Alegria is the Spanish word for joy. A Cirque du Soleil show is always a joy.
This is my second Cirque du Soleil show. I thoroughly enjoyed their Totem show earlier this year in Concord. Alegria was at the Bobcats arena in uptown Charlotte last night. It was a great event, although I do think I prefer the Grand Chapiteau (Big tent) shows like Totem.
Cirque's website says there are eight key characteristics that make up who they are.
- Imaginary worlds
- Dance
- Daring
- Dexterity
- Grace
- Art forms from around the world
- Acting
- Acrobatic performance
What do you get when you combine these eight things? An awesome show! Alegria has been touring for 17 years and it is no surprise. The show was lead by a princess-like figure in a beautiful, sparkling dress who sang her heart out throughout the entire show. The show is all about power and how humans deal with and express power throughout history.
There was a lot of audience interaction throughout the show. Audience members were brought on stage to dance and one even used the flexible bars for a jump rope. The people sitting on the floor were not only brought out to dance, but were also covered in papier-mache. I wouldn't have minded the snow, but I would have minded the clowns making me dance with them, so I was glad to be a few rows up. I am not terrified of clowns, but I have seen It and I have no desire to slow dance with that!
Performers from all over the world performed a series of death-defying stunts with flaming knives, trapezes and trampolines. One set of contortionists did things that I did not think were humanly possible.
A Cirque production is so aesthetically beautiful, it's hard to take it all in sometimes. As I walked back outside and into a (still hot at 10 p.m.) uptown Charlotte, everything still felt sort of magical.
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