When ritual and circus mix

This year still, Cirque du Soleil takes us along in new adventures inspired of the origin of the man and his evolution but also what links the man with the other species.

After having introduced about twenty shows for 35 years, the Circus of the sun created with about twenty artists in 1984 by Daniel Lamarre in honour of 450ème birthday of the discovery of Canada by Jacques Cartier, has returned to Paris to the plain of games of Trifle within the framework of its European round under capital, after its passage in Brussels with the autumn 2017 then to Spain and in Zurich. Henceforth, it counts more than 1300 artists of about fifty nationalities. More than 450 cities in about sixty countries with the four corners of the world accommodated the various shows having joined together more than 180 million spectators since his creation.

“TOTEM”, show created and put in scene by Robert Lepage, typically plunges us in a travel in the middle of the mankind through numbers circassiens like the distorsion, the trapezoid, the bars, the rings or the cerceaux ones, monocycles or distorsion and handling. This show without animals is carried out by exceptional artists raising of splendid costumes carried out by Kim Barrett, approaching the animal world, watery (fishes and frogs of the first table) and of the traditions of various Amerindian tribes (dancer the cerceaux one) but most impressive is that of the crystal Man which one finds along show. As of the beginning, one sees it going down from the “sky” as if it caused the life by animating the carapace of the tortoise all while illuminating it thanks to the 4500 elements of mirror and crystals which recover its costume.

TOTEM is the second show that Robert Lepage put in scene for Cirque du Soleil after KA in 2004. This time it took as a starting point the accounts founders of the people of the time of the Neanderthal men to that of the modern man via Cro–Magnon, primates and aboriginals, going until the futuristic desire to want to fly.

The first scene reveals us an island in the shape of carapace of tortoise inhabited by characters close to the Amphibians, approaching the primitive style of the man; very lights at the time when a man come from the space dressed in a combination covered with fragments with mirrors goes down from the sky to animate the skeleton of the tortoise. We then attend a number of bars where the artists devote themselves to drive out–crossed. The numbers of dancers from there the cerceaux ones follow, rings where a trio of acrobats cross in the airs on a music bollhywoodienne, monocyclists who launch out bowls, of distorsion, fixed trapezoid, roller skates, without forgetting the jokes of the Misha clown which approaches the adventures of the life with positivism and the tourist macho and arrogant, Valentino.

The cycle of the seasons is the third topic of the show. Thus, the representation of the summer is found in the gleaming costumes of the scene in seaside of inspiration bollywoodienne. A contrario, the winter is symbolized by the white and the money which one finds in the costumes of the skaters. For spring and the autumn, buds, flowers, fruits and sheets were added. All that, it is necessary to add the games of light and projections transforming the marsh bordered of reeds into source, marsh, lake, ocean, volcanic island, desiccated pond or sky, pointing out Iceland, Hawaii or Guatemala. The “bridge scorpion” connecting the marsh to the scene also changes according to the tables. At the time of the numbers of clowns, it becomes the prow of a boat which is rectified to become plane then rocket which takes off.

To pass a pleasant evening, go to the Plain of Games of Trifle in 16th from October 25th to December 2nd, to discover the new show of Cirque du Soleil “Totem”.

Reservations and information on www.cirquedusoleil.com

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