Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo returns to tour North America this year. The original show ran from 2005 to 2015 where it visited 64 cities and 19 countries. The show moved from under the big top to a stadium tour and has 2 new acts. Corteo is centred around a clown picturing his funeral taking places at a carnival where a woman floats from a balloon, angels fly above, and women dangle from chandeliers.
Corteo premiered in Ottawa on June 27th and will run till July 1 at the Canadian Tire Center. The tour will continue to visit many Canadian cities including Kingston (July 4 to 8 at the Rogers K-Rock Centre), St. Catharines (July 11 to 15 at the Meridian Centre), Vancouver (October 10 to 14 at the Pacific Coliseum), Quebec City (December 6 to 9 at Center Videotron), Toronto (December 12-16 at the Air Canada Center), and Montreal (December 19-30 at the Bell Center).
Seeing Cirque du Soleil is something I look forward to each year (you can read my reviews about Luzia and Volta which are both on tour) as I’m always mesmerized by the acrobatics and set design which are truly spectacular.
One unique feature about Corteo is the stage is designed to be seen from both sides. As such half, the audience is on one side, half the other. The set design will provide you with a closeup view of astonishing performances as all the seats are all close to the stage. My personal favourite acts would have to be the Cyr wheel, duo-straps, and chandeliers, with the acrobatic ladder, helium dance, and Tournik all being outstanding too.
In the Cyr wheels, there are 5 people performing in giant wheels on the stage. It was spectacular to see their coordination in a dizzying set of acrobatic moves in and around the rotating wheel.
The Duo-Straps had all the beauty of The Greatest Showman’s duo aerial scene where Zendaya and Zac Efron fly around together in the romantic scene in the Hollywood movie, but here it is done live. The trust of the performers, while they hang from each other, is such a display of love and strength that I didn’t want this performance to end as it was outstanding.
The chandeliers performance was the one I was most excited to see and it exceeded my expectations. In this set 3 massive crystal chandeliers hang from the ceiling and 4 women perform a variety of aerial techniques as them beautifully
Tournik
READ MORE: Win 2 Tickets To Cirque Du Soleil’s Corteo In Ottawa
Helium dance – a woman tied to several balloons floats over the crowd
Acrobatic ladder – a man climbs a freestanding ladder to reach an angel
Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo is a performance you won’t want to miss. Purchase your tickets for the show.
*All images courtesy of Cirque du Soleil