Quidam – Cirque du Soleil Flys High at Barclays Center

 

 

by: Sandi Durell

The location at this newly built arena is very much in the spirit of a Madison Square Garden – just more!  Occupying one section is the ever-popular Cirque du Soleil with it’s latest offering for just 7 performances – Quidam – making its Brooklyn debut.

A circus without the animals that features the extreme to which the human body can spin, contort, balance and display feats of wonder to amaze – where the ordinary become extraordinary.

This year’s loose thematic brings Zoe (Alessandra Gonzalez), a bored little girl and her parents, Father – Patrick McGuire and Mother – Carol Valim, into the world of excitement that lies just ahead.

 

Skipping rope may bring up memories of the past but never in the context witnessed here when 20 acrobats, exceptionally coordinated, jump in groups, singally and in pairs to a rhythmic beat.  Aerial Hoops suspended high above allow performers Julie Cameron & Lois Camila to swirl and twirl gracefully.

A circus – there’s always a clown to amuse and in this case he juggles and works with a hoop that appears to have a mind of its own, but let me not omit the entire clown cinema in burlesque fashion, just a little more contemporary, and especially funny when making a silent movie included audience members in a hilarious Chaplin-esque scene reminiscent of Reality TV.

In two acts, the audience is pleasured with seeing Diabolo, a Chinese yo-yo, become an art form in the hands of Wei Liang Lin, as two sticks linked by a string with a plastic spool,are juggled and balanced to a hypnotizing effect.

The most mesmerizing and outstanding acts, for me, was watching the extreme strength and body control of the balancing acts that included Anna Ostapenko on balancing canes and Yves Decoste & Valentyna Sidenko in perfect union and slow motion displaying impossible positions of balanced flawless harmony – beautiful to watch.

The aerial contortions of Tanya Bruka were powerful and graceful as she wrapped herself  in, around and through long translucent red silk fabric while in the air, all to stunning effect.

The acrobatic group Spanish Web use ropes as they fly over the stage attached to telepherique (a type of conveyer) as they rise and drop persipitously into a void with only the ropes looped around their waists and ankles.

A gymnastic exercise engages the German Wheel as artist Cory Sylvester spins, turns, twists in somersaults and acrobatics.

Agility and remarkable performances of Banquine (a group of 15 artists) astonish, showcasing the agility and control of the human body in synchronized acrobatic movements.  The costuming brought back fleeting thoughts of the ragamuffin newsboys in the Broadway musical Newsies.

Behind each sequence is the band led by Jim Bevan with Olaf Grote on guitar, Josee Campeau on cello; Alicia Enstrom on violin; Bruno Dumont on saxophone; Andrew Boyd on Drums with singers Alessandra Gonzalez and Jamieson Lindenburg.

Additional artists include Boum-Boum (Rafael Munoz) and the The Target ( graceful Lisa Skinner).

This year’s offering is a quieter, simpler, more toned down production that emphasizes the skills of the performance artists.  There is beauty in simplicity enabling the audience to concentrate thoroughly on the sheer phenomenon of the human body and its capabilities.

Quidam continues for 6 more performances tonight July 25^th thru Sunday July 28^th. Tickets are available at www.cirquedusoleil.com/quidam; www.ticketmaster.com; www.barclayscenter.com of 800 745-3000.