The Amazing Cirque Du Soleil Is In Town

When I wrote last week about Dralion coming to Duluth this week I called Cirque Du Soleil "an admirable achievement." After having seen this production, my words simply too tepid. Dralion is a phenomenon. And I would urge everyone who has not seen it to go to one of the four shows left in this run. Two shows a day, today and tomorrow at AMSOIL Arena.

We took some friends to see the Wednesday evening show and were utterly blown away. We were an interesting mix: two teens and four "seniors" who have been around the block a few times. All came away awestruck, indicating to me that this circus is a cross-generational experience that will leave very few unmoved.

Dralion is a signature Cirque du Soleil® production that has now been experienced by close to eleven million people worldwide since it premiered in 1999 in Montreal, Canada. Like circuses of old, Dralion was a travelling circus that performed under the big top. Since 2010 it has been presented in arenas around the world. Inasmuch as the temps were hovering around zero outside that night, my guess is that indoor arenas help create a more comfortable experience.

The name comes from a fusion of East and West, as symbolized by the Dragon (East) and the Lion (West). Dralion is comprised of 3,000 year-old Chinese acrobatic arts with the multidisciplinary approach of Cirque du Soleil. Thematically Dralion draws inspiration from Eastern philosophy and its never-ending quest for harmony between humans and nature.

Like most Cirque du Soleil events there’s a storyline that serves as a thread providing continuity to the experience. But you don't really need to know the story to enjoy the wonder.

The show features 50 international acrobats, gymnasts, clowns, musicians and singers. Yes, it's live performance art, and not a pre-recorded soundtrack that serves as backdrop to the show.

I've already written about the characters and the costumes here. What's striking is the caliber of the circus acts themselves. Let's begin with the clowns.

Clowns serve as the glue that holds all the disparate elements together in a circus. When I was growing up the clown Emmett Kelly was one of my mother's idols, and a favorite of the Ringling Bros. Circus. In 1970 Fellini did a whole film on clowns alone. I learned early on that clowns come in all shapes and forms, and the Cirque stretches our boundaries even on this most basic of circus roles.

One reviewer at Yelp felt the clowns were "creepy" in Dralion, but our audience Wednesday seemed totally engaged by their bizarre humor. More than one in my group was impressed by their ability to grab the attention of a large audience with such ease. We laughed because we couldn't help it.

The acts themselves were far from the normal dancing bears and trapeze artists that we're used to in smaller circuses. Dralion features trampoline artists, juggling, gymnastics, and rope skipping like you've never seen before. Everything is amped to such a degree so as to astonish, whether solo or in teams.

The set design is likewise an integral part of the show. The engineering alone must have been an achievement of design. The 60-foot wide set has a ceiling entrance and space beneath for entrances all about the stage floor. You never know where the next performers will appear from. The things acrobats do on the back wall make you want to run down there to check out how they do it.

Much more could be shared, but my only aim is to say that if you can get to one of this weekend's show, you really should. You won't regret is.  

My advice: Go! And enjoy the show. 4 p.m. and 7:30, today and tomorrow. AMSOIL Arena. 

Cirque Du Soleil Coming To Duluth: Interview with Aerial Performer Tarek Rammo of Dralion

Tarek Rammo is a featured performer in the travelling Cirque Du Soleil show Dralion, specializing in an Aerial Silk duet as well as his solo Aerial Straps and other acrobatics. Rammo, who was born in Beirut, moved to Holland with his family at age one. At nine years old he took an interest in gymnastics. After eight years of competing he saw his first Cirque du Soleil show which generated a spark, and produced an interest in performing. He has now performed all over the world with companies such as “The 7 Fingers”, “DanceWorks Rotterdam/Andre Gingras” and “The Ulrike Quade Company”.

EN: Did you have an interest in the Olympics while young and competing?

Tarek Rammo: I was doing competitive gymnastics for about ten years. I was on the national junior team of Holland and I did have a dream of going to world championships and the Olympics but the urge to pursue the performing arts was a lot stronger. When I was about 17 I decided to switch careers?

EN: How many Cirque performers come out of a background in the Olympics.

TR: Not sure of the number but there’s quite a few who have competed at a very high level, including some who have won medals in the Olympics, that find a new career at the Cirque du Soleil after they finish competing.

EN: Do performers who become part of the Cirque choose the show they want to be part of? How does that work?

TR: Basically what happens is you do an audition, which is a general audition if you’re a gymnast for example. If you can make it through a rigorous day of auditioning you end up in a database, a big file where all the potential artists for Cirque du Soleil end up. Once they have an opening in a show, they look specifically in the database for someone who will fit that part. Then they may or may not contact you. It may be a month or a year or three years before you get a spot on the show. It depends on your skills and availability.

EN: What makes Dralion so exciting.

TR: It’s an interesting show. As the title suggests, East meets West, Dragon and Lion… drawing the most supreme acts from all over the world. All this combined with lights and a live band makes it a spectacular show.

EN: What are the challenges?

TR: In terms of personal challenges…. As artists we’re living out of our suitcases. We’re moving every week. So you really have to adapt your life, knowing that you have to be portable.

It’s also, of course, being away from home. Away from your family. Away from your friends. And though we choose this because we love it, it’s not an easy part.

EN: Do you have a wife and kids?

TR: I have a wife. And funny enough, she just arrived here this week because my old partner who I was doing the aerial duet with unfortunately had an injury. My wife is also an acrobat and she was also in the database for the Cirque du Soleil. Because we’d worked together, they just brought her in to replace my old partner for the upcoming weeks, so I am actually the luckiest guy right now in the Cirque.

EN: It must be demanding.

TR: We’re doing about 7-8 shows a week. It’s all very physical, and with the travelling combined it’s quite an effort because in every city we have to do rehearsals and make sure everything is all right in terms of height. Everything is different everywhere, but we have a very good technical team that makes sure everything is exactly the same in every city we go to. We have to do the checks; we have to do the rehearsals, because it’s all high risk.

EN: Do you have any favorite acts in this particular show?

TR: I really enjoy doing my own act, but some of my favorite acts in the show… I would say the hoop diving number by the Chinese troop. It’s a number where they stack circular rings on top of each other and they do all kinds of crazy jumps through them, landing on the stage. It’s a very high stakes number and very energizing.

We have a very good juggler, too. He’s a great dancer as well, in perfect harmony with the music. Very energetic and engaging.

EN: How do performers maintain high energy levels for these shows and not get jaded so that it’s routine?

TR: That really depends on the person. Some people need a lot of sleep, for example. They go to bed quite late after the show but spend most of the day in bed. Others will wake up early – I’m an early riser. I need to go outside for a bit, get some fresh air, do my personal work, relax a bit.

Some people are really focused on their diet, their eating habits, to maintain their energy level. Others are more casual with that, so I would say it’s really different for everyone. Some people work out every day before a show because that’s what they feel they need.

EN: What was the first Cirque show that you saw?

TR: I saw Alegria when it was in Amsterdam in the Big Top. I’ve seen about three or four others after that.

EN: Costumes for this show originate from Africa, India and China. Are the performers also from Africa, India and China?

TR: They’re from all over the world. We have a very large troop from China. One of the main characters is from Africa, she’s an African dancer. The Water Element has an Indian background, though she was raised in the U.S. her heritage is Indian. I’m from Holland with a Lebanese background, and there’s Russian, Ukrainian, people from Argentina… a total of 18 nationalities on this tour.

EN: You go to different cities for a week at a time…

TR: We usually travel on a Sunday. After our show or shows, we board a bus and travel through the night. We’ll have Mondays and Tuesdays off. Wednesday is usually the busiest day because we have to do all the checks. That’s really the start of our work week.

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Dralion will be performed this coming week on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the AMSOIL Arena. Check Ticketmaster for details.

The photos here are publicity stills provided by Cirque Du Soleil. My full story on Dralion is featured in this week's Reader.

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