Rodriguez – JOYA artist 8. Alix Croop – Amaluna artist 9. Carlos Lopez – Mystere artist 10. Lois Giorgi – Sep7imo Dia artist LINK /// < https://youtu.be/4ej1_Km4K5k > o) EPISODE 5 {Feb.19} 1. Michael Jay Garner – KOOZA Artist 2. Elise Tellier – Cirque du Soleil Publicist 3. James Booth – Sep7imo Dia Artist 4. Lana Cencic – KURIOS Artist 5. Isabelle Fink –Cirque du Soleil Head of Makeup 6. Bill May – 'O' Artist 7. Yvonne Tousek-Renne – Cirque du Soleil Talent Scout 8. Benjamin Courtenay – LUZIA Artist LINK /// < https://youtu.be/chKxed1BME0 > *) ATHLETE TO ARTIST Did you know that Cirque du Soleil is one of the leading employers of retired professional athletes and top performers? o) EPISODE 1: Jeffrey Wammes - Mystère {Feb.11} Meet how Olympian Jeffrey Wammes - now artist, and Tim Smith - Artistic Director explain the process of integrating an athlete into artist. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/iuDuaTT2skc > o) EPISODE 2: Shawn Sawyer - Crystal {Feb.15} Olympian, Shawn Sawyer, talks about his experience in Turin 2006 and how he applies his athletic prowess on CRYSTAL. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/Vrum9T0bAkY > o) EPISODE 3: Yvonne Tousek-Renne - Amalauna {Feb.18} Olympian, Yvonne Tousek-Renne, shares her fascinating journey from competitive gymnastics to artist on Corteo and Amaluna, and now working as an Acrobatic Talent Scout at the IHQ. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/KVLlPTYVh7c > o) EPISODE 4: Ben Agosto - Crystal {Feb.23} Watch Olympian, Ben Agosto, shares his journey from competing on the ice to designing #CirqueduSoleil's first-ever ice show. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/8GpFdt1I6Kw > *) MUSIC VIDEO w/LYRICS o) Zumanity - "Mio Bello Bello Amore" {Feb.13} Refrain: Mio bello bello bello amore Sei il mio paradiso When you say I'm yours, when you ask me to stay Siamo soli Soli al mondo I'm so into you So much to see in you Can't get enough of your love Even here with you I'm always missing you Could it be better? Refrain I'll be loving you Kissing your eyes Kissing your smile I'll be giving you All that I have Good inside Refrain Mio bello bello bello amore Sei il mio paradiso Quando dici sono tua Quando mi vuoi con te Siamo soli Soli al mondo Refrain Mio bello bello bello amore Bello amore LINK /// < https://youtu.be/OnXLSptXRsU > o) KA - "Forest" {Feb.27} Djin may kunzé nou Djin may kunzé Kunzé djin mayé Djizin mayé Kunzé nou O djin may Djin may kunzé nou Djin may kunzé Kunzé djin mayé Djizin mayé Kunzé nou Djin may kunzé Kunzé djin mayou Kunzé mayou Djin may kunzé Kunzé djin mayou O djin mayou Mayou djin mé Mayou djin mé Naïma tsé Mayou djin mé Mayou djin mé Djin mayou (bis) Djin may kunzé nou Djin may kunzé Kunzé djin mayé Djizin mayé Kunzé nou O djin may Djin may kunzé nou Djin may kunzé Kunzé djin mayé Djizin mayé Kunzé nou Kunzé djin mayé Djizin mayé Kunzé nou LINK /// < https://youtu.be/MlFMBHu63PY > o) "O" - "Svecouna" {Mar.06} aaa... adja ko-o nyo svécounia adja ko lé nya dedra kounia své svo draconia adja ko-o nyo yo ni sma (bis) adja ko-o nyo svécounia adja ko lé nya eda kounia své svo svécounia adja ko-o nyo yo ni sma Ku lun la té ré lou ka tsi kwa dé nou yé O lon la yé ko bayé lé nou yo an no létara la kun de é skan na ima su ké kun de é skan na ya to ria ze (bis) adja ko-o nyo svecounia adja ko lé nya eda kounia své svo draconia adja ko-o nyo yo ni sma Ku lun la té ré lou ka tsi kwa dé nou yé O lon la yé ko bayé lénou yo an no létara la kun de é skan na ima su ké kun de é skan na ya to ria ze (x 4) kun de é skan na ya ma ya zé LINK /// < https://youtu.be/cy1jGfztkRs > --------------------------------------------------- VIDEOS: Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds --------------------------------------------------- *) OTHER CIRQUE VIDEOS o) From Our Heart to Yours, We Love You {Feb.14} Remember the first time we met? We opened up our hearts to each other. Our fans mean the world to us. On this special day, we're celebrating our love stories with you. Watch the stories here and share yours with us! LINK /// < https://youtu.be/9_8QYhIQL0Y > o) KURIOS Juggler vs Bartender - Who will win? Russian Standard & Cirque du Soleil have teamed up on common ground, showcasing the skills required to be the world's fastest! Who will win? The Bartender or the Juggler? EPISODE 1 /// < https://youtu.be/Nn_d3weXh-4 > EPISODE 2 /// < https://youtu.be/gYmafIkivbM > o) All About One Night for One Drop 2018 {Feb.28} LINK /// < https://youtu.be/J3Kh6yilup8 > o) One Night For One Drop 2018 Banquine Act {Mar.02} LINK /// < https://youtu.be/0tApolR0vfg > ======================================================================= FASCINATION! FEATURES ======================================================================= o) "WHO WILL SAVE YOUR SOUL?" - A Special Collection of Articles about One Night for One Drop 2018 o) "CARVING CRYSTAL: Melding Circus Arts and Ice Sports" Texts from the Press Kit Edited By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) o) "We're Off and Running - A Series of Classic Critiques" Part 11 of 16: Quidam, Part 2 (1997-1998) By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) ------------------------------------------------------------ "WHO WILL SAVE YOUR SOUL?" - A Special Collection of Articles about One Night for One Drop 2018 ------------------------------------------------------------ Cirque du Soleil's annual One Night for One Drop event has featured some big names in recent years, including singer Leona Lewis and pop culture icon William Shatner. But this year's show, set for March 2 at the Michael Jackson One Theatre at Mandalay Bay, doesn't just have a star. It's all about that star. Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Jewel will be teaming with performers from various local Cirque shows for an original production to benefit the international foundation One Drop (created by Cirque founder Guy Laliberté) dedicated to providing access to safe water in some of the world's most vulnerable communities. "Zumanity" performers Nicky and Laetitia Dewhurst once again serve as writers and directors of this year's show, which is inspired by Jewel's life story. * * * JEWEL HAS A SHOW ABOUT HER LIFE? Jewel sat down with USA TODAY to talk about the show, why she's long advocated for clean water and mental wellness, and how "having nothing" gave her strength. Q. This show tells your story with acrobatic dancers playing your family as birds. Why use a Cirque show to talk about your life, albeit in broad strokes? It feels like the perfect medium for me, because it's a very metaphoric, very symbolic medium. Very poetic. So you're not going to get bogged down in the details that could be salacious. Q. Why are you so passionate about clean water access? When I was homeless (after) my boss fired me because I wouldn't have sex with him, and I couldn't pay my rent, I started living in my car thinking it would last two weeks or a month and I would get a new job. I grew up on a saddle barn with no running water, (so I thought) I was gonna be fine. And then when my car got stolen, (my homelessness) was really taking a toll on my body and my stress levels. Long story short, I had bad kidneys. I had to drink a gallon of distilled water a day and I couldn't afford it. (Years later,) amazingly, my life turned around (and) I got in a position to help. So one of the first things I did was found Project Cleanwater. It's been founded since '97 and we've built wells in 35 different countries. My foundation has partnered with (Cirque's) One Drop foundation on this event. Q. Along with clean water access, another cause you've long championed is mental health awareness. Why has that been a focus of yours? We all have a brain, and it can harass us. We can suffer from anxiety to addiction to worrying to depression to anger. When I was homeless, I had to overcome my anxiety and panic attacks. I realized when I was homeless, if all I perceive is the negative, I have a negative experience. If I start to see what's good, I can start to have a better experience. At night, you just fall asleep, think about the good things that happened that day. Because you just notice them. Force yourself, because it actually forms neural pathways in your brain that teach you to see. If the glass is half full and half empty at the same time, they're both true, but which would you prefer to experience during the day? Q. Back to the One Show for One Drop performance. It features a character called "Clown Bear." I'm guessing, unlike the other critters in the show, this one is not native to Alaska. What's the story behind him? When my parents got divorced and my mom left, I named my teddy bear Nedra (after my mom). That has to be one of the saddest stories. So I kept this little bear with me, and a bear just ended up becoming a favorite animal of mine, even as I grew out of my teddy bear stage. I would write little short stories where there would be animals talking and interacting with one another. It's oddly kind of like this (show). Q. What are you writing about these days? I write poetry mostly, short-story fiction. Not as many songs since I've become a mom. Mercy, which is the song you heard (in the preview) is a new song. I'll probably work on a record this year, most likely. I'm (writing music for) a Broadway musical based on a book called Lucky Us. * * * JEWEL INSPIRES "Seeing my life story portrayed by these artists, Nicky and Laetitia, and not even done with words but literally just with movement, it's been like a peyote-journey spirit trip," she laughed. "It's been incredible. I've always been protective of my story … but I really felt like Cirque is very uniquely qualified to talk about these themes in a very metaphorical way, to be symbolic without getting mired in the details. This has been a perfect forum." Jewel told her own story in the 2015 memoir "Never Broken," which went beyond the well-known tale of an Alaskan teen beginning her music career after living out of her car. The One Drop show similarly goes in a different direction. "I wrote my memoir because I finally felt, at 40, that it was time, and I knew what I wanted to say: We all have pain and what do we do with pain," Jewel said. "In talking with Nicky and Laetitia, I didn't want [the show] to be about me. It doesn't go into being discovered, being homeless. It really isn't about my music career at all, it's much more relational. If you're in the audience you should feel like this is your story. It's about love and loss and betrayal and forgiving. Who can't relate to that?" The performer portraying the Jewel character, Nukka, is Marina Boutina, an aerialist from "The Beatles Love" at the Mirage. And her background is similar in some ways to Jewel's upbringing. "I was born in West Siberia, which is similar to Alaska, very cold, lots of snow," Boutina said. "I grew up there until I was 16. When we started to talk about these storylines, I read [Jewel's] book and did see some similarities. I grew up in a very small city without a lot of access or options. I never thought I would be in the U.S. From a little town in Russia I flew to Montreal and was offered a contract and from that point my life changed. It was, oh my God, I'm a Cirque du Soleil artist, and I was still a little girl. And Jewel left home when she was 16." Boutina performed in the One Drop show two years ago but an injury limited her role, so she's beyond excited to get another chance to play an essential part in this year's production. Other main characters include Nukka's father, played by "The Beatles Love" aerial coach Gabriel Manta-who came out of performance retirement for this show-and "Mystere" favorite Jonathan Vellner as Clown Bear, Nukka's companion. * * * NICKY & LAETITIA DISH ON THE SHOW In its five years, Cirque du Soleil's "One Night for One Drop" shows has raised millions of dollars for its water charity - and played host to such stars as William Shatner and Leona Lewis. The sell-out productions have raised extraordinary awareness for water, its shortages and the incredible courage and determination shown by those seeking it, finding it and developing it. Now, in somewhat of a departure from stories told previously, this year's theme will be inspired by the unbelievably tough life and hardships that singer- songwriter Jewel has overcome in her life - and she will perform in the new production set for March 2 in the "Michael Jackson One" theater at Mandalay Bay. Also, Cirque creators Laetitia and Nicky Dewhurst are returning for a second consecutive year to mastermind the unique production - and they talked with Robin Leach about the early stages of the process. He told them that their new show seems personality-driven rather than story-driven as was in the past shows. Nicky Dewhurst: It's still very much a Cirque du Soleil show. The show's really inspired by events in Jewel's life. So what we've done is we've created a story, a show that is really the core of her story. So it's not specific, although it does parallel her life and. … Laetitia Dewhurst: And although complicated, we've written a show that everybody can relate to. So, if you're watching the show it's something simplified so that anyone can relate to in that sense. So, we've gone for the theme of family, love, betrayal and courage. It's the courage to forgive. So these are big key elements that, you know, … things that happen to her in her life story, in her life. The show itself, is still going to have acrobatics and it's still going to have comedy and, although she is in the show, she is acting as a guide. Sort of providing the thread to us to take us through the story. She inspired us saying: "I wish I could go back and tell myself, everything would be all right." And you know, because she went through some pretty rough stuff. So we thought that would be a good way of doing it. She's actually taking somebody else who represents her journey - not herself - but her journey, through the show. And she sings through the show. Some of the songs are specific to that particular moment, others are more inspired by working with the composer to create tracks that work with the acts." Laetitia: We were super pleased with his work and we worked together very well and he's fantastic and we've already started playing around with some music and it's absolutely phenomenal. Nicky: He's gonna work in harmony with Jewel. Basically, you know creating … we're hoping at some point we may even create some original music with her. We're actually using a lot of her hits because they're all fantastic and a lot of (them), of course, people know … and they're very iconic. But we're also using her voice, she has a beautiful voice, her speaking voice. So that we have a little bit of poetry in the show with music. Laetitia: Yeah so, it will be a through line with her and basically she'll be guiding the lead character through her story. It's like a parallel life and with, not to give too much away, but we're basing the show in Alaska because that was where she's from. So all the inspiration for the costume and characters and set design will be Alaska. But not HD, you know, kind of National Geographic. It's (has) kind of a Cirque du Soleil twist to it, very - a little surreal aspect to it. And the costume designer is working on costumes … very earthy, I would say. The show's very earthy and about nature in that sense because Jewel is very sensitive to that and we love that, too, and it's a beautiful backdrop. Nicky: Hopefully, it will snow, yeah. Q: Normally "One Drop" shows tell stories about the survival for water, yet Jewel's story is a survival for life story. How different is it? Laetitia: Jewel said a beautiful thing and she has her own water charity as well. She said something beautiful" "Water is like love, with it we flourish, without it we wither." So, and it was a joint effort with Jewel. Nicky and I that we came up with this concept. Nicky: So we're somewhat paralleling the need for water in everybody's life, is that it's very similar to the need for love in people's life. So, if you have love you tend to flourish and you tend to do better in life and if you don't then you tend to, sort of, lock it off away or hide away and become solitary. And suffer, I think, more. So the parallel, the concept that if you have water then you flourish, you know, people are able to live and thrive and in the same way with nature. So, that was the underlying theme. In the same way that last year we had, we paralleled the story with people (who) represented the earth and they represented humanity. This is in the same way, you know, water, love represents water in this show. Laetitia: We sat around the table with Jewel and we tried to come up with a show that we all agree on. … We're entertaining the public and we're not, you know, because if we told her whole life story it would be, you know, a lot of script and a different type of show. So we've decided to do it in a, not fantasy way, but something … We just tried to find something that everybody related to. And what we've really tried to do is touch people's emotions. Nicky: It's the story of her and how she was abandoned when she was 8 years old by her mother and she was raised by an alcoholic and abusive father who, essentially, she always says he was really, on reflection, … just trying to do his best. " 'cause he was put in a very difficult situation." And then it's the story of her getting out of that situation and then thinking she was a failure and failing because she ended up homeless, obviously. We're not being specific in the story, but you will feel those things and then it's getting back on her feet and how she started to thrive when good people came into her life. And then it's also the story of her mother reappearing in her life when everything is going great. …. I'm not sure if you're familiar with her whole story, but, essentially, her mother came back in her life when she was a big success and she took control of her finances and, essentially, cleaned her out. So that was a very difficult thing for her to realize that, by the time she was 30, she had to rebuild her whole career and empire and everything else. But then it's also the story of her father who, like I said, she always felt that he was just dealt a difficult situation and was doing the best that he could and how she reconnected with him, had the courage to forgive herself because she blamed herself for a lot of this stuff. And then had the courage to forgive him. Laetitia: That's basically the premise of our show in a storytelling way - we wanted to find something that everybody could relate to. Because, unless you've read her book, it's a very complex life story. So we wanted to find something truly inspiring, It's a gift and her voice, she will be in the show. She will sing about five songs. Nicky: Yeah. But I think everybody can relate to them. That's why we're taking it more in a family aspect. There's a lot of people that have been brought up by distant fathers and mothers that have left. You've gotta find it in your heart to forgive people to move on with your life and that's what she's done. And we just really wanted to find a way to touch people's souls and move them with some music. And, because of the music, everything she wrote has a reason. So we're tying that into the show and we've chosen very carefully what tracks we're using. And they all mean something within our story. If you look at the show you wouldn't know its water-centric. But if you read into the show then you understand. So it's the kind of thing, in the same way, that last year, on the face of it - it really doesn't look like there's anything to do with water and the search for water. Whereas, the same thing this year, the search for love represents the search for water. Q: When the two of you sat down with Jewel, what was the spark that you said, her story could become the theme of "One Night for One Drop?" I mean, you didn't just bump into her and the, click: This is a show. Nicky: My sister, Sally, works with Ryan Wolfington, who runs the Inspiring Children's Foundation here in Las Vegas. He works with Jewel. He manages her business affairs, some of her business affairs. So, Sally invited him to see "One Drop" and he loved it. He loved that fact that we told a story, that had an emotional hook to it. And he approached us, literally the day after we'd finished. And, obviously, you can imagine our heads were spinning a little bit. But he said we should chat because it's a great opportunity to do a collaboration with Jewel. It's a perfect fit, she has her own water charity, she's very much a believer in this cause of providing clean, sustainable water to people around the world. He said: "Let's do something and have you read her book? Do you know her story?" And quite honestly, we didn't at that point. Laetitia: I knew a little of her hardships because I was a fan of Jewel, actually. But I didn't know she'd written a book until we started meeting with her. I mean she'd done a lot. She did the book of poetry, a children's album and a country album. Ryan told us: "She's got a beautiful story and we'd really would love to put it onstage and tell the story. You guys are the right fit to do that." And then that's basically what happened. The ball started rolling. Nicky: We took it to the "One Drop" organization and they got very excited about the concept and thought it was a great idea. And they turned around to us and said, "Would you direct it?" And, of course, we said, "yes, absolutely." It was a bit of a head spin having just finished the other one. But this all sort of developed over a few weeks. Laetitia: Once we'd read the book, "Never Broken," we were really inspired. We felt this could be fantastic and we bounced around a lot of different ideas, but finally, we came up with this concept. Now, we are all really super excited about it. Jewel loved it, too. Q: How do you avoid the focus being on a major recording star like Jewel? Compared to the main focus of "One Drop," which has the job to educate and inform the Vegas audience about the shortage of water in the world. Nicky: I think she embodies that anyway. She's an incredible spokesperson for that cause. it's such a great marriage because of that background. The fact that she grew up on a homestead in Alaska and had no running water and no electricity, did the walk for water herself every day. So that in itself is a beautiful story and a beautiful link to the cause and the concept. Laetitia: She said she's so passionate about this because she could only drink clean, distilled water when she was on the street. That was grueling for her because, obviously, she had no money that she got very sick without clean water. And she said, you know I can only imagine what these people go through and I felt my life was bad. And she always looks on the other side and there's always somebody more worse off than she is. A beautiful soul and that's the way she looks on life. She's just incredibly humble. She's a fantastic mother (Atz and Lenedra) despite what she went through. Obviously, her parents were, well her father, was just trying to do his best but, you know, she's … very in tune with nature and the world and she cares and she's such a beautiful being despite what she's been through. It's quite remarkable. Nicky: I think her father, too, he was kind of the first to break the mold. At a certain point in his life, he kind of recognized who he was becoming. And he changed that. And, he really turned his life around so that he could reconnect (with) her, and she, obviously, recognized that she never wanted to be that kind of person. So, I mean, incorporating those themes into the show, it's kind of easy and I think that it is really - it's an emotional hook that we all understand. And her music is fantastic for the acrobatic elements in the show. You know, there's some beautiful acts that will work flawlessly with her songs as well as we said our original compositions that are gonna marry the two things together. Q: Will you bring in some Cirque acts from overseas as in previous years to fill out the Vegas performers who will be taking part? Laetitia: We're trying to keep it very even this year as well, we've got a lot of excited Cirque de Soleil employees. We just started doing our tour around and the show presentations to get people involved and the sign-up sheet with Vegas folk is going very well. They fill up very fast. So, yeah, we've got a couple of group acts coming in, just purely because we know they don't exist in the Vegas shows. And we wanted to do something fun with a couple of acts that we're inviting to come and they're super excited. But of all the dancers, all the main characters will be Cirque Du Soleil artists from Vegas. We've just started the casting process. Q: And does your father, Brian, the 84-year-old standout in "Mystere" have a role this year? Nicky: (I told him): "I'll give you a break this year Dad, you don't have to perform." He said, "Oh, I'd perform. I'd love to perform." It blows my mind with his age what he does. So, we're going to have to write him in somehow. Its tradition to have him there, somewhere. Jewel, she's been incredibly generous with her time. She will obviously be more present in the show and more involved in the storyline. I'd say that would be the biggest difference this time than our earlier shows. We will have some time to really work with her and incorporate her into the show. Beforehand, with our celebrities, it's really been last minute plug-and-play-type situations. This is gonna be different, so we'll have that opportunity to really develop her role and get input from her as to how she wants to employ her talents into the show. It truly is 'inspired by events in her life.' * * * FROM THE PROGRAME BOOK From rags to riches, Jewel went from homeless to the cover of TIME Magazine, Rolling Stone, and performing for the Pope, the President of the United States, Saturday Night Live, and the Super Bowl. Jewel credits her great mentors Bob Dylan and Neil Young who took their time to groom and encourage her as a young artist. This gave her the confidence to experiment with several genres over her career, selling 30 million records, debuting with #1 hits in Folk, Alternative, Pop, Club, Country, Children, and Holiday music. Throughout her career Jewel has earned 26 Music Award nominations, including the GRAMMYS, American Music Awards, MTV Awards, VH1 Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and Country Music Awards - winning 8 times. Jewel, considered one of the best singer-songwriters of our time, started ff life in a very different way. She was raised on an Alaskan homestead with no electricity, where her family survived off the land, as chronicled in the Discovery series Alaska: The Last Frontier. Her New York Times best-selling memoir "Never Broken" chronicles how she used hard work, grit and grace to survive and thrive under extreme circumstances. Jewel's mother left at age eight. Her father, a war veteran who suffered from PTSD, was left to raise Jewel and her two brothers. Jewel sang with him from bar to bar until his drinking and abuse became too much. She left home at fifteen and lived on her own. She became homeless after refusing the advances of her boss at 18 - for which he rewarded her by not giving her a paycheck, making it impossible to pay rent. But these adverse times and values were the inspiration for the lyrics and poems that would later make her famous. Like love, water is a source that Jewel has always cherished. As a child, she walked down to the river daily to fill buckets of water needed to drink, cook and wash dishes. Years later, struggling with kidney disease as a homeless teenager on the streets of San Diego, she needed 1 gallon of clean distilled water a day, something she couldn't afford. Jewel understood first-hand what it was like to live without the basic necessity of water, something most people take for granted. So, when Jewel was discovered at nineteen, she started Project Clean Water charity to give people around the world access to clean water. Coupled with her own funds, Jewel has spent over twenty-five million dollars to build and support water projects around the world. Jewel has partnered with One Night for One Drop, and Cirque du Soleil, to donate funds, her music and extraordinary life story to help their efforts to bring this precious source to those in need. To help people not only survive, but thrive, Jewel founded Whole Human, a company that is creating human development, education and mindfulness tools to help others retrain their brain and learn to make a habit out of happiness. To this end she is partnering with one of the world's most innovative companies (Zappos) and entrepreneurs (Tony Hsieh) to develop the next frontier in corporate culture by offering companies a tool kit to help them invest in their human capital in more meaningful ways. Jewel founded her charity Never Broken (www.JewelNeverBroken.com) to make mindfulness and emotional intelligence tools available to the masses for free. The non-profit has partnered with the Mary Hennessy Inspiring Children Foundation to offer the mindfulness tools Jewel developed to convert her hears of pain into resilience to support at- risk youth of Vegas and beyond. Show Synopsis ------------- The One Night for One Drop 2018 production is based on events from Jewel's life story. Her incredibly complex journey was simplified to its essence and made into a tale about abandonment, betrayal, the search for love, but ultimately the courage to forgive. Inspired by the spectacular backdrop of Alaska, Jewel's homeland, our character embody the spirit of its amazing and diverse wildlife. Jewel is the "Source" and acts as an ethereal guide to our main character Nukka. The Source emerges from our central tree, which is the direct reflection of Nukka's soul, flourishing with happiness and withering in sadness. Nukka is a baby eagle who, along with her brothers, is abandoned by their Mother shortly after they hatch - leaving them to be raised by a Father whose circumstances quickly overwhelm him, and he spirals into depression. His odyssey parallels Nukka's journey as he struggles with his own demons, finally realizing that the treasure of life is passing him by. Sensing her vulnerability, the Source provides Nukka with a friend, the Clown Bear, (Jewel's childhood imaginary friend) to be her protector and champion. Choosing not to stay in this dysfunctional environment Nuuka leaves home to begin her exploration of the world. Meeting many different characters along her path, some crewel, some kind. As she tries to find happiness, it is whisked away by the return of her Mother at a time when the tree is most plentiful. Guided by the source, Nukka ultimately recognizes happiness is within us all, giving her the courage to forgive. We are all the Source. The Acts -------- THE SOURCE Poem by Jewel Music: Jean-Francois Blais SURREAL ALASKA Act Design: Sasha Bonderenko, Nicky & Laetitia Dewhurst Music: Jean-Francois Blais Lyrics: Briana Rossi Choreography: Briana Bowie & Laetitia Dewhurst Aerial Choreographer: Jill Crook THE HATCHING Act Design: Nicky & Laetitia Dewhurst Music: Jean-Francois Blais ANGEL STANDING BY "Angel Standing By" written by Jewel Kilcher Courtesy of Wiggly Tooth Music (ASCAP) Performed by Jewel SNOWBALLS Act Design: Marton Sarlos, Nicky & Laetitia Dewhurst Music: Jean-Francois Blais Choreography: Briana Bowie & Laetitia Dewhurst THIRSTY MOOSE Act Design: Nicky & Laetitia Dewhurst Music: Jean-Francois Blais THE JOURNEY Act Design: Marton Sarlos, Nicky & Laetitia Dewhurst Music: Jean-Francois Blais Choreography: Laetitia Dewhurst & Briana Bowie FOOLISH GAMES "Foolish Games" written by Jewel Kilcher Courtesy of Wiggly Tooth Music (ASCAP) Performed by Jewel Arranged by: Jean-Francois Blais Act Design: Rick Tija, Aleksandra Savina, Alexy Ishmaev, Nicky & Laetitia Dewhurst Aerial Choreographer: Jill Crook PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON Performed by Piff the Magic Dragon feat. Mr. Piffles, the World's Only Magic Performing Chihuahua Words: Artist's Own Music: Jean-Francois Blais SAVE YOUR SOUL "Who Will Save Your Soul" Written by Jewel Kilcher Courtesy of Wiggly Tooth Music (ASCAP) Performed by Jewel Arranged by Jean-Francois Blais Act Design: Paul Cameron Choreography: Briana Bowie WEB OF DECEIPT Act Design: Nicky & Laetitia Dewhurst Choreography: Laetitia Dewhurst & Indrajit Kumavat Aerial Choreographer: Jill Crook Music: Jean-Francois Blais BETRAYAL Act Design: Marton Sarlos, Nicky & Laetitia Dewhurst Choreography: Laetitia Dewhurst & Briana Bowie Music: Jean-Francois Blais STELLA JAYS Acrobatic Performance by Luba Kazantseva and Dima Deyneko Music performed by Jewel CLOWN Performed and Created by Claudio Carneiro A DRINK Act Design: Sean Blue, Emil Dahl, Penn Jilette, Beejay Joyer, Nicky & Laetitia Dewhurst Music: Jean-Francois Blais INNER DEMONS Music performed by Chase Holfelder Dance performed by Nick Daniels Act Design: Nicky & Laetitia Dewhurst Choreography: Nick Daniels * * * JOHN KATSILOMETES' REVIEW About the moment Piff the Magic Dragon descended to the stage while hooked to an aerial harness, we knew this was a show uncommon even by Cirque standards. "I'm Piff the Magic Dragon," said the performer whose legal name is Jon van der Put. "You might have heard of my brother ... Steve." The line always kills, especially during a sold-out charity show. The dragon-costumed Piff and his sidekick, the performing (well, kind of) chihuahua Mr. Piffles were among the featured artists who performed Friday in "One Night For One Drop" at Michael Jackson One Theater at Mandalay Bay. Inspired by and starring folk star, author and impassioned philanthropist Jewel, the one-off production raised money and awareness for Cirque's One Drop worldwide clean-water campaign. The founder of the artistic company, Guy Laliberte, launched One Drop in 2007. Saturday was its sixth performance, dedicated to Jewel's life, music and message of giving. She performed throughout, beautifully costumed while singing "Foolish Games," "Hands," "Standing Still," "Save Your Soul," "Intuition" and "Mercy" amid vaulting Cirque acrobats. More drops from the "One Night" scene: A lift of spirits --- Mandalay Bay President and Chief Operating Officer Chuck Bowling was in the mix throughout the evening. I caught up with him at the pre-party at roof-level Skyfall Lounge, where he spoke to the timing of the event. "One Night" shows rotate among MGM Resorts properties, and the first production after the Oct. 1 shootings was coincidentally set for Mandalay Bay. "It's fate," Bowling said, as the hotel's theater was selected soon after the 2017 "One Night" show at Zumanity Theater at New York-New York. "We needed a boost, and Cirque has given us one." Nothing but net --- Cirque artists performed a dazzling trampoline act, dunking after launching from trampolines on either side of the stage. It was familiar fare for those who remember the Bud Light Daredevils, who performed at halftime of NBA games in the 1980s and '90s. Cirque President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Lamarre said at the lavish post-show party that "One Night" is a great testing ground for acts that might be inserted into permanent shows. "We could use that act in one of our shows, from what I saw tonight," he said. "It was inspiring." Already, we see cross-promotion possibilities. By happy coincidence, Las Vegas's new WNBA team begins play in May at - yep - Mandalay Bay Events Center. The Jewel crew --- As anticipated Jewel's family joined her onstage - including her father, Atz Kilcher; and 6-year-old son, Kase, who made his first stage appearance, costumed as a critter from Homer, Alaska and crawling at his mother's feet as she sang "Mercy." About that music --- Post-show, I asked Cirque artist Jean-Francois Blais, this year's "One Night" music director and composer, for his takeaway from the show. "Working with Jewel, getting to know her," he said. "She's not just an amazing artist, but a very humble and gracious person. She's just very normal, but a brilliant person. I wasn't sure, at first, how this would go when they told me she would be so involved in the production, but it was great." Dewhurst action --- The husband-wife tandem of Nicky and Laetitia Dewhurst again directed a performance that was at least strong enough to perform in residency on the Strip. They also found a spot for the esteemed Brian Dewhurst, Nicky's 86-year-old father who portrays "Mystere's" clown character, Brian Le Petit. The elder Dewhurst has been a featured performer in past "One Night" shows, including last year's, but there were no plans for him to participate this year. But as Nicky said, "I could tell he wanted to be in it, I asked him about it and he was like, 'Nah, not really.' But I could feel he was eager to do something." So on Wednesday, the Dewhursts conjured a cameo for the elder clown, purchasing a pair of long johns online with Nicky asking, "Dad, do you have any cowboy boots?" Brian wound up in a cowboy costume (in long johns) dancing a jig during the show's scene set in Thirsty Moose tavern. "I found my way in!" he said afterward. "Was there ever a doubt?" Penn's performance --- Not everyone realized, at first, Penn Jillette was among the performers in the tavern scene. He juggled with the Cirque artists and even did a bit of dancing (best described as "freestyle choreography"). Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, hanging at the bar, was also an unbilled performer in the scene. Penn and Piff are planning to tour their "Piff & Pops" routine - they have developed more than an hour of material - later this year. Oh, that party --- Cee Lo Green performed a medley of "Crazy" and "Forget You" for a characteristically crazy Cirque after-party, set up in a reinforced tent behind Mandalay Place. The show sold out the 1,800-seat MJ One Theater; the turnout at the tent seemed to surpass even that number. The event was co-hosted by Edie of "Zumanity" (who just celebrated her 10th year in the show and is approaching 5,000 performances) and Jai Rodriquez, late of "Sex Tips" at Paris Las Vegas. Cast members of "Magic Mike Live" at Hard Rock Hotel also showed up, at around 1 a.m., to swing to Ginuine's "Pony." And some pictures --- Check those out here: http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=11381 * * * A number of items were auctioned off to help support One Night for One Drop. These were a one of a kind watch sold for $240k; 5 night stay at Guys Hawaii house $170k; 10 hour any destination private jet flight $70k; 6 night stay at Monte Carlo resort $103k, and collected about $300k in cash. Not bad for a nights work! SOURCES: - "Jewel Has a Show?" - USA Today, https://goo.gl/sKg1fY - "Jewel Inspires": Las Vegas Sun, https://goo.gl/5RR2ZC - "Nicky & Laetitia Dish on the Show" - LVRJ, https://goo.gl/RDuS1A - "From the Programme Book" - Pictures of the Book - "John Katsilometes' Review" - LVRJ, https://goo.gl/jZU8Zd ------------------------------------------------------------ "CARVING CRYSTAL: Melding Circus Arts and Ice Sports" Texts from the Press Kit Edited By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) ------------------------------------------------------------ In CRYSTAL, Cirque du Soleil explores the very essence of skating, assessing the artistic limits of ice for the first time in the company's history, asking how they can bring their signature style of acrobatics into yet uncharted territory – a sheet of ice – and blur the boundaries between gliding sports and circus arts. Follow Crystal in her journey towards empowerment. Enter a dreamlike world fueled by her imagination, where boundless creativity transforms the everyday into something extraordinary. Crystal invites you to suspend reality and glide into a world that springs to a colorful life with astounding visual projections and an original score that seamlessly blends popular music with the signature sound of Cirque du Soleil. Watch as world-class ice skaters and acrobats take their new frozen playground by storm with speed and fluidity as they challenge the laws of gravity with daring acrobatics. But CRYSTAL is more than just an ice show. This unique production pushes boundaries of performance by combining stunning skating and acrobatic feats that defy the imagination. Gymnasts and skaters perform acrobatics on the ice and in the air, melding both worlds together. Disciplines such as swinging trapeze, aerial straps, and hand to hand are fused together with disciplines such as synchro, freestyle, figure, and extreme skating on ramps, with a dash of all- out speed skating. Figure skaters learn to be pushers on Chinese poles, while circus artists learn to skate, and extreme skaters learn figure skating moves. THEME & SCENES The show is about looking at things from fresh angles, peeking through the veneer of everyday life, reframing one's daily reality to see what one might have missed. Sometimes the only way to appreciate things is to look at them sideways. Discovering one's individuality and uniqueness requires venturing out on thin ice. Crystal is a misfit with her head in the clouds, a dreamer looking for something more in her life. One day, feeling misunderstood and out of sync with the world, she ventures out on a frozen pond and falls through the ice. In this underwater world of her own imagination, she has a vision: she sees a reflection of herself – her alter ego – that guides her, showing her a distorted version of her life. Her Reflection tries to wake her up to her own genius and creativity. Through her writing, Crystal releases the potential of her hidden talent and transforms the world around her with stroke of her pen. Having summoned the strength to face reality, Crystal ultimately breaks through the ice, stronger than ever. Act One ------- TEMPÊTE -- After falling through the ice, Crystal is swept into a swirling vortex of wind and snow as her imagination wanders in free- fall. – Acrobatics and skating collide in this high-energy number where Banquine, hand-to-hand and tumbling are interwoven with jumps, flips, spins and figure skating. A DAY IN THE LIFE -- Crystal is caught in a warped, exaggerated version of her life where she feels out of sync – at home, at school, on the playground, on the street, and in the city. – This large-scale choreographic storytelling number blends acrobatic language with various skating forms. REFLECTION -- After chasing away her flashbacks, Crystal decides to take control of her environment when she catches sight of her Reflection again. Ultimately, her alter ego spreads darkness all around – blackness that spills from the ink of Crystal's pen. She is about to discover her voice through the power of her words. – Crystal sees her Reflection skating upside down. She then joins her Reflection on the ice for a poetic skating duo. JUGGLING -- In a joyful, celebratory scene driven by lively klezmer- infused music, Crystal explores her newfound talent as she gives shape to the impulses of her soul, willing characters into existence with the mere stroke of her pen. – In this duo juggling act, two jugglers display an incredible set of skills while on skates. They are joined by groups of acrobats and skaters performing intricate choreography. HOME SWING -- Crystal takes pleasure in transforming the different environments in her life through the power of her imagination. While her family sits catatonic in front of the TV, she swings back and forth on her backyard swing set and soars above the landscapes of her everyday life. – As Crystal reinvents her home environment, she flies up on a trapeze executing flips, spins and reverse skills while wearing ice skates – a first in a Cirque du Soleil show. She is joined by her Reflection who performs a dynamic skating solo. SCHOOL PLAYGROUND / HOCKEY -- Crystal revisits her neighborhood playground, which she transforms at will as she learns to flex her new powers. – Children frolic on a frozen playground while a hockey game on the pond turns into a high-octane romp on ramps where extreme skaters do crazy flips, twists and jumps at full speed, turning the ice into a giant pinball machine. Act Two ------- BIG CITY -- Trapped in the underwater world of her imagination, Crystal travels from her village to the big city. – Caught in a life- size maze of transparent panels on the ice, Crystal sees her Reflection again. She skates through the constantly shifting maze in an attempt to catch up with her elusive alter ego while a group of skaters crisscross the ice performing synchro skating choreography. PENDULAR POLES -- Crystal is jostled around in a world of her own creation inspired by the frenzy of the city. – This swinging poles act, a first at Cirque du Soleil, combines synchro pole work, pole-to- pole jumps, and impressive Russian-swing-style dismounts. TAP DANCE -- Four of the Businessperson characters try to one-up each other in a friendly competition. – Wearing mics on their skates, four artists exhibit their technical prowess by showcasing their unique talents leading up to a crowd pleasing tap dance number. AT THE OFFICE -- Desks in cubicles inside a labyrinth. Using the typewriter as her instrument of choice, Crystal continues to explore the power of her imagination by turning a sterile environment into something beautiful. – Inside an oppressive office environment where typewriters rule, the cast performs group choreography that leads to a jaw-dropping chair balancing act. COURTSHIP -- Crystal pictures herself in a romantic setting in a park where couples swirl and waltz together on skates. – Three couples perform an enchanting ice dancing number as Crystal searches for her own partner amongst the group. BALLROOM -- Crystal transforms the park into an elegant ballroom as her suitor appears from above and whisks her off on straps. – The couple performs a spellbinding aerial straps/skating pas-de-deux that blurs the boundaries between ice and sky. RETURN OF THE REFLECTION -- Crystal's Reflection brings her back to reality and makes her realize that real life is above the surface and not in this make-believe world. – As Crystal's reflection multiplies, four female skaters perform a dramatic group skating number amidst stunning interactive video effects. REFLECTION'S CLUMP -- Crystal struggles to ascend back up to the light and life above the pond while the Shadow characters help and hinder her progress, providing a final challenge before she's ready to return. – In a breathtaking group number that melds hand-to-hand techniques on ice with duo trapeze, a group of porters propel Crystal onto the trapeze where another porter flings her back down to be caught again in a flurry of Banquine and hand-to-hand moves. BREAKTHROUGH -- After Crystal gets the nod from her Reflection and finally breaks the ice and resurfaces, she is greeted by the community and her family. – The finale is an exhilarating mix of synchro-skating that features the entire cast as they create a huge pinwheel in a nod to classic ice shows. BEHIND THE SCENES Set Design ---------- The world of Crystal spills from its main character's pen. Cut-outs, origami, streams of paper, and pop-ups of all sorts are some of the features that make up the show's visual aesthetics as Crystal navigates through her imaginary world of skewed perspectives as if it was a living scrapbook. In a décor that can be described as "vintage poetic," the Crystal stage evokes a town square next to a frozen pond. Upstage is a huge quartz wall that contains all the familiar places in Crystal's life in which she experiences meaningful moments through a series of flashbacks. On top of the wall is a miniature train that travels to the various places in the story through a series of temporal shifts. Inside the wall, effects of scale reinforce the idea that we are in a world of memories and flashbacks. And on the ice, the show's versatile stage changes from a schoolyard to a playground to a giant pinball machine to an office tower in a big city, in large part due to the use of video projections and props. Costumes -------- Blending with the set design of Crystal, the overall look of the costumes is one of frivolity laced with surrealism in a fantastical world of ice. In the Home Swing scene, as an example, Crystal is seeing her world from above. So some of the characters wear clouds or houses on their heads to represent Crystal's surreal inner world. In a scene that evokes the rigidity of everyday life at the office, business men wear a very clean cut navy blue business suits while businesswomen feature an intricate pattern made of standard typewriter letters, including typewriter shapes on their chests. Angular crystal and origami effects are used throughout the costumes as a unifying component. 3D paper effects were a prism pattern creating volume on the sleeves during the Big City and Poles acts. The costumes were designed to withstand the rigors of ice, and keep the artists safe. In acrobatic numbers where catchers are involved, special padding on their shoulders, as well as gloves made of Kevlar equipped with polymer cuffs, absorb shock and protect their forearms from the razor-sharp skate blades. For those artists who slide on the ice, their costumes are created out of water-resistant, non-absorbent materials that preserve the gliding properties of the costume. And for those acts that involve high-level floor acrobatics, such as Banquine and hand-to-hand, which require stability on the ice, acrobatic shoes and gloves have been developed incorporating a combination of small metal spikes and crampons into the soles to enable them to walk, slide, run, and so many other things that are normally not possible on ice. Artists wear three to four different outfits during the show, which means a quick-change is necessary between scenes. Cirque du Soleil costume creators equipped many of the costumes with ankle-to-ankle zippers to allow skaters to change without removing their stakes (which saves a lot of time!) Cirque has also employed magnets to enable even quicker changes for the acrobats. And of course, all types of skates are used in the show, including figure skates, ice dance, and hockey skates. Those used by figure skaters have toe picks for control and flatter blades while hockey skate blades are curved for maneuverability and speed. To achieve the look, Cirque created covers that zip on and off and painted the covers so they have the same look as the shoes. Characters ---------- All of these costume choices are blended together to create an array of characters. o) CRYSTAL -- Crystal is an eccentric young woman with a charming quirkiness and a restless imagination. Feeling misunderstood in her everyday life, she ultimately finds her footing and turns her quirks into a creative force, radically changing her own narrative through her writing. With her flamboyant red hair, Crystal is clad in a vintage plaid skirt in blue, a light turquoise cardigan-style shirt and a red scarf that echoes her quirky creativity and unpretentious nature. o) CRYSTAL'S REFLECTION -- This character is Crystal's shadow self – a dark yet helpful side of her personality that enables her to access her strengths and creativity. The shadow Crystal carries inside her – which usually appears as a separate, distinct entity in the underwater world – is more mischievous and headstrong than she is, encouraging her to take control of her life. Crystal's reflection wears a darker version of the same outfit, but with shiny wave patterns evoking the underwater world. Her costume is the mirror image of Crystal's where everything is reversed. o) THE SHADOWS -- The Shadows represent the forces within her subconscious mind that pull all the strings of her life, either helping her along or hindering her progress. The Shadows' costumes transition from black to white and suggest washed out ink spots and crystal patterns. o) CRYSTAL'S ENTOURAGE -- Crystal's family – Crystal's mother, father and brother are her warped version of a suburban family: impassive, stoical individuals mesmerized by the television. The school kids and the businessmen who appear in Crystal's subconscious world all seem passionless and robotic to her. Spectators see Crystal's family through her eyes in a warped version of reality. Her mother, father and brother wear whimsical, art-deco-inspired costumes with a sense of suburban nostalgia. Coral pink, mint greens and banana yellows are the chosen colors. Added to the front of their costumes is a simple appliqué representing a full-size, childlike drawing of each of them, as seen through Crystal's eyes. o) COMIC CHARACTER -- The Clown stalks Crystal's subconscious world. He is Crystal's imaginary friend, motivating her whenever she needs a friendly push. Music ----- The music of CRYSTAL is cinematic in scope while supporting the narrative and pulsing to the rhythm of the action on, "below", and above the ice. With its sweeping, atmospheric and romantic soundscapes, the score moves from grand orchestral sounds to klezmer- style chamber music to melodic folk and rock-tinged beats. Cover versions of well-known pop songs specifically recorded for the show were also added – a first for Cirque du Soleil. These riveting songs stir the emotions of spectators and enhance key moments in the narrative. The interpreters were chosen not only for their ability to capture the feeling of the original songs, but also to heighten the emotional charge of the scenes they accompany, thus adding the "Cirque du Soleil touch" to the songs themselves. * * * CRYSTAL is about looking at things from fresh angles, peeking through the veneer of everyday life, reframing one's daily reality to see what one might have missed. Sometimes the only way to appreciate things is to look at them sideways. Discovering one's individuality and uniqueness requires venturing out on thin ice. "Crystal breaks the codes of the traditional ice show by creating a unique form of entertainment. To reach this objective, we brought together the best experts in their respective worlds. With this new show, the audience will discover the infinite possibilities that ice adds to the prowess of circus arts," says Daniel Fortin, Executive Director, Creation, Crystal. Cirque du Soleil invites the audience to discover CRYSTAL – A Breakthrough Ice Experience – and find out what it means to skate on the edge of reality. World-class ice skating, surreal aesthetics and artistic prowess fuse together. So let reality slip away as Cirque du Soleil Crystal glides above a most unusual reflection. ------------------------------------------------------------ "We're Off and Running - A Series of Classic Critiques" Part 11 of 16: Quidam, Part 2 (1997-1998) By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) ------------------------------------------------------------ A few months ago, as I was flipping through a few classic Cirque du Soleil programme books (as is my wont), I was happily caught off-guard by a brief history of the company that it had written about itself in Saltimbanco's original European Tour programme, published sometime in 1996. Not because the historia was in English, French, and Spanish, but rather I found the wording a bit more colorful… haughty… than what you'd find from the company today. Something about its whimsical and heady nature spoke to the way Cirque du Soleil saw itself then, containing a youthful verve and arrogance that is simply no longer present. When did Cirque lose this dynamic sense of self, this liveliness, and vivacity about its past, present, and future? Unfortunately, not long after. Thereafter the speak becomes less joie de vivre and more lié aux affaires, and Cirque du Soleil turns from a rag-tag band of street performers into a bona fide corporate entity right before our very eyes. This is not a new revelation - far from it in fact - but this re-discovery struck a chord of curiosity within… How did others see Cirque du Soleil during this period? Think about it: as Cirque's multitude of shows travel around the globe in either arenas or under the big top, at each stop, in each city, there is a write-up in the local press. Sometimes the coverage is just a brief blurb about the show and its theme, occasionally there's a short interview with a performer, a stage hand, or creation director, and other times it's an assessment of the show itself, evaluating its technical and acrobatic merits with what had come through before. But the reviews we see today are too current, discussing these shows through a contemporary lens; shows that have/had 15 to 20 years touring the globe, shows we would refer to as "classic" or "signature". What I'd become interested in knowing was what some of the first reviews, peeks, and evaluations of these shows were as they took their first steps across North America. How did the press see Le Cirque du Soleil in 1998, 1994, 1990, 1987? It was time to peck through the archives. What I found was extraordinary, and more than I expected. And I'm sharing these discoveries here in Fascination through a series of collections, beginning with the 1987 tournée of Le Cirque du Soleil (better known today as Le Cirque Réinventé), and continuing on from there. This month we continue on with 1996 and 1997's reviews of Quidam. # # # CIRQUE DELVES INTO THE SECRET LIVES OF STRANGERS By: Christine Ehren | Playbill March 25, 1998 Is it theatre with circus or circus with theatre? Is it dance or is it a musical? No, I don't ever want to put [Quidam] in a box...I think it's funny to say that you can't," Cirque Du Soleil's artistic director Andrew Watson explained, attempting to categorize his group's new piece Quidam. For this show, as for most Cirque shows, there is a governing theme. The meaning here lies buried in the Latin word "quidam". A quidam, according to the show program, is "a nameless passer-by, a solitary figure lingering on a street corner, a person rushing past." According to Watson, Quidam grew out of what was going on around the world. "What started us this time was the loss of individuality, the anonymity of people. There was Rwanda, Bosnia; there were all these awful things happening...We'd hear about 100,000 refugees--this just becomes a figure to us...100,000 people is made up of 100,000 individuals all with their own past, future, and present, all different from everybody else," he said. Other influences included the Belgian painter Rene Magritte (obvious in the show's art work, depicting a headless man standing against a brick wall and carrying an umbrella) and the work of French photographer Robert Doisneau. To demonstrate, Watson stood and pointed out the window at people below. In pictures such as "The Kiss (Hotel Du Ville)," Doisneau managed to take a group photo, yet focus the viewer's attention on a single person. "You'd see a whole group -- he'd zoom in and suddenly, you'd see out of the group -- that everyone down there has their own story," he said. Such is the goal of Quidam. Part of the revelation of the theme lies in its story. Although not scripted in the traditional sense, Quidam, of all the Cirque shows, has the most story. There are definite, consistent characters -- a little girl, her father and mother -- and there is a sense of place, although the audience is left to wonder if the child has created the world in her head or if it physically exists. "You're never quite sure who is in whose dream," Watson said. The sense of disorientation is deliberate. He explained, "We really do avoid telling a specific story because the public wouldn't be able to dream it and then make their own interpretation." Quidam began its performing life on April 24, 1996 at the Cirque's home base in Montreal, Canada. Since then, Watson has watched the show change and grow. Sometimes, however, a piece can evolve, but not within the concept of the show. Because of these changes, Watson and all of the designers visit the show usually once per city, partially to stimulate the artists, partially to clean the show up. "Things can go millimeter by millimeter over a month period and then suddenly a scene in the show doesn't mean what it did because an entrance got a little bit later, a little later, a little bit later and that can change the whole balance of what's happening on stage," Watson said. Experimentation is still encouraged. Watson said there was no fear for the artists to try new things on stage. New ideas are added as they fit the theme. Watson knows what it's like to work the Cirque from both sides of the tent as he himself used to perform with them as a trapeze artist. He joined in the 1987-88 tour and learned to tango and work with masks. Also on tour, he observed an artistic director for the first time. After a year, he returned to the regular circus circuit, but found himself bored and missing the group work of the Cirque. "You felt like you were part of a show and we were all working together to make that show work, not just 'I don't care about the show; I want my act to work and I hope to get paid next week'," Watson said. Watson then ran into Cirque founding president Guy Laliberte at a circus festival in Monoco. The Cirque was thinking of expanding and needed a creative department. Laliberte hired Watson for casting and act formation and Gilles Ste Croix as artistic director. (What began as two people then is now staffed by 45. Watson's original casting job is now done by 20 people.) Watson then spent a year on the road as an artistic coordinator before returning to find Ste Croix offering him his job as artistic director. Working for the Cirque will keep its artistic director busy. Future plans include a movie version of Alegria, an aquatic show based in Las Vegas, and a new resident show at Walt Disney World in Orlando. As for Quidam, it will continue its tour on through Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. # # # # # # CIRQUE DU SOLEIL RETURNING WITH A HAUNTING MOOD PIECE By: Ricky Lyman | New York Times April 6, 1998 A dim blue light spilled from one end of the cavernous rehearsal space at Cirque du Soleil's headquarters here, as if a spaceship from a Steven Spielberg movie were landing in the next room. Mood-setting steam billowed from beneath the curtains surrounding the stage. On the rehearsal stage, two dozen dancers and gymnasts burst into frantic, syncopated activity, some twirling like tops, others roaring across the stage like dive bombers, this one spinning and falling to the mat, that one kicking and wagging her head. Franco Dragone, who has directed eight productions for Cirque du Soleil, was rehearsing the routine for a new water spectacular to open this year in Las Vegas. He sat down on a folding chair and watched the frantic activity with intense concentration. Behind him, sprawled on thick blue mats, another two dozen lean performers (average age: 28) from France, Canada, Russia, Ukraine and the United States, stretched and watched and sipped mineral water. Mr. Dragone said that he had always felt a particular affinity for the work of the stage director Peter Brook. "The way he works is exactly the way we work here," he said."A show always starts with an obscure presentiment, an image or a vague idea, and then slowly you start to build, and as you do, you realize what is in the show and what is not in the show." Cirque du Soleil, a New Age carnival blending circus arts and street performance but without animals, subsists on mystery and surrealism as much as clowning and physical derring-do. It is only about a decade since the troupe set up its signature blue-and-gold tent in an open field in Battery Park City on its first United States tour. Since its beginnings not quite 14 years ago, when it had 13 members, the company has grown to a worldwide organization with 1,700 employees, a sprawling new $40 million headquarters and branch offices in Amsterdam, Singapore and Tokyo. It has one production touring North America, a second touring Europe, a third in a permanent home at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, three more shows coming on line this year, including permanent sites at Walt Disney World in Florida and the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, a Cirque du Soleil film and subsidiary operations producing and marketing soundtrack albums, building theatrical sets and selling Cirque du Soleil merchandise at an anticipated network of retail outlets all over the world. Guy Laliberte, a co-founder with Daniel Gaulthier, a fellow street performer, said the company intended to double its sales this year to $300 million. Not bad for a former fire-eater and a former stilt- walker. Cirque du Soleil is returning to Manhattan after a three-year absence with the fifth production it has presented in the city. The new show is called "Quidam," from the Latin word that they translate as "anonymous passerby" or "somebody," and it is a bit of a departure for the company, a haunting mood piece about social disconnection at the end of the millennium. "Every show always starts from an idea for a theme that I feel," said Mr. Dragone, whose background is in theater rather than street performing. " 'Quidam' started with a question: What does a little girl or boy have on his mind today?" Unlike previous productions, which relied on mythological and allegorical themes, the characters of "Quidam" are drawn from everyday life, though the recurring image is a headless man carrying an umbrella. The central character, if there is one, is a little girl whose parents are too preoccupied to pay attention to her. She wanders through various surreal scenes where she meets acrobats, dancers, contortionists and circus performers. (Cirque du Soleil has no clowns, it has "characters.") "Quidam" has its premiere in 1996 in Quebec, where all Cirque du Soleil productions are initially staged, and has visited several cities in Canada, California, Colorado and Texas before landing in Battery Park City. It will go to Chicago and Washington before closing in Atlanta at the end of the year. Many critics who have seen "Quidam" in other cities have described it as darker and more psychological than previous Cirque du Soleil productions. But Mr. Dragone said he rejected the view that "Quidam" was a darker work. It only seems so, he said, because it deals with real people instead of mythical characters. 'More Theatrical, More Poetic' "There is no text, so I have to compose in images, images that can talk to us," he said. "If I would describe 'Quidam' in any way, it would be as more theatrical, more poetic. It has an atmosphere of what you might call magical realism." Cirque du Soleil began in 1984 as part of the 450th anniversary celebration of Jacques Cartier's landing in Canada, with the group touring Quebec on a grant from the provincial government. In 1985, the company traveled through Ontario and British Columbia, eventually setting up shop in its new 1,500-seat tent in Niagara Falls under the name Sun Circus. Soon it was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. "We learned something about ourselves," Jean David, the company's vice president of marketing, said in a recent magazine interview. "When you say 'Sun Circus,' it means one thing. But when you say 'Cirque du Soleil,' that's different." After that, they stuck with the French. In 1987 and 1988, the company made its first trip to the United States with a production they called "We Reinvent the Circus," a show that already bore their trademarks of sensuality, mystery and fantastic imagery. It was a huge success. A second show, "Nouvelle Experience," toured North America in 1990 and 1991, then settled in Las Vegas for a year. This was followed by "Saltimbanco" in 1992 and 1993 and "Alegria" in 1994 and 1995. "Mystere," the permanent show at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, has been running since 1993. The company has also signed a 12-year agreement with Walt Disney World to stage another new production in a new 1,650-seat theater resembling a circus tent that is being built in Florida. And then there was the production that Mr. Dragone was rehearsing, amid the steam and the blue light. The still-untitled piece will find its home this year in the troupe's second Las Vegas venue, a new proscenium theater with a swimming pool as a stage. In the midst of the rehearsals, Mr. Dragone retired to a windowless rectangle at the center of the company's new headquarters, where he chain-smoked cigarettes amid a jumble of artist's sketches and well- thumbed copies of National Geographic and other magazines from which costume designers draw their inspiration. "We call this room the bunker," he said. It is the troupe's nerve center, where many of the creative decisions are made. Guiding a multinational organization like Cirque du Soleil is a bit like being a street juggler -- lots of distractions and balls in the air. It is Mr. Dragone's job to make sure that the troupe keeps growing artistically while all its established shows retain their power. "You know, every show has a very specific biorhythm," Mr. Dragone said. "There are some periods that are more stressful than others, and you must pay attention to that." Cirque du Soleil's new headquarters is built on land bought from Montreal's city dump with government help. Though the headquarters complex is atop solid ground, it is just next door to a working landfill, which can clearly be seen from the structure's balconies and roof decks. The company's founders see the project as part of the ethos that has always guided Cirque du Soleil, risky and a little altruistic, aimed at revitalizing the downtrodden neighborhood around the dump. Outside the bunker, the complex is airy and filled with light. Offices look out across the many practice and rehearsal studios, and it is not uncommon for someone conducting a business call to look up and see a trapeze artist fly past the window. Mr. Dragone said he was not too concerned that the company, which began by attracting passersby on the street and has grown into a three-continent corporate giant, would lose its soul. Nor is he concerned that the permanent locations in Las Vegas and Disney World will alienate the company from its big top beginnings. "Never will the Cirque stop the touring shows," Mr. Dragone said. "Impossible. The roots are there." # # # # # # REINVENTING THE WHEEL By: Judy Hevrdejs | Chicago Tribune July 19, 1998 In the world of Cirque du Soleil, kismet happens. Early on in a show titled "Quidam," a large steel wheel rolls onstage with a young man stretching his arms and legs across its interior. It is a standard bit of athleticism in European gymnastic circles. Not an uncommon sight in circuses around the globe. Yet this wheel has rolled into Cirque's world and that is where the similarities end. As the young man turns inside the wheel--actually two equal-sized tubular wheels joined by a half-dozen steel rungs--he shifts his weight so the wheel drops on its side and, just as a dropped dinner plate might gyrate on a kitchen floor, he is sent spinning, his face sometimes a breath away from the floor, before he forces the wheel upright. The 110-pound wheel of steel and the 155-pound man's muscled body challenge each other for control. He slips through the bars and onto the wheel's exterior. The wheel seems to take over, spinning the young man on a wild path across the stage. In the next second, the man shifts his weight and the wheel spins a pirouette. And then, in a maneuver that gets them every time, he stretches his body along the wheel's interior curve, rolls across the stage and just as it appears his face will graze the stage, he slips through the bars to safety. And to applause. How the man and the steel wheel--a living, breathing Leonardo DaVinci drawing--came to be part of Cirque du Soleil's "Quidam," the ninth production from the Montreal-based troupe opening here July 22 under its blue-and-yellow tents, is a story in itself. Let's start at the beginning: 1992 Gilles Ste-Croix is an ex-stilt walker turned creative director. Ever since he joined the team that would establish Cirque du Soleil, he has prowled the world, searching for performers--tumblers, acrobats, trapeze artists, jugglers-- to mesmerize audiences for Cirque du Soleil. It was during those travels that the Canadian spotted a gymnastic discipline that fascinated him. It involved a contraption made from tubular wheels in which an athlete earns points for body position, for example. Ste-Croix was convinced that the wheel, part of European gymnastic competitions since the turn of the century, could find a place with Cirque. About the same time, 24-year-old Chris Lashua, a Massachusetts kid and a wizard at bicycle stunts, was performing his bicycle routine with a circus in China. Ste-Croix spotted him and invited him to join Cirque's production of "Fascination" in Japan. 1993 After the cycling gig in Japan, Lashua moved to Las Vegas to work on carpentry, costuming, rigging for the Cirque show "Nouvelle Experience." But he wanted to get back on stage. About that time, a friend showed him a newspaper clipping of a man, a student at a French circus school, stretched inside a wheel. Lashua was hooked. "I have this thing for wheels," he said. Seeing a picture of a wheel and delivering a Cirque-caliber performance, though, are worlds apart. "The next step was to figure out from the photo what size the wheel was," said Lashua. He worked with a welder on the wheel design, finally developing a wheel that is 7 feet in diameter and made from two hoops (each 1 1/2-inch tubes of steel) that are joined at six places by 3/4-inch tubing, like rungs of a ladder. 1994 & 1995 The wheel was ready to challenge Chris. During the day and through Cirque's evening performances in Las Vegas, he worked on the stage crew. But after each night's performance, he practiced with his wheel for several hours. Lashua invited feedback from Cirque's creative team. Choreographers and artistic directors offered advice. "Any idea is worth being listened to," said Ste-Croix. Then, late in 1995, after countless impromptu auditions for Cirque honchos--Ste-Croix invited Lashua to become part of a new Cirque production that would premiere in Montreal in April 1996. January 1996 Before work began in Montreal, though, Cirque wanted Chris to work with masters of the gymnastic discipline."'I know you are motivated and not a great acrobat,'" Ste-Croix recalled telling Lashua. "'I will send you to Germany to train.'" For six weeks in a gym near Frankfurt, Lashua worked with coaches Wolfgang Bientzle and Katja Hommeyer. Both have competed in the gymnastic sport and taught Chris the techniques (movements, positions, skills) an athlete would need to earn points in a gymnastic competition. Mid-February 1996 Lashua traveled to Cirque's home in Montreal for the real Cirque work to begin. "Only 2 percent (of the process) was getting the act and knowing it worked," said Ste-Croix. Now Cirque's team would put its twist on a traditional sport. For the first time, Chris and his wheel performed for the entire creative team without music, costuming or makeup. "We build a cycle of four to six months for developing a piece before beginning rehearsal," explained Yves Neveu, director of the creative studio. Two to three months of rehearsals follow, with each artist working on developing his or her piece while the creative team tackles costumes, music and staging. The process, these days, occurs in Cirque's massive blue-and-yellow splashed headquarters on the north side of Montreal. Early March 1996 Each piece in a Cirque show is based on a singular vision, coached along by Ste-Croix but echoing Cirque's motto of "Evoke, provoke, invoke." The Cirque team "had a good sense of what would grab people," said Lashua. Easing up on the technicalities of the sport--loosening up his limbs, crawling in and out of the wheel--might have lost Lashua points in a gymnastic competition, but the performance became more entertaining. The wheel was no longer a gymnastic apparatus but a prop to be played with by this blond Puck. The costume department made a mold of Lashua's head, as they do with all Cirque performers for creating latex bald caps, hats, wigs and masks. Costume designer Dominique Lemieux came up with Chris' outfit-- sort of. First off the sketch pad: a loin cloth and no shoes to echo the DaVinci drawing. Chris vetoed that. He needed shoes to hold his feet in the wheel's stirrups. After five or six costume sketches, Lemieux came up with a flesh-colored bodystocking, streaked with shades of paint and finished with streams of fabric--and sneakers. Then there was the challenge of music. "Finding the right music was hardest because it can be boring--all this rolling, the same rhythm, it never goes faster" recalled Ste-Croix. But music man Benoit Jutras met the challenge, delivering an original piece, "Incantation" that Ste-Croix said keeps the rhythm but has another level of drama. Late March 1996 Each of the show's pieces has gone through development: Chris' wheel is ready to go. Rehearsals are in full swing. Director Franco Dragone crafts a story with the chosen pieces. "Our inspiration (for a show's story) comes from our collective memory," said Ste-Croix, "We are not visionaries. We are just living in your world." The creative team talks themes: Forgotten people. The right to be different. The anonymity of the world. The show, they decide, will focus on "a nameless passerby, a solitary figure lingering on a street corner, a person rushing past, a person who lives lost amidst the crowd in an all too anonymous society." The name? The French "Quidam" -- pronounced key-dahm -- which translates as a fellow or chap. The show premiered in Montreal April 24, 1996, before heading off on a world tour. Each week, Lashua performs with his wheel for 10 performances-- exercise enough he said to keep himself fit for the rigors of the act. July 1998 Come Wednesday night, under the blue and yellow tents in the United Center parking lot, several characters in "Quidam" will set the tone for the evening's performance, inviting the audience into Cirque's world. The first acrobat/artist to command the stage will be a solitary young man: Chris Lashua, his muscled arms and legs stretched taught within the confines of a huge wheel, will spin across the stage, fabric streamers flying, an imp ready to play with the wheel and the audience. # # # # # # WELL-TRAVELED CIRQUE STILL PACKS POWER TO OVERWHELM By: Christ Jones | Chicago Tribune July 24, 1998 When the Cirque du Soleil first pitched its revisionist big top by North Pier nearly a decade ago, they were an obscure avant-garde French-Canadian curiosity in a small, hot tent with hard benches and folks in wacky costumes. Back in Chicago for the first time in three years with "Quidam," the Cirque is now a global cultural powerhouse of unparalleled aesthetic and commercial clout. One can see the stylistic influence of this singular circus everywhere--from other theatrical productions to restaurant design; from casino interiors to fashion shows. This is the brand name of non- linear live entertainment; a brilliantly fashioned amalgam of circus, dance and performance art that somehow has made surrealisme accessible to a mass audience and, consequently, immensely profitable. How appropriate that the new site in Chicago should be the United Center parking lot. The danger of such longevity and high exposure is that elements of the Cirque's signature style start to become familiar. The image of the child looking in on a fantasy world; the clown polishing someone's bald pate; the beautiful bodies contorting themselves into unimaginable positions through sheer brute strength; the seemingly wordless lyrics that float through the air; the singular beauty of the staging: all of these are Cirque tropes that overwhelm the senses when seen for the first time. So if this is your first viewing, prepare to be overwhelmed. But once you have seen the acts repeated five or six times, they lose some (but not all) of their power. With costumes that mainly represent recognizable people more than fanciful non-human fictions, "Quidam" is the most literal, urban and adult of all of the Cirque shows to date (although with images reminiscent of the art of Magritte and the films of director Atom Egoyan, it's still an ephemeral show by everyone else's standards). Themed around the characters of two parents and their daughter who are whisked from an archetypal domestic living room into a world of, well, circus acts, director Andrew Watson explicitly relates the circus performers to a family that he presumably intends to represent us. Thus when the semi-naked Isabelle Chasse does an eroticized aerial contortion hanging from the top of the tent and wearing a huge red piece of silk, the father stares longingly at his wife, who's wearing a dress in exactly that color. Although it never steps over the line of good taste or into the realm of literal sexuality, the Cirque has long played with fetishized images--the final act of "Quidam" features two tiny women wearing lingerie and platinum blond wigs who are tossed around (brilliantly, of course) amidst a group of men. And if it were not for her androgynous quality and outstanding athletic craft, Chasse's routine would not be out of place in a sex club. One has to be looking for this stuff, perhaps, in order to draw such conclusions. As always with the Cirque, the individual acts are all of the highest technical quality--Chris Lashua's opening human-wheel routine is stunning, as are the aerial hoops of Genevieve Bessette and Marie-Michelle Faber and the agonizing (for the audience) manipulations of Patrick McGuire and Steven Ragatz. The tent is beautifully cool and all the seats have backs. And this show features a high-tech rigging system that does away with all set changes (although the usual high-wire act is gone). At the peak of its powers, prowess and influence, the Cirque can now do whatever it wants, wherever it wants, sure that the audience will follow. It will be interesting to see where these ever-inventive Canadians take us next. # # # # # # IF YOU'VE SEEN THE SHOW, YOU PROBABLY HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS By: Anne Taubeneck | Chicago Tribune August 23, 1998 Q. At one point in a precarious balancing act called "Statue," Marie- Laure Mesnage is upside down with only her shoulders touching the top of the back of her partner, Yves Decoste. What keeps her from slipping? A. "Practice, technique, strength - and resin," Decoste answers. He and Mesnage apply a mixture of resin and alcohol to their skin to keep it from being too slippery. Even so, after an air-conditioning unit faltered during a matinee on a hot day in New York, the temperature in the tent rose 10 to 15 degrees and "Statue" was cancelled for fear of injury due to excessive sweat. Q. In what may be the sexiest circus act ever, "Aerial Contortion in Silk," 22-year-old Isabelle Chasse does forehead-high leg stretches and thigh-straining splits, supported above the stage only by two slender pieces of fabric. Are they really silk? A. Don't try this act at home using knotted silk scarves. Chasse dangles from a tough blend of nylon and Lycra. Q. Early in each show, emcee John Gilkey picks out an audience member who becomes part of a comic bit onstage. How does Gilkey decide whom to choose? A. "We look for a big person, because we put him in a small costume that will look funny tight on him," Gilkey says. "And we look for someone who seems playful. I'll take the head of a person who's looking at me and turn it so it's pointing the other direction. If he resists, he probably wouldn't be good, but if he goes along with that, it's pretty certain he'll play to the right extent." Some choices have backfired. "One man in Los Angeles got violent and tried to bang the heads of two (performers) together," says Gilkey. And though he reassures people he's selected - "talking under my breath, telling them, 'Don't worry, this will be painless,' " - a few "have had major stage fright, crying or shaking uncontrollably. You kind of speed things up when that happens." Q. For audience participation bits, Gilkey always selects men. Is Cirque sexist? A. "There is an unwritten rule among clowns," he explains, "that if you're going to make fun of somebody, women and children are out of bounds." Q. On opening night, a screaming baby in the audience unexpectedly became part of a Gilkey routine. Was he pleased or peeved? A. The emcee's snarly looks in the noisy baby's direction got big laughs. "That works," Gilkey says, "because the audience doesn't expect you to break out of (your routine)." Q. In the fast-paced acrobatic act, "Banquine," two women in white costumes that appear to have been inspired by Victoria's Secret get thrown around as if they were Barbie dolls. How much do they weigh? A. Elena Kolesnikova, of Russia, and Tatiana Gousarova, from the Ukraine, weigh, respectively, 90 and 88 pounds. Q. Gilkey does a trick with a hoop, making it travel in large circles on the stage and then magically come back to him. How does he do that? A. "The bummer about that trick is there's no trick to it," says Gilkey. "I've just practiced a lot. What's much more difficult is the dance I do with the coat rack while juggling balls. That has to be done with a very delicate hand in time to very fast, aggressive, macho-style Latin music." Q. Does a medical specialist travel with the troupe to handle injuries? A. Two athletic therapists, Ian Murray and Angela Greco (also a physiotherapist), travel with the cast. The most common ailment: lower back pain. Q. How young is too young to enjoy this sophisticated show? A. Gilkey thinks children 6 or 7 are old enough to appreciate the "physical feats," but added that the show's crashes of thunder could frighten a younger child. (So could the lightning, the headless man and the clown with spikes coming out of his costume.) This writer plans to take her 9-year-old, even though the 2 1/2-hour show (including intermission) is long, even for that age. Q. The glossy, $8 program is filled with gorgeous photos and obscure quotes, but has no information about the acts and little about the performers. Why is it so lacking in facts? A. According to Cirque spokesman Lance Taylor, "Practically speaking, there's a wealth of information that could go into the program, but we didn't want it to be a 40-page magazine." He added, "The idea behind Cirque du Soleil has always been that every person should walk away from the show with his own individual interpretation of what the meaning behind it was." # # # # # # BEYOND THE BIG TOP WITH THE GREATEST BALANCING ACT ON EARTH By: Caroline Abels | Charlotte Post-Gazette April 28, 2002 In the backstage trailer known as "the kitchen," a petite French woman with bulging biceps is laughing with her Canadian partner, Yves Decoste, about a question once put to them by Cirque du Soleil audience members. "They said to us, 'Oh, you must certainly be a couple in real life, no?' " recalls the woman, Marie-Laure Mesnage. Their startling feat in the Cirque du Soleil show "Quidam" is when Mesnage balances upside down on Decoste by placing the tops of her bare shoulders directly on the tops of his. Performed slowly and in near silence, it is a meditation on the interdependence of men and women, and is one of a handful of breathtaking stunts in "Quidam" -- a Latin term for "anonymous passer-by" pronounced "key-dahm." But the fact is, Mesnage, 36, and Decoste, 40, are just friends. They dated in the 1990s, but as they toured Europe with the act that would eventually make it into the show, they broke up -- at which point they had to rely on their inner strength, as much as the strength of their arms and legs, to keep the act going. "The first night after we split, it was not easy to perform," Mesnage recalls. "But the public was great. No applause during the act, and then they exploded at the end. Maybe I told them somehow what was happening in my head." What's happening in the heads of "Quidam" performers as they leap, climb, catapult, swing, shimmy and teeter on stage is up to the imagination of stunned onlookers, some of whom go to one of Cirque du Soleil's seven shows worldwide expecting an American three-ring circus. But "Quidam," which is touring North America and opens in Pittsburgh on May 9, resembles a dark and sensual dream more than a nursery school. Clowns are few, and animals are nowhere. Instead, the big top brims with odd characters, evocative lighting, thunderous sounds and athletes of such agility you wonder whether they're superhuman. Sitting in the audience, you might think so. But backstage in Charlotte a few weeks ago -- tiptoeing around contorted bodies, bumping into giggling Chinese acrobats and hearing stories like the one about Mesnage and Decoste -- it was apparent that the Cirque du Soleil ("Circus of the Sun" in French) is a most human place. As the soleil sets over the cirque, roughly three hours before show time, many of "Quidam's" buff and agile performers do what they often inspire audience members to do: work out. Their gym is in a tent behind the blue-and-yellow Big Top, a venue that seats 2,600 people. In this crowded tent, 56 performers plucked from around the world not only lift weights, and each other, but also step into costume, apply their makeup, nervously sip cups of coffee and practice to make perfect. Blue velvet curtains separate the dressing rooms from the practice area, where gym mats are spread out next to weights, barbells, rowing machines and exercise balls. Dozens of props -- bowler hats, boxing gloves, tambourines, wigs -- rest on shelves, while in the costume corner, intricately woven sheaves of linen, wool, velvet and silk are washed, ironed and sewn by staff. Life back here is busy and unglamorous, with everyone off doing his own thing. Russian acrobats cavort on the trampoline, teen-age acrobats from Beijing gab with their translator, a juggler receives acupuncture from a resident physiotherapist, and rope climbers take Pilates instruction. Although the "Quidam" story line -- of a girl who is shunned by her parents but then whisked away to a strange but friendlier place -- is designed to evoke emotion, awe is the main reaction of audiences who see acts like the Spanish Webs, in which performers climb ropes only to drop and swing from them; the Banquine, in which Slavic acrobats form human pyramids; and the German Wheel, in which Chris Lashua (whose parents, Diane and Duane Lashua, live in Moon) becomes the spoke of a spinning metal wheel 6 feet in diameter. The world of Mary Lou Retton and Nadia Comaneci is where most of these 12- to 48-year-olds come from. They're first spotted in gymnastic competitions if they haven't already sent an audition tape to Cirque's Montreal headquarters. Others have backgrounds in ballet, modern dance and music, and most come from countries with strong acrobatic and circus traditions: Canada, China, Russia, Ukraine. Looking at Eric Newton, 38, whose biceps are the size of melons, you'd think the Philadelphia native came from the bodybuilding world, not the theater. But after his acting training, he took up clowning and learned to work a trapeze well enough to play a trapeze-flying Ariel in a production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest." Newton arrived on the "Quidam" set in March to stand in for an injured performer, and now he is standing in awe of the unpretentious and hard-working athletes around him. "Even though I was a circus professional, I always saw Cirque performers as perfect," he says, sweat dripping from his face following a rehearsal. "I thought everyone must be so superior and that when I came here, people would say to me, 'Who do you think you are?' But now I see that it's never easy for them. They're always working at their act." Or watching it. Performers are often huddled around a television screen backstage, looking at videotapes of their act with the artistic coordinator, who keeps an eye on the show while it's on tour. By all reports, Mesnage and Decoste do a good job of keeping an eye on their balancing act. The two friends notice when their moves are getting sloppy and continually fine-tune the toughest parts -- for example, when Mesnage slides down Decoste's back after balancing on his shoulders. "They're the least of our worries," says resident physiotherapist Bronwyn Claassen. "They have an amazing understanding of their bodies. If Marie-Laure knows she's not feeling right in a certain spot, she'll come to me and say, 'There's an imbalance here.'" Mesnage engages in a workout routine for four months before changing it. In some cities where the tour stops, she takes dance classes. And when she's not working on her own body, she's boosting the confidence of younger performers who turn to her for pointers. Mesnage was a gymnastics coach and director of a Montreal gymnastics center when Decoste asked her to tour the balancing act with him in Europe after his male partner was injured. Decoste now says the act is more complete with a woman. "There is a yin and yang element there, and the audience picks up on that." * * * About an hour before the show, the gruff stage manager -- both feared and adored -- gathers the cast for a quick pep talk that also can double as a finger-wagging session. He then begins barking orders to get everything in place. That means Louise Fournier, the props master, must start blowing up dozens of balloons. The vacuum-packing sound of the air machine begins to drown out the thump of feet landing on mats, the squeak of the trampoline and the voices of the singers warming up. Fournier must have every prop in place at the right time so performers can make their entrance cues. The most exciting part of her job, she says, "is when everything works perfectly." That's about 85 percent of the time, and her success each night "depends on the day, the city ... the barometric pressure." By this time, Mark Ward, who performs gags throughout the show to "animate" the crowd, has already had his makeup on for two hours. Like everyone else, he was trained at Montreal headquarters to do his own makeup, and he does so with the care and attention of a calligrapher as he explains that, before he joined the Cirque, he was a ballet dancer. "I was always the black sheep of the family, the oddball," he says. "I'd see Baryshnikov flying across the TV screen and think, 'Wow, I want to do that.' But I'm black and Mexican, and growing up in Texas, I wasn't supposed to do that. So I always knew that at 15, 16, I was going to leave." He studied at the New York City Ballet and Dance Theater of Harlem before getting hired at Chicago City Ballet. Then in 1993, getting a little bored, he auditioned for the Cirque. On a videotape, he told jokes, stuck out his belly, donned a Tarzan outfit, and got a job in the Cirque show "Mystere," a nontouring show based in Las Vegas. After 2,347 shows, he transferred to "Quidam" -- it's common for Cirque performers to jump from show to show -- and now, at age 36, he works out three to four times a week and warms up while listening to Alicia Keys, Harry Connick Jr. and Dionne Warwick on his headphones. By 7:15, roughly half the performers are dressed for the show, although the costumes are less colorful than those in Cirque shows like "Saltimbanco" and "Alegria." According to "Quidam" artistic director Serge Roy, who cast this North American tour, the show is a departure from the others due to its storyline. "The creators wanted to bring an emotion on stage -- but not necessarily happiness," he says. " 'Quidam' is about something more contemporary, about you and me, about people we live with but don't necessarily notice." Backstage, someone has remembered that one of the Russian acrobats just turned 36, and has written "Happy Birthday Sasha 'Bunny' Zaitsev!" on the blackboard. The camaraderie among the unpretentious performers is evident as everyone helps each other with costumes and, later, as they sit on a tattered green sofa absentmindedly rolling up blue ribbons that are unraveled during one of the acts. The performers know they need each other's help during this show or else the show will suffer -- or else they will all ... fall down. By 7:40, everyone is emerging from cocoons, having donned bald caps, boxing gloves, rabbit ears, pointy knees, red bathrobes. "Have a good show, everyone!" the stage manager calls out. And over the next two hours, he will cue the various acts. "Stand by, clowns!" "Stand by, skipping ropes!" And stand by, North Carolin-ians ... * * * At intermission, Decoste grabs a bowl of soup in "the kitchen" -- one of about 15 trailers in the traveling "Quidam" compound -- and reads Montreal newspapers flown in from headquarters. Each night, chefs who travel with the show serve up gourmet food for personnel, everything from lentil burgers with avocado topping to steak with mushrooms and potato cakes. Decoste would choose the lentil burgers. Despite his physically demanding profession, he is a vegetarian. "One time I was in the bush in South Africa and I saw a rhino, and I just had a feeling, and right away I stopped eating meat," he said. "I'm almost positive I would be stronger if I ate meat, but it's a choice, and I accept it." After the show, performers hop on a van that takes them back to the apartments they are temporarily occupying in Charlotte. In Pittsburgh, performers will be scattered throughout a few apartment buildings Downtown and in the vicinity of the parking lot adjacent to Heinz Field, where the show will take place. Some performers have their own cars for the North American tour so they can explore the cities they visit. Though Cirque officials declined to reveal salaries, the performers are reportedly well paid. That might stem from the fact that Cirque du Soleil was created by struggling Montreal street performers in the mid-1980s. "It was just one more way to put butter on our bread," recalls artistic director Roy, a former acrobat who was involved in Cirque from the start. Now the seven shows attract 7 million people each year, and in March, Cirque acrobats even performed at the Oscars. Beyond the pay, though, there's the satisfaction of having a steady job in the arts world and the prestige of having Cirque du Soleil on your resume. Newton, the former actor replacing an injured performer, might not see his temporary job turn into a full-time one when his contract expires after the Pittsburgh run. But that won't make his three-month stint any less gratifying. Five years ago, he sent a tape of his work to Cirque headquarters and eventually got an audition in Los Angeles. But his name was simply filed away in Montreal. "They never called, but I kept calling them," he says. "I was persistent." He was hired earlier this year, and now he rolls his eyes to indicate he still can't believe it. "I'd figured I'd never be in Cirque du Soleil, and I was at peace with that," he says. "So it shows that anything can happen." # # # That's all for in this issue, but there's still a little bit more! o) Issue #171, APR 2018 - Dralion, Part 1 (1999-2001) o) Issue #172, MAY 2018 - Dralion, Part 2 (2001-2003) o) Issue #173, JUN 2018 - Varekai, Part 1 (2002) o) Issue #174, JUL 2018 - Varekai, Part 2 (2003-2004) o) Issue #175, AUG 2018 - Varekai, Part 3 (2005) ======================================================================= COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER ======================================================================= Fascination! Newsletter Volume 18, Number 3 (Issue #170) - March 2018 "Fascination! Newsletter" is a concept by Ricky Russo. Copyright (C) 2001-2018 Ricky Russo, published by Vortex/RGR Productions, a subsidiary of Communicore Enterprises. No portion of this newsletter can be reproduced, published in any form or forum, quoted or translated without the consent of the "Fascination! Newsletter." By sending us correspondence, you give us permission (unless otherwise noted) to use the submission as we see fit, without remuneration. All submissions become the property of the "Fascination! Newsletter." "Fascination! Newsletter" is not affiliated in any way with Cirque du Soleil. Cirque du Soleil and all its creations are Copyright (C) and are registered trademarks (TM) of Cirque du Soleil, Inc., All Rights Reserved. No copyright infringement intended. { Mar.09.2018 } =======================================================================