Cirque du Soleil - Quidam

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing a live performance of Cirque du Soleil's Quidam. That is their current show now touring Mexico. They stayed in Guadalajara for about a month.

While the "circus village" set-up seemed identical to other shows I've been to, inside the big tent it definitely felt more intimate than I remember.

Quidam's tagline is "Lose Yourself." The story revolves around a young girl, Zoe, who seems disconnected from this world and is forced to dream up a new world around her. I didn't feel that the theme was terribly coherent but that could be because my seat was to the side of the stage and my view was obstructed at times. That's not to say that it wasn't an excellent show.

I love Cirque du Soleil's performances because you can really lose yourself in the mesmerizing effects of whatever is on stage. The creativity and attention to detail that go into the shows makes the expense worth every penny.

The most recent performance I saw live was "Corteo" in New York, which was, in my opinion, more ambitious in its performances and in its well-balanced use of costumes, props, music, and humor. Quidam felt less ambitious in comparison and the case may be that the show was probably trimmed down here in Mexico. I felt that they didn't have as many "overhead and hanging from the ceiling" types of acts.

In terms of the numbers featured, I tend to favor the ones where great physical strength and flexibility are primarily showcased. We had a few of those and it left me hungry for more. I particularly enjoyed "Statue - Vis Versa", featuring a couple who seemed to defy every law of physics with their act. I was really taken by the hypnotic power of the visuals. Another favorite, called "Contortion", featured a young woman contorting around and traveling up and down a long red swath of fabric hanging from the ceiling. Lastly, in "Handbalancing", a woman performed a set balancing acts around the stage using some interesting sticks.




Part of the reason I enjoy acts of great physical feat is because I can often see, step by step, how you can put together some basic Yoga poses to get your body to do amazing things. In the case of Cirque du Soleil, the simplicity and beauty of these numbers speak highly to both the discipline and sense of play that is necessary to make their act fresh and appealing to audiences worldwide.

On the funny side of performances, I enjoyed a couple of numbers in which one of the clowns pulls in audience members and have them participate on some hilarious games, all done with silent directions. This stuff was hysterical. Also, another sort of light and happy number involved a large number of performers jumping rope and trying all sorts of configurations, many of them perfectly synchronized.

I spotted several mistakes, most notably in "Diabolos" when a set of 4 adorable Chinese girls balanced and juggled their prop on a string. Nevertheless, you can see how hard these girls seem to work to make it look easy. I was also disappointed in the music. It wasn't up-tempo enough for my taste.

Despite its minor flaws, I've yet to see any other performance-based show that comes close to Cirque du Soleil's. I will gladly go back for more!

The show lasted about 3 hours including a 30 minute intermission.