A few nights ago, I got the opportunity to attend Cirque Eloize Cirkopolis in Miami and got the full VIP experience. Miami is the only US tour stop for Cirque Eloize Cirkopolis and you can catch the show at the amazing Adrienne Arsht Center through July 31, and you really should!
Cirque Eloize Cirkopolis is a contemporary circus extravaganza on the main stage including traditional hand-to-hand acrobatics, juggling, wheels, aerial acrobatics and a plot line led by clown Joel Baker, who we got to meet before the show as part of the VIP experience when we were taken on the stage for a sneak-peek of the performers practicing before the show.
The loose plot line of Cirque Eloize Cirkopolis which follows a man (Baker) with a mundane desk job through (what I perceived to be) an underground industrialized city started a little intense with loud music and flashing lights along with digital graphics projected on the back scrim is definitely not your traditional circus but rather a theatrical spectacle of contemporary circus crafts and skills. For these reasons, Cirque Eloize Cirkopolis is geared towards adults and recommended for children aged eight and up (my date for the night, Honeybun, just barely made the cut).
But don’t confuse it with other contemporary circus shows you may know, Cirque Eloize Cirkopolis is not based on colorful fantasies and wonderments, it is darker and grittier than others and definitely deserves its place within the hallowed walls of a theatre rather than under the big top. But that doesn’t mean the acts are any less spectacular, the Arsht center provides ample room for all the big circus tricks and apparatuses including the Chinese pole and German wheel but in a more intimate setting.
The show features an original musical score which meshes seamlessly with the acrobatics, stunts and dance passages. And the original video presentation projected on the back scrim of the stage is ingenious, intensifying the performance as the scenes move around and with the performers on the stage.
The twelve cast members of Cirque Eloize Cirkopolis in Miami perform almost as a machine, working together seamlessly despite being brought together for the first time specifically for this performance and only having a few weeks to learn Cirque Eloize Cirkopolis start to finish. They support each other without the help of cables or other safety equipment, they are literally each other’s life lines and the closeness of the small cast is part of the magic of the show.
And the amazing talent of the cast was made even more apparent after the show when Honeybun and I attended a meet and greet with a few of Cirque Eloize Cirkopolis‘s young cast members who come from all over the world including the US, Canada, Europe and even Australia who have all attended different university programs for circus arts around the world. Yes, circus school a real thing and has brought new meaning to “join the circus” as groups like Cirque Eloize take circus arts to a new level and breathe fresh life into the traditional trapeze and balance acts we think of alongside the elephants and lions of the traveling circus. These young performers are not merely clowns and side-show acts, they’re true artists who have honed their skills and Cirque Eloize Cirkopolis reminded me more of a professional dance company and performance than a traveling circus spectacle.
Honestly, I could see one of my kids running off to join the circus, or more accurately go to college and study circus arts. They have all developed a love for gymnastics and dance and I think with groups like Cirque Eloize working to elevating circus arts to the level of other performing, being in the circus is now more akin to dance and theatre than the clownish antics and freakish abilities that traditional circuses were based on. Joining the circus now takes real talent and hard work to achieve a high level of skill and artistry and I definitely would be one proud mommy to see one of my kids up on that stage one day!
