Jun 7, 2025
Again
To dance once more
Again
A chance to soar
seen from Netherlands
seen from Singapore
seen from France
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Poland
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Netherlands
seen from Brazil
seen from T1
seen from Syria
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from France
Again
To dance once more
Again
A chance to soar
The Huevember 2024 wheel!!
Shout out to all of my friends who answered my Discord polls that determined most of these characters; I appreciate the help!
Individual wedges under the cut:
Top 5 favorite cirque shows? 🎪
5. Alegría - The original. IANL is fantastaic because this one was fantastic first. The White Singer was such an icon of my earliest Cirque fandom years and finally seeing her live felt like a dream came true. Now every year I adore it all the more for it's place in CdS history. What a daring production, and what a snapshot of its era. Though it's not my ultimate forever favorite, I do think Alegría is the pinnacle of classic, true Cirque du Soleil.
4. Varekai - What a lush and splendid show. After the structure and relative severity of Alegría and Quidam, out bursts Varekai with a completely different world, completely different take on costumes, and completely different energy. It's an interesting one too because on the scale of "shit's just happening" to "actual plot," Varekai leans more towards plot in a specific balance I don't think we've seen from Cirque before or since. There are plenty of things in this show that just are, but because the world is so beautifully fleshed out it doesn't distract us from the uncommonly specific plot: boy falls into a forest, he loses his wings and can't walk, he falls in love, his love is kidnapped, his love returns transformed, and he heals and gets married. That's a lot of detail compared to an O, Mystere, or La Nouba, considerably less compared to a Volta, Corteo, or Ka, yet it leaves room for an inexplicable underwater number. And it all still makes sense! Now that's worldbuilding, baby.
3. Kà - SPEAKING OF WORLDBUILDING. I have enumerated on my love for this show for thousands upon thousands of words so I won't spend too long on it now. But something I don't mention often is that I saw Ka because I kind of felt like I had to, not because I specifically wanted to. I was in Vegas for the first time, could only pick two shows, and went with the classic O/Ka spectacle split of artistry vs. technology. There was nothing else to the decision. And since then I haven't stopped thinking about Ka - nor stopped writing about it - for over seven years straight. This is the best plot-driven CdS show in company history by leagues. From setting to music to spectacle to characters Ka is a ten out of ten. It has given me more as a person and writer than I can go into here, and I'm endlessly grateful to it. For fun here is the first post I made shortly after seeing it:
I knew myself well enough to know he'd be a problem but not well enough to think I'd still be on my bullshit for eight years. God damn. What Ka does to me. And I'll thank it every time 🥹
2. Kooza - Everything I say about Kooza makes it sound like it was my very first show, but the real one was La Nouba lol. This is another one I've gone on and on and on about to bear repeating now, but every time I say Kooza changed my life, I mean it. It inspired me to try flying trapeze, and in 2024 I crossed my fifteenth year of training without even noticing. It has become such an ingrained part of my life, all because I saw one trapeze act in one circus show at a pivotal time in my life. So much of my late teens is tied up in Kooza emotions, obsession, and just straight up magic. There have been more complex and effective shows in Cirque history, and this was truest around when I saw it for the first time. But since then I have had the immense pleasure of watching a show grow into exactly what it's been to me since the very start. It's like a real first love. I just feel like the luckiest girl in the world for having met this show.
1. Quidam - Quidam is categorically the best Cirque show of all time. It's that simple. I genuinely think anyone that disagrees just doesn't have an informed enough opinion to weigh in appropriately. It might not be everyone's active favorite, but it is the objective best. The depth and soul of this show is unmatched. There is symbolism with tangible weight - not just motifs, not just weird for weird's sake, but real repeated and deliberate decisions that firmly say something about the characters, world, and plot in a way that even O and Alegría cannot match. This is peak Franco Dragone, this is peak Benoit Jutras, this is peak everything about golden era Cirque du Soleil wrapped up in a setting so sharp and melancholic that whether you are, were, or have never even been a lonely young girl, you now know exactly what it feels like. I have threatened to write so much meta and I really need to sit down and just get it done. I can't think about this show without looking like that poetic cinema meme. Quidam is my top favorite, and it's also everyone's top best whether they know it or not.
Ask me my top 5 anything!
If i had a nickel for every time a romantic couple with a brown haired male love interest and and predominantly white color palette rewrote my brain chemistry I'd have four nickels.
Which isn't a lot but i think we've gone past weird and have entered 'I am sensing a theme' territory.
A Cirque du Soleil Varekai Performer Wearing Eiko Ishioka
A true visionary
August 14, 2021:
Royal Secondary, Wildclaw, Vipera.
Varekai of Belviere's Clan Featherfall!
First comic (??) we've made in years!
This started with a conversation about Latinx and Spanish mothers and grandmas using slippers (aka chancleta o alpargata) as throwing weapons to make kids behave, and how some characters from Cirque du Soleil shows could very well be at the receiving end of them😂...
Featuring characters from O, Varekai, Kooza and KA. We all need a few laughs these days, don't you think? 😷
IMAGE HEAVY-READ UNDER THE CUT