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diversions
'Dralion' unites
elements
By Alisha Gomez
On-line Forty-Niner
Air, water, earth
and fire are the elements that fuel "Dralion," the
newest addition of Cirque Du Soleil.
The show, coming March 6 to Long Beach, will be an eye-opening,
awe-inspiring piece of art that defies the standard of life
and takes the human body and form to new limits.
"Dralion" contains perhaps the highest level of
creativity an artist can attain. This is true, as the costume
designer, Francois Barbeau, will admit.
"It's quite wonderful to reach my age and decide to cool
down and see how things will come," he says about working
on "Dralion," his first Cirque Du Soleil show. "I
didn't have to prove anything. I just wanted to be great and
I think we achieved it somewhere. For me, it's one of the
greatest experiences."
Since its premiere in Montreal in April 1999, the show has
done unbelievably well, leaving audience members blown away.
"Dralion" is a celebration of life, working between
ideas of the past and the future.
Perhaps it is the unique fusion of 55 artists from 11 different
countries that makes "Dralion" so unusual. They
come from Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Italy, Ivory
Coast, Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States
and also have a troupe of 37 Chinese acrobats. With such a
wide array of artists, it is hard to imagine a piece like
"Dralion" coming together. But artistic director
Sylvie Galarneau says that this mesh of artists from all over
the world is not an issue.
"We do not need to talk," she says. "We communicate
through movements, not language." The result is a mix
of acrobatics, juggling, double trapeze, skipping ropes, bamboo
poles, ballet on lights and much more.
To work on such a level of undefined creativity left Barbeau's
imagination limitless.
"There is no off-shape color," he comments on the
costumes. "The first thing is it is very colorful, really
striking." Barbeau says that once he saw the number without
the costumes, he realized that the beauty and special nature
of each act must be kept with the costume and its coloring.
"When I flew to China, I was very impressed when we passed
through a region that had lakes and all the water was like
a jade color," he says.
This image impressed upon Barbeau immensely, so that his costumes
for the elements (earth, water, fire and air) reflected the
incomparable images he saw in China. The iridescent colors
hold metallic glints of a décor from a cinema fan-tastique.
It took a little over two years to create "Dralion,"
and Galarmeu says that the show continues to change.
"We are always capable of doing something new,"
she says.
Both Galarmeu and Barbeau agree that things are always changing
and hopefully always will, for the artists' creativity as
well as their own.
Set in a futuristic backdrop, this extraordinary circus relies
on the human body and no animals. Barbeau says he finds these
artists doing their numbers and that they are stunning. He
says that it is amazing and surprising that a person could
perform such an act and that an animal is not needed to make
a trick because a human being is doing it. His view of the
show: "Quite an experience."
"If you have never seen it and have heard of a lot of
things, just try to go there like you haven't heard anything
about it and just look at it," Barbeau says. "It's
an experience, very unique and no animals make it even stronger."
Galarneau says she feels that without animals, the circus
works off something else. The artists have to draw more emotion
from the audience like dancers or theater performers do. She
wants people, who have never seen the show, to understand
it is not a traditional circus.
Pullquote: "It's
the type of show that is not a traditional circus ... We communicate
through movements, not language."
Sylvie Galarneau
artistic director
CIRCUS PREVIEW
Showtimes:
Premiere Week
March 6 8 p.m.
March 7 8 p.m.
March 8 5 and 9 p.m.
March 9 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
March 10 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Regular Performance Schedule (limited time)
Tuesday and Wednesday 8 p.m.
Thursdays and Fridays 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Saturdays 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sundays 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Tickets: (800) 678-5440 or cirqueclub.com
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Photos by Al Seib
Single
handbalancing
Juggling
Double trapeze
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