Saturday, July 16, 2016
The Cirque and Competitive Sports
www.cirquefascination.com: On Thursday, June 23rd, we Cirque fans got the shock of our lives (well, to be honest, the next in a long line of shocks…), and all it took was an article in the New York Times announcing a new project Cirque was undertaking. We didn’t even have to look past the first sentence before clutching our chests, our hearts palpitating (it’s the big one, Elizabeth!): “Cirque du Soleil, known for breathtaking acrobatics, and the NFL, known for bone-crushing hits, today announced plans for an NFL attraction in Times Square, a first-of-its-kind attraction in the heart of New York City.”
WAIT. SAY WHAT?
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3 comments:
I love seeing the pairings the ways that the performing arts community branches out. It goes with the idea that we constantly have to be breaking barriers that put performers in boxes. People constantly try to argue that performers are not true athletes, but the stamina and skill required to perform many of these stunts takes an athletic ability mastered by very few. The seemingly impossible planning that surrounds making the events safe and spectacular takes so much skill. The different ways art can be moved to different areas to deliver new messages and excitement brings another dimension to performances and new challenges to performances that can result in transformative experiences for audience members. It is equally interesting to see how it is not always as successful as we hope, as with Super bowl XLI. In changing the location and bringing in new collaborations and messages, there is the risk of removing some of the integrity and awe from what we know a certain company or art form to be. We have a standard in our mind at which we hope all performances reach, but drastic changes can heavily impact that.
I’ve always been fascinated by Cirque Du Soleil, and circuses in general, really. Combining Cirque and the NFL does seem like a weird pairing, and one that could ultimately fail, but I’m interested to see what they did and where they went with it. Even though this was ten years ago, it seems like it could be something that would happen today. We always come up with weird combinations, and Cirque and the Superbowl is no exception. I’ve watched the Superbowl many times and haven’t seen something as unusual and a circus. I think fans of football would’ve been a little weirded out, because normally football fanatics are less inclined to see something arts related. It also relates heavily to the weather and whether or not the tech will be able to pull something like that off in the amount of time with that many people. But it sounds like they made it happen, and it didn’t go over so well with the public.
In terms of athleticism the partnership between the NFL and Cirque makes perfect sense to me. The intensity of the work they do requires the same, if not more, training and skill of the sports teams. However in terms of audience, it makes far less sense. Perhaps sports fans who watch for the thrill and finesse of the movement of the players will adore the combination with Cirque, but I feel that Cirque fans will not have the same excitement at the overlap. Of course there are many other venues that Cirque fans could attend, but how many are in easy to travel places? Is it worth paying for a sports ticket and sitting through a game just to see Cirque's opening act driven only by the knowledge that Cirque will never perform it again elsewhere? I do believe it will excite sports fans everywhere for the game and boost morale for teams and such and that does sound amazing though.
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