Cirque Du Soleil (“Circus of the Sun”): All round excellence.

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• August 04, 2020

Cirque Du Soleil (“Circus of the Sun”): All round excellence.

Last weekend of 2018 , I managed to see Cirque du Soleil perform in Mumbai.  End of the show only one word reverberated in my mind “Excellence”

Just as one is about to be convinced that performance arts are dying, one comes across Cirque Du Soleil. Tailor made for the globalized world with global ticket prices (coming down now in Mumbai) the show just blows one over and envelopes with an experience of flawless performances.

Founded in 1984 by Giles Ste-Croix & Guy Laliberte, a self professed clown with a dream, an expert poker player (career winning more than $ 7 million) Cirque du Soleil employs more than 4000 people from across the world. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with the performance troupe travelling across the world and few permanent performance arenas in various countries (Oldest in Las Vegas, while newest coming up in China) the revenues have hit more the 200 Million in 2017.  In the same year TPG capital took a dominant stake and since then the firm has been developing as an entertainment group, expanding its activities into digital content, theme parks, immersive experience and special events.

Here is why I called the performance in Mumbai to be all round excellence:-

1. Personal and collective journey

The show performers not only excelled in their part of the show but managed to convey a collective journey the show was taking the audience through.  So while each one excelled in their performance the handover to the larger canvass was always the inbuilt theme.  However small the performance, its importance to the centrality was never in question.

2. Universal language

The performers spoke some French and English to convey a gist, but largely the show was driven by the expression and emotions, global in nature, making it easy for the audience to understand the flow with the show.  In India this may not look like a challenge, but in other places this would aid in better understanding amongst the larger community of audience.

3. Punctuality

I know this may not sound like a big item in global terms, but having seen this as a constant problem in India, it was almost virtuous for the show to start and finish on time.

4. Performers

Central to the show were the world class performers, at ease with their complex performance, making it look like a cake walk. They managed to show what the human body is capable of achieving, with adequate practice and guidance.

Once this pandemic is over and we move back to our regular lives, I would recommend you to take some time off and see the show in whichever city you are and the show is happening…..

-Chetan Pandya, Director, World V