Cirque Dreams Illumination left me squeezing my boyfriend’s hand in suspense
I left Durham Performing Arts Center dizzy and dazzled last night. It was opening night for Cirque Dreams Illumination, a show for which I had absolutely no expectations. I’ve never seen a Cirque show, and until yesterday, I had no idea Cirque Dreams is not affiliated with Cirque de Soleil (but it turns out that doesn’t matter).
I went with my BF because we were excited to see an ad for his Design group in the new playbill. But it turns out the show was just as thrilling. I literally spent half of the show clinging to my BF and whispering: “Don’t do it, Don’t do it, Don’t do it” as balancers, strap fliers, aerialists and a chair climber attempted breath-holding feats.
There were moments where I was so tense because I was worried a man walking a tight rope would crash onto the stage as he did somersaults. At one point, a guy climbed onto a swinging platform, balanced on a board over a cylinder and stepped through a hoop all while dangling high above the stage. I saw contortionists rearrange their bodies in impossible positions and climb on top of each other in ways I didn’t know were humanly possible.
The climax came when a petite woman climbed into a series of metal rings and held on for her life while the man below held the ring in the air and spun it so fast that it left me dizzy. The picture below shows the scene I’m describing, only imagine those rings spinning so fast that you can barely see the woman inside. (I e-mailed DPAC folks this morning for some pictures because I feel they do a better job showing off the show than my descriptions. They were taken by DPAC photographer Noah Rosenblatt-Farrell.)
The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the narrator, who occasionally would come on stage to sing. I couldn’t understand half the words she was singing. Also, at times there were so many stunts and dances happening on stage that I couldn’t focus. The BF told me afterward that the show is a dream for someone with attention deficit disorder.
Some parents brought their children, and I actually enjoyed the fact that a boy about 6-years-old was seated behind me asking his dad if certain things were real and wondering out loud how the performers pulled off their tricks.
The show ends Sunday, and tickets range from $25 to $60. We were on the main level, but I think this is one of those shows where it doesn’t matter how high up or far back you are from the stage. Students can get tix for $20 if they get to the theatre two hours before the show.
If you’ve been to a Cirque show (or if you make it to Illumination), let me know what you thought.
Hey Ginny — I’m so glad to hear the positive review! I got my wife tickets for Friday night thinking this was part of Cirque de Soleil and she and I were both mighty disappointed to hear it wasn’t affiliated. After your review, I’m excited again to go!
Kevin, I hope you guys enjoy it. I forgot to mention how amazing the costumes were. There’s a lot of dancing in the background and fun costuming of larger-than-life characters and inanimate objects.
Hey Ginny.
I think it’s great that you had a good time at the show, but I have one minor correction to make. It DOES matter that they’re not part of Cirque de Soleil! Not from some legal naming confusion mumbo jumbo reason, but because Soleil is Awesome! I’m not just talking good times, great concert, great halftime show awesome. Soleil is awesome on a whole nother grander scale.
The venue is more open and round for viewing the show. The stunts are more dramatic. The music is just as good. And that sense of “too much stuff” happening on the stage? That’s eliminated in the dome Soleil theaters – even though they have even more going on.
I’m not dissing Dreams. We saw them last year and enjoyed it just fine, but after Soleil we’re a little ruined for Dreams to be honest.
Now that you know you enjoy the genre, you owe it to yourself to take in a Soleil show.
As always IMHO.
Sid.
Hey Sid,
Thanks for explaining the magnitude of the difference. As I said in my post, I’ve never seen any Cirque show, so I had no expectations. In that regard, that’s why it didn’t matter to me that it wasn’t Soleil. But it sounds like from your description that I absolutely need to make an effort to see a Cirque de Soleil show. If it’s more amazing than what I saw last night, I’m certain I will love it. Thanks for sharing these details!
Ginny
I saw Cirque Dreams Illumination last night and was totally entertained. We were in Row 3, just to the left of center. Actually, it would probably have been better if we were a bit farther back, but no complaints here. I have seen many Cirque du Soleil shows, mainly in Las Vegas – Mystere, ‘O’, and Ka. Cirque Dreams was just as entertaining, exciting, colorful, etc., etc. as any I have seen. I thought the vocalist was terrific – had a great voice. A young mother was sitting next to us with her 3 year old son in her lap. He was totally mesmerized throughout the whole show – no squirming, whining, etc.! As I looked around after the show ended, I saw lots of other little kids and was impressed that you didn’t hear them at all during the performance. Ringling Brothers doesn’t come close to holding even a spark to this show. BRAVO!
I went on the second night of the show.
Initially, I thought that I was going to a Soleil show and I was occasionally disappointed in the quality of the costumes and some of the performers.
The costumes were good but strange. In the background there were a myriad of people walking around. Some were headless, others were traffic cones, and there were one or two walking roadblocks. There was also an abundance of sailors, ladies in hats and a bellboy. Because of this combination, the theme of the show eluded me at first. Thinking of past Soleil shows I’ve seen, I half expected to be taken on a fantasy ride into a forest of fairies or an underwater desert. Instead, the backdrop was a graffitied train station and I felt like I was still at home in Durham.
As far as the performances go, the night I went the young man who was doing the slack tight rope seemed to make some mistakes. I felt bad for him. But mistakes happen and the show must go on. And it did. There was a delightful act where one woman lay down while she flipped another with her legs. At one point the woman who was being tossed landed on the ground and tumbled across the stage. But their performance was at such a level of uber-awesomeness that amid cheers they were easily able to play it off.
The lead singer and narrator was admittedly hard to understand but her voice was clear and beautiful. There was a young man doing urban dances including popping (moving his body in a ticking motion) tutting (using creative hand motions) and bone-breaking (a dance that looks like it sounds) that would have made a radiologist cringe.
A clown directed a silent movie with nothing but the use of props and a great deal of attitude, articulating all his demands for the voluntary actors with nothing but the use of a whistle. It was so funny I cried.
I think the most impressive thing I saw was the act where four women inhabited three spinning cubes that were hanging from a cable fifteen feet off the ground. These women were so flexible they had to be made out of clay. I had no idea anything like that was possible without the use of stop motion animation. In a word: incredible.
I would recommend this performance to anyone. Even children were quiet throughout the whole performance, eyes fixed, mouths shut.
Hi Joslyn!
Thanks so much for your comment. You painted an excellent picture of the show with your words. Your description of the urban dancer was spot on and I agree that the costumes were good but strange. Personally, I was amazed with the larger-than-life size of the costumes. I thought they were really fun. At times it did seem like there was too much going on at once, but at no point in the show was I bored. Also, when the clown did the silent movie, the entire audience was cracking up. So people had to like it. I’ve heard a lot of people say they were disappointed this wasn’t a Soleil show, and as I said in my post, I’ve never been to one, so that didn’t make a difference to me. But I can see how people who were expecting that might be a little disappointed. I liked it so much that I would see it again. But I’ve always been a fan of the circus!
I saw the Wednesday performance and was delighted. I do agree with the reporter role but I think the sound system was an issue for that. Her vocals were too loud and hard to understand.
I also love Cirque du Soleil but the Delirium show that was at RBC last year would put most people off. It was way to “out there” and like no Soleil experience I had seen.
DPAC is such a wonderful addition to Durham.