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.

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.

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.