Cirque du Soleil - Delirium, Pt. 2

On further consideration, and some quality time searching YouTube, I feel it necessary to post a few more comments about Cirque du Soleil's Delirium show.

Delirium was not a typical cirque show, and not only because of the music. Traditional Cirque shows take place under the Cirque tent, a small makeshift arena that allows performances in the semi-round. Normal cirque shows consist almost entirely of human-talent acts: gymnasts, acrobats, people who can swing metal rings around in neat ways, people doing clever things with jumpropes, etc. The theatric aspect of the show is usually secondary, and the music is always tertiary at best.

Overall, Cirque du Soleil shows are built on a sequence of acts, and focus on bringing the extraordinary human talent as close as possible to the audience, capturing their complete attention through costume and fascinating music.

Delirium is Cirque du Soleil brought to a large stadium-size arena, not the traditional tent. But instead of doing the same thing just in a different space, Cirque re-examined their ways and adapted them to the new opportunities presented by the high ceiling, the distant bleachers, and the width available for a stage.

So, out was the round performance. In was a more traditional, front-facing stage that occupied a massive area of the arena floor.

Out was the monopoly of gymnastics, acrobatics and physical agility, and in was more theatrics, a plot, and at least a few abstractly fleshed-out characters.

Out was the linear sequence of acts, and in was a new multi-talent layering of performance. Dancers shared the same scene with singers, musicians, and acrobats.

Out was the inward and downward focus of the traditional Cirque stage, and in was an almost panoramic perspective that reached as high as giants.

And for the first time, a Cirque show included massive electronic gadgetry that made possible building-sized movie screens, towers of pulsing light, and the ability to project colors and images that moved at high speed onto such things as a thirty foot tall, sixty foot wide dress.

This is not just a circus exhibiting people doing amazing things, set to modern world-beat music; Delirium is a piece of art on a level that Cirque has never achieved before. It is a collage, a well-integrated piece of music, light and shadow, dance, and astounding human talent.

Delirium, as opposed to most other Cirque shows, is a high-pressure assault on all the senses. It offers itself as a self-contained art piece - for that matter, a brand new art form. Yes, its a little abstract, but Delirium will capture the attention of even those who find Monet too unintelligible. And it will refuse to give it back, even days after the curtain has gone opaque.