I got tickets from my work to see Cirque Du Soleil's Dralion, and took Sarah to go see it for her birthday month. It was awesome! It opens with three clowns (in suits, no less!) interacting with the crowd. One of them pretends to marry a woman in the audience, and another greets a guy who appears to be a member of the audience and leads him to his seat. Eventually, they drag the poor guy to the stage and have him read the safety regulations (that fell from the ceiling!) while they comically torture and abuse him for the amusement of the crowd. The opening ends with the clowns stealing the guy's wallet and he chases them backstage.
Finally, the real show begins, and the dancers come out. The costumes were gorgeous. They appeared to be a mix of Asian (both Chinese and Indian) and African. The first woman to come out appeared to be either overweight or pregnant--although that may just have been an effect of her costume, but it was still amazing to watch. Over the course of the show we see them dance and perform circus tricks, including an appearance of one of the dralions (multiple dralions appear later in the show), which appears to be the head of a Chinese dragon on the body of a lion. We watch several feats of trapeze artists before we are entertained by a dancing juggler. He juggled at least four balls before switching to six (unlit) torches, ending the act juggling seven balls. It was amazing!
This leads to an awesome display of trampoline work by at least three men and three women (it was hard to tell in the end how many there were because they had swapped a few in and out). The men had so much momentum on their jumps that they actually appeared to be walking on the walls. I couldn't believe my eyes!
The first act ended with another round with the clowns. This time revealing that the man who they abused earlier in the show was actually in on the act!
After that, they held intermission for 20 minutes. Sarah and I used the opportunity to go to the concession stand. Seeing as this was Mathew Knight Arena, the prices were over-the-top. (A bottle of water was $4! I highly recommend if you go, to bring your own water. They allow factory sealed bottles to enter the arena. Don't open it before you get there.)
The second act of their performance didn't disappoint, either. They began it by dancing and swinging from the trapeze while behind a curtain. The shadows that appeared for the audience were so massive that it felt as if Hindu gods and goddesses were performing for us. This was further brought to life by some of the performers dancing in a line, and the shadows appeared to have multiple arms.
The climatic scene of the show ended with a group of dancers performing advanced jump roping techniques--from break dancing while jumping rope to jumping the rope while supporting each other. It ended with twelve men jump roping at once--six in one large pyramid, and six in two small ones.
There are still 3 showings of Cirque Du Soleil here in Eugene. One tonight, and two tomorrow. If you have a chance to go, I highly recommend it. If you miss them this time, definitely catch them the next time they're in town.
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