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| | Politiek-correcte edel-kitsch? | Buzieau de Clown - 09.10.2005 22:01
Voor wie de circus edel-kitsch van "Cirque du Soleil" niet kent...klik hieronder even....dit politiek-correcte gezelschap new-age charlatans doet nu in schattig-gedrilde kindertjes uit China.
zie ook:  http://www.indymedia.nl/nl/2005/10/30829.shtml
"This show grew out of the fact that we have a rare house troupe of 37 young performers from southern China who already existed as a superbly trained and experienced ensemble," said Sylvie Galarneau, artistic director for Dralion and the right hand of director Guy Caron. "And we wanted to pay tribute to the masters of Chinese circus arts, particularly acrobatics, that these artists represent."
About two-thirds of the show's 11 acts are Chinese, with performers who tend to be very young--ranging in age from about 12 to 25.
"The training in China begins very early," Galarneau said. "Talented children are recruited from all over the country, and it is very competitive. To be picked is a great honor, like being selected to study at the Bolshoi Ballet in Russia. And by the time these kids are in their mid teens, they often have 10 years of experience. There is a youthfulness and lightness--a very high level of energy--in this company."
The tradition of circus and acrobatics in China is many centuries old, and this is reflected in the acts themselves.
"Tossing a great earthenware jar with the back of the neck is just not a very 20th or 21st century skill," Galarneau said. "Nor is the manipulation of a stack of rice bowls by a pair of young contortionists."
Yet Dralion is not simply a collection of imported exotic acts. The Cirque artistic staff has taken the skills of the Chinese artists and given them the sheen and modernistic aura that has become a Cirque trademark. For example, seven young women who were masters of balancing on balls now perform, on pointe, atop glass balls shaped like light bulbs.
Tradition holds, too, as multibodied Chinese dragon and lion dances are performed by the troupe's male acrobats, and as six men maneuver 20-foot-long bamboo poles symbolizing the element of fire. Single hand balances, complex rope skipping, a double trapeze act, elaborate hoop-diving feats and a rare, all-female teeterboard act in which the flyer sometimes becomes the fifth person in a vertical column, are all part of the show.
"We've drawn on Chinese mythology," said lighting designer Luc Lafortune. "But we've woven the Chinese and non-Chinese together."
The show's story line, as it exists in most Cirque productions, might best be described as "new age universal"--a sort of trademark of the work of this multinational entertainment and media megalith that began in the mid-1980s as nothing more than a group of buskers from Quebec. Cirque now has permanent theaters in several cities around the globe, touring companies that rarely rest, corporate headquarters in Montreal and satellite offices in Amsterdam, Las Vegas and Singapore.
"Dralion is about the balance that must exist among all the opposing forces of the four elements," Lafortune said. "In French we say ame-force, soul and strength. And this is reflected in the design of the show. The set is futuristic. Our costumes are not Chinese, but they're not Western, either. They are iridescent and metallic, with blue for air, green for water, red for fire and ochre for earth."
The music for Dralion is a fusion of world beat and the electro-symphonic, with Hindu melodies and the instrumental sounds of Andalusia, Africa, Central Europe and the West. The language of the songs, by Italian-born composer Violaine Corradi, is a hodgepodge of Latin, Italian and the ersatz.
Despite its global travels, Cirque du Soleil has yet to have an engagement in China. Asked if Dralion was devised to pave the way for such a visit, Lafortune said, "As a market, China represents about one-fifth of the world's population. But whether there is a market for Cirque remains to be seen; we are very expensive. Our Asian division has only been a fairly recent development, although we have appeared in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia and New Zealand."
Let ook even op hun toegangsprijzen...
Ni hao!
;-(
 Website: http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/nl/default.htm
| | Precrias a la dervia | precarious worker - 09.10.2005 22:26
We hoeven het bij Cirque du Soleil niet eens zo ver te zoeken, de flutcontracten en de slechte arbeidsomstandigheden die Europese werknemers bij Cirque du Soleil ondervinden hebben gemaakt dat een deel van hen mee aan de grondslag gelegen heeft van Precarias a la Deriva, de beweging van vrouwen die zich organiseren om actie te voeren tegen hun precaire arbeid- woon- en leefsituatie.
Website: http://www.flexmens.org/
| | Circussen weg! | De huilende clown - 10.10.2005 13:12
Kortom circussen weg ook al gebruiken ze geen dieren.
Het is een achterhaald vorm van amusement waar geen plaats meer voor is in de 21e eeuw.
| | Circussen weg, mits | Actiegroep Circusleed - 10.10.2005 13:47
Bedankt voor de aanvullingen. Inderdaad moet er ook gekeken worden of een circus niet ook mensen misbruikt. En zeker geen kinderen. Bij circus Renz-Berlin schijnen ook kinderen gedwongen te worden om op te treden. Iets wat ook aangekaart moet worden. Als we eens bij Renz-Berlin demonstreren zullen we dat ook erbij gebruiken.
 E-Mail: info@circusleed.nl
Website: http://www.circusleed.nl
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