An anonymous “tipster” sent along an interesting little quiz that’s circulating the inboxes at Cirque du Soleil’s International Head Quarters in response to Dralion celebrating its 3000th performance on October 2nd in Osaka. The answers were sent, too, but how many of these questions can you get right before you read them?
1. How many people have played the character of Yao (Fire)?
2. How many people have played the character of Azala (Air)?
3. How many people have played the character of Gaia (Earth)?
4. How many people have played the character of Océanne (Water)?
5. How many people have played the character of Mini-Empereur/Little Buddha?
6. How many clowns have performed in Dralion?
7. How many male singers have performed in Dralion (on/off stage)?
8. How many female singers have performed in Dralion (on/off stage)?
9. How many musicians have there been on Dralion?
10. What acrobatic acts have been presented 3,000 times?
11. What act has been the least performed?
Questions prepared by Pat Rioux, Interim Artistic Coordinator and General Stage Manager for Dralion.
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Okay, did you write down your answers? Some of them were toughies; ready to see how you did? Yes? Okay, get ready to check those answers!
Q1: How many people have played the character of YAO (Fire)?
A1: Eight – Raphael Artiglieri (during creation only), Yung Biau Lin, Luis Pellegrini, Benjamin Pring, Li Yongxi, Xiao Yu, Baris Dilaver and Li Lianbo.
Q2: How many people have played the character of Azala (Air)?
A2: Six – Juliana Neves, Colette Morrow, Marie-Ève Bisson, Lin Ying, Claudel Doucet, and Wang Bin.
Q3: How many people have played the character of Gaia (Earth)?
A3: Six – Rashel Casimir (during creation only), Sara Rénélique, Henriette Gbou, Lea Chapman, Pan Yingchun and Lin Ying.
Q4: How many people have played the character of Océanne (Water)?
A4: Six – Sheetal Gandhi, Amrapali Ambergaoker, Bhavani Golombek, Nilaya Sabnis, Pan Yingchun, and Neelanthi Vadivel.
Q5: How many people have played the character of Mini-Emperor/Little Buddha?
A5: Eight – Zhao Jian, Peng Rui, Zhan Jifei, Jian Xiaojing, Gu Lijiang, Zhu Sha, Wang Xuerui and Chen Chen.
Q6: How many clowns has Dralion had since 1999?
A6: Twenty – Philippe Delaitre (Popo), Aline Muhein, Johnny Fillion, Guto Vasconcelos, Gonzalo Munoz Ferrer, Jessica Green, Luis Brusca (Loco), Ben Amar Djala, Robert Jetté, Soizick Hébert, Roch Jutras, John Gilkey, Juan Carlos Bratoz (Cachi), Daisuke Tsuji, Joe DePaul, Erik Goulem, Blas Villapando, Philippe Aymard, Colin Gee and Gerry Regitschnig
Q7: How many male singers has Dralion had?
A7: Six – Erik Karol, Richard Oberacker (Bellare seulement), Frank Irving, Robert Fertitta (Beaver), Calvin Braxton and Cristian Zabala
Q8: How many women singers has Dralion had?
A8: Four – Agnès Sohier, Laur Fugère (coulisses), Estelle Esse, and Julie Degrandpré (coulisses)
Q9: How many musicians have performed with Dralion?
A9: Twenty-one – Mario Venditti (percussions et batterie), Stephen Poulin (claviers et chef d’orchestre), Francois Guay (violon), Claire Tremblay (instruments à vent), Thomas Harris (batterie), Richard Oberacker (chef d’orchestre), Christian Sylvestre (guitare), JoAnn Blondin (percussions), Louis-Daniel Joly (percussions), Davide Rossi (violon), Caroline Urtnowski (instruments à vent), Brent Roman (percussions), Edgar Gabriel (violon), Ron Jesserun (guitare), Gregg Barnett (guitare), Robert Thompson (violon), David Bussieres (guitare), Mirella Pirskanen (violon), Claire-Michele Bez (instruments à vent), Michael Pucci (guitare), and Andi Pema (percussions)
Q10: What acrobatic acts have been presented 3000 times?
A10: Only three – Bamboos, Dralions and Skipping Rope
Q11: Which act has been the least performed?
A11: A Unicycle Act by Johnny and Soizick was performed only three times (it replaced a “wrestling” act.)
There were a few tricky ones in there, weren’t there? I hope you enjoyed the quiz!
