Gravity-Defying
Cirque du Soleil
Author: Ann M. Augherton, Herald Managing Editor
Cirque du Soleil returns to Washington with its latest production,
"Varekai."
The gravity-defying performance intertwines acrobatics, elaborate
costumes and haunting music for a show so powerful, you find yourself
shaking your head in disbelief and forgetting to applaud.
It is certainly not the circus of your childhood. There are no animals,
red clown noses have been replaced by exquisite costumes and squeezable
horns with wind instruments, violins and keyboards.
"Varekai," which means "wherever" in the language of the gypsies, is
staged in a mysterious forest near the top of a volcano. The white-winged
Anton Chelnokov opens the show with the "Flight of Icarus," based on Greek
mythology. Icarus dangles from the big top and falls to earth, only to be
captured in a net where he performs breathtaking dives.
The elaborate set, designed by Stéphane Roy, combines some 300 trees,
including "acrobatic trees" that the players climb, a catwalk and a stage
with trap doors, as well as rotating and rising sections. Other equipment
comes and goes to allow the troupe to catapult, dangle from and fly
through the air over the audience. Some 130 different costumes were
designed by Eiko Ishioka for this production.
The music, composed by Violaine Corradi, combines gospel, Hawaiian,
French troubadours and Armenian styles for something unidentifiable, yet
appealing.
The cast, which includes more than 50 people from 14 different
countries, works with a 15-member creative team. The Bethrothed, or La
Promise, played by Irina Naumenko of Russia, is Icarus' guide, as is
Sergiy Marchenko of Ukraine, who is a wise old man who inspires Icarus to
change.
The Skywatcher, or La Vigie, played by Canada's Gordon White, is the
mad scientist/inventor.
It wouldn't be a circus without a clown, and Jordi Deambulants and
Joannna Holden keep things light between acts as they mix sight gags with
audience participation.
Icarian Games, an ancient circus tradition, is foot-juggling where one
man lies on his back with his legs up and juggles another man with his
feet. The man being juggled rotates head over feet and is caught by the
juggler's feet.
Dergin Tokmak of Germany, who was stricken with polio at age 1,
performs on crutches with amazing strength and balance. Naumenko wows the
audience with her flexibility as she folds herself into unbelievable
positions while balancing on canes.
Cirque du Soleil was created by a group of street performers in Canada
in 1984, and since then they boast 40 million spectators worldwide. Each
Cirque production seems better than the one before, as the theme,
costumes, music and symbolism change.
Cirque du Soleil's "Varekai" plays through Oct. 24 on the grounds of
RFK Stadium in Washington.
Copyright ©2004 Arlington
Catholic Herald. All rights reserved.
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