CIRQUE DU SOLEIL ON ICE
New show Crystal in Windsor
Just when you thought Cirque du Soleil’s performances couldn’t get anymore breathtaking and deathdefying, the world-renowned entertainment company adds a new element: Ice.
Crystal, the latest Cirque du Soleil show to come to Windsor’s WFCU Centre, is the tumbler troupe’s first production to incorporate ice skating.
“It is definitely a brand new experience,” said Julie Desmarais, a spokesperson for Cirque du soleil.
“It’s not just a skating show or an acrobatics show. It’s a combination of both skills.”
In true Cirque du Soleil style, Crystal presents a dreamlike narrative: The show is named after its heroine, a young girl whose innocent skating excursion around a pond becomes a journey of selfdiscovery and imagination.
“She is seeking a world with new possibilities,” Desmarais explains. “The ice breaks, and she falls into this surreal world. She becomes what she was destined to be, which is free and empowered.”
Audience members will marvel at scenes such as Crystal’s encounter with her “reflection” — a performer suspended in air who mirrors Crystal’s on-ice leaps and twirls.
When Crystal comes across a hockey game, viewers will thrill at four “players” executing increasingly extreme ramp-assisted jumps and flips. The scene culminates in the rink transforming into a giant pinball machine, with bodies ricocheting from bumper to bumper.
A ballroom scene has Crystal taking off from the ice in a romantic duet with a male aerial performer, while the high-energy “tempest” scene brings group choreography to new levels of complexity both in skates and flying through the air.
Desmarais said it took Cirque a year to develop the show, from concept to workshops to consultations with experts. Canadian figure skating legend Kurt Browning had a role in designing the performances.
Despite the challenge of adding a totally new element to Cirque’s already impressive feats, Desmarais assures that Crystal is no riskier to the performers than previous shows.
“There’s a lot of training involved in everything we do, and safety remains the main priority.”