September 2002 - Nr. 9
K-W and Beyond
by Irena Wandschneider
Cirque du Soleil – VAREKAI
Residents of Toronto – for that matter any individual within easy access to Toronto – have a rare opportunity to see Cirque du Soleil this summer – it is running at the Ontario Place until September 8. I have been waiting for such opportunity for several years, actually since I have seen a Cirque du Soleil show on television some time in the early 90’s.
It is a very special show, a brainchild of Daniel Gauthier and Guy Laliberte who created it from observations of street performances of acrobats, clowns and mimes in Montreal in 1984.
It is based on a stylized circus show, mixed with phenomenal light effects, music and sound, theatrical elements, costumes and above everything – amazing acrobatics. It is a fantasy, a dream, a musical extravaganza, a ballet and an art. A child’s dream, a futuristic transformation, poetry in the air. It is a fantasy.
Although it is called a circus it differs from the traditional one: there are no animals and there is no safety net. Some acts are related to street performers tradition, there are jugglers and fire-blowers, clowns and teams of young children doing tricks. Some acts are of superb acrobatics while some singer provides the background song adding to the atmosphere of the event. It is a circus like no other and like you have never seen before.
Cirque du Soleil is very Québec, very French. The artists are young and from all over the world. There are Canadians, Americans, Chinese, Ukrainians, British, Russians, Italians and Spanish. The directors recruit from anywhere young talents and bring them together for training. The mix is amazing, the results astounding. But in its unity – it is still very French-Canadian.
There are 8 shows in the Cirque du Soleil repertoire some of them presented in Las Vegas, Disneyworld or wherever the troupe was touring, eventually shown on TV or available on video.
What we can see in Toronto this summer is "VAREKAI ". A story of a solitary being arriving on our or some other planet, falling down into a forest, , experiencing transformations, liberation, past and future memories, living through chaos and crisis. It is poetry in the air, art of a kind not seen before. The music and light effects are of dream quality, the costumes the result of some magical imagination. One complements the other and completes the magic. Cirque du Soleil without the lights would not be what it is, without costumes it would not have the magic it projects. There seem to be no limits to this reinventing-itself-circus, new art coming out of the old traditions.
By the time one believes that there is hardly anything really new and surprising to entertain, something amazing comes up. And this time it is Cirque du Soleil! Enjoy!
