Cirque Dreams Illumination Review

Saturday we saw Cirque Dreams Illumination at the Long Center in Austin, TX. This was my first time to see a Cirque Dreams production so I wasn't sure what to expect. Overall, I found the skill level of the performers to be very high and enjoyable. The music and choreography was average (in my opinion) but overall I would say this was a good show. Some of the acts that stand out to me are the Foot manipulators (I believe Cirque du Soleil calls this Icarian Games), the juggler (fantastic!), the aerial cube act (with 4 girls on a cube) and the handbalancer. According to the program, the handbalancer is 6'2" - that makes his skill level even more impressive. No doubt his fantastic flexibility helps him but it's impressive to see someone that tall do a reverse planche. I enjoyed the slackline performer (Wirewalker) and was especially impressed by his back extension roll to handstand on the wire. There was another handbalancing/acro act by three guys who did a really great job. Other notable acts were the contortion girls, rollo bollos, and the aerial perch couple.

I also enjoyed seeing Sky and Aaron - the two local Austin performers who won the "Run Away with Cirque Dreams Casting Call". The casting call is a very good marketing tool for Cirque Dreams as it gave us a preview of the show (and the ability to take pictures) and also allowed for some local talent to perform in Austin (some of my pictures from the casting call are located here: www.flickr.com/photos/flipimages/sets/72157625235230721 )

One thing about the performance that seemed odd to me was the clown act. It's act where the "Director" is directing "audience members" (most likely plants) through a silent movie. However, it's an almost exact copy of the same act done by David Shiner in Cirque Du Soleil's Nouvelle Experience, which I saw in 1991 (and is still available on DVD). I don't know who owns the rights to this act but it was weird to see it done almost verbatim by another circus.

I look forward to Cirque Dreams returning to Austin next year - especially if they do the Casting Call again.