So somehow I got on this nice woman named Kathy's list. She works at Rochefort Associates, a publicity firm, and they handle Cirque du Soleil here in Boston. So suddenly, out of the blue, she sends me two fifth row center seats to the new show, Ovo. She'd done the same about three years ago, with Kooza, and I'd taken Spencer. He was seven at the time, and kinda liked it, but ran out of gas in the second half so we went home early.
I asked Dash if he wanted to go, and he didn't, so I brought Spencer again. This time, we were both totally blown away. It's a fantastic show.
Every time I see a great circus I wonder what the hell we think we are doing in the theatre. The circus is so much more amazing, breathtaking, moving, exciting, involving, immediate, visceral, and, in spite of the superhuman abilities of the people performing, human.
These performers have spent their lives perfecting boundary-defying abilities - really putting us lazy-ass actors to shame. And they are so in the moment, so real, pushing up against the limits of human possibility - it's just incredibly powerful.
Some of my favorite things (click on the link to see the performers):
Little chinese girls whirling drums on their feet so fast it looked like they were running in to some new dimension.
Chinese yoyo guy spinning three of those yoyos on his string in a tiny circle an inch from the floor.
Slack wire guy standing on his hands on a unicycle on a loosely swinging wire that was being pulled up into the air while he balanced.
Spider woman crawling head first down the vertical climbing wall at the back of the stage.
The whole thing is a play on the world of insects, and the strange abilities of these performers fit so well into the crazy world of superstrong, superflexible, wild and mysterious bugs. It was lively, entertaining, full of joy, and utter captivating.
I use Cirque when I'm teaching scene study as an example of the necessity of being present, listening and following your impulses. Every time I see the one in Orlando I have the same sense of amazement. I could watch it over and over again. I've not been to this one yet. It also makes me feel like I missed the point of what it means to have a body - but it's worth the moments of self loathing :-)
ReplyDeleteBridget
Jumping off your point about the immediacy of the circus...
ReplyDeleteAs an audience member I am always most alert when something happens physically onstage that I didn't expect - even if it isn't to the same extreme as you are talking about. A good piece of physical combat that I didn't see coming, or even just a stage picture suddenly resolving that I never saw in the works - those moments where I catch my breath are the moments I reinvest in what I'm watching.
On the other hand: for Ovid this fall we're working with aerial silks - which means that every Monday, following the previous night's silks class, I can't lift my arms above shoulder height. I think of myself as being a physical actor in many ways, and yet the process of learning even the barest minimum of circus skills is reminding me of just how limited I am that way. So yes, totally digging the "lazy-ass actor" idea...
-meg