Stay cool in the summer heat with Cirque du Soleil’s newest creation, CRYSTAL, which showcases jaw-dropping acrobatics on ice. For the first time in Cirque du Soleil’s nearly 35-year history, the company’s first production on ice pushes the boundaries of performance by combining awe-inspiring ice skating with acrobatic feats of wonder that will defy the imagination. CRYSTAL’s international cast, representing 11 different countries, includes figure, extreme, and freestyle ice skaters, acrobats, musicians and a comic character. The cast tells the adventurous tale of a young woman, Crystal, as she dives into a world of her own imagination. CRYSTAL invites audiences to suspend reality and glide into a world that springs to a colorful life with astounding visual projections and an original score that seamlessly blends popular music with the signature sound of Cirque du Soleil.
The music of Crystal is cinematic in scope while supporting the narrative and pulsing to the rhythm of the action on ice. With its sweeping, atmospheric, and romantic soundscapes, the score moves from grand orchestral sounds to klezmer-style chamber music to melodic folk and rock-tinged beats. Another first for the company, cover versions of well-known pop songs were specifically recorded for the show to stir the emotions of the audience and enhance key moments in the narrative. The songs were chosen not only for their ability to capture the feelings of the original, but also to heighten the emotional charge of the scenes they accompany, thus adding the “Cirque du Soleil touch” to the songs themselves.
As with all Cirque du Soleil shows, visually, CRYSTAL will wow audiences with the show’s versatile stage changes. The show will take viewers on a wild adventure from a giant pinball machine to an office tower in a big city, with many more imaginative environments in-between. Blending with the set design, the overall look of the costumes is one of frivolity laced with surrealism in a fantastical world of ice. Different types of skates are used in the show, including figure skates, ice dance, and hockey skates. The costumes and props needed for various Cirque du Soleil shows are hand-created in Montreal, in the production workshops of the International Headquarters. The Cirque du Soleil workshop is the only one of its kind in North America. Approximately 300 artisans are employed full-time to make the props and costumes and 16,000 or so items are created for Cirque du Soleil’s shows every year. Shoes are hand and custom-made for all performers by the artisans of the Shoe Workshop. Approximately 1,200 pairs of shoes are produced by the workshop every year. For the company’s first ice show, acrobatic shoes were developed, incorporating a combination of small metal spikes and crampons into the soles of the shoes to enable them to walk, slide, run, and so many other things that are normally not possible on ice. Because of this, they can keep their stability.
From the story to the music to the set design, families will not want to miss Cirque du Soleil’s CRYSTAL. A sensational new production combining circus arts with the world of ice skating, guests will be taken on a journey into a surreal world mixing the artistry of figure skating with the graceful athleticism of acrobatics and aerial expertise. Cirque du Soleil’s first ice show, CRYSTAL, will be in the Triad for a limited time, with seven shows at the Greensboro Coliseum from Aug. 22 through Aug. 26. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit cirquedusoleil.com/crystal.
