Dancing with Cirque du Soleil

Steph and I have been long time fans of Cirque du Soleil.  The music, the artistry, the acrobatics.  What’s not to love?

We’ve never had the opportunity to actually see them live before.  Down at Disney, they have a performance of La Nouba but each time we went down there, we were either short on cash or the show was on hiatus.   Today that changed when we caught a performance of Alegría in Cedar Rapids.

The show was great.  Steph got us tickets on the floor, stage level.  This was pretty good for being up close to the action.  The acts were everything we thought they’d be.

My favorite was the trampoline aerials (aka Power Track).  Being below these people as they flew through the air made it even more incredible.   There was a juggler (through whose act I went ‘I can do that.  I can do that too.  Okay, I cannot do the juggling while standing on my head…’), great music, and some wonderful clowns.  The artists on the Russian Bars were flat out amazing.

We also found a slight side effect (or bonus) to our seats.  I was seated on the outside of the row, close to center stage.

Come the second half, the White Singer (the storyteller) performed Le Bal (Song Vazoule) and came into the audience.  She stopped next to me, gave me a coy look, and held out her hand just as the spot light settled down.

First thought – “Oh crap.”  When she led me up onto the stage, that though became, “Oh God.”  For the next minute or so, I danced in center stage under about a thousand pairs of eyes, surrounded by the artists I’d been watching. The White Singer talked to me the whole time but I was pretty much too baffled and/or nervous to say anything other than “I’m doing good”.  I couldn’t see a thing under the bright lights and I barely heard even the music.

The Ringleader then interrupted the dance and led me back to my seat where I think I heard a lot of applause and cheers.  After the show, more than half a dozen complete strangers congratulated me on my dancing.

We will certainly go see more shows, but I gotta be honest – It’s going to be really hard to top this one.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/eWkNwuA7OnI&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1

(This obviously wasn’t today’s performance, but it’s the song and the original performer as the White Singer.  The Strong Man act wasn’t in today’s show.)