www.cirquefascination.com: To mark Saudi National Day on the 23rd of September, the General Entertainment Authority presents one of the largest custom-made events by the world-renowned company Cirque du Soleil, organized by MBC Group. The record-breaking performance – which will feature Cirque du Soleil’s largest number of circus artists ever assembled for a special event – will get underway in a visually stunning world to celebrate the 88th Saudi National Day and a future ‘Beyond the Horizon’.
3 comments:
While I am super interested in Cirque du Soleil and everything they have to offer, I have never heard of them do special events. Obviously, we know about their Vegas shows and all their touring shows, but special events are not one you hear about a lot. I think it is super interesting that Cirque du Soleil is partnering with the General Entertainment Authority and the MBC Group for this spectacular event. It sounds like Cirque really has big plans for this show. With such a huge audience in attendance, at 27,000 people, I do not blame them at all. I have seen one of Cirques stadium shows and I was absolutely blown away by it. I saw Cirque du Soleil’s Toruk a couple years ago when it came to LA and, as usual, were taking stadium shows to a whole new level. With amazing media design and a wonderful set and incredible sound design, I felt like I was transported to the world of Pandora, where Toruk takes place. I wish this was an event I could go see, can’t wait to see photos after.
It's interesting to me that Cirque is willing to do this performance. Given Saudi Arabia's long history of oppression, I wonder how much money could have motivated them to ignore that and produce a massive scale performance like this. Cirque has often been known for it's groundbreaking performances that celebrates their diverse dancers bodies. In a country that just gave women the right to drive, I wonder how they plan on enforcing that celebration that essentially defines Cirque. As far as Saudi Arabia goes, their goal is to have 33 percent women employment by 2020, and they just opened their first movie theater in over 40 years. I think that it might be good for them to experience the artistry that goes into a Cirque show, but I think the censorship that will also be required might negate that artistry. Essentially, while I think the performance might benefit a few people, the message that Cirque is sending about what they support and what they're willing to do for a lot of money is disconcerting, and I wish that they had vocalized how horrific the oppression women face in this country is, even if they're taking very minuscule steps to even the playing field.
I have had the amazing opportunity to see Cirque du Soleil once on tour and it was a truly incredible show. The amount of talent that the performers possess and the design work that goes into every detail was jaw-dropping. The entire spectacle of the show was so huge that I can not even imagine what goes into the process of making a special event piece. Cirque is always touring and they have a wildly successful Las Vegas residency but to put together an entire show of that magnitude for only one night really blows my mind. Just because this is a special event, does not mean that Cirque is cutting any corners, the article details a massive custom stage that was built for the performance and also goes into a little detail about the technological innovations that they are planning on using. State of the art projections, lighting, and sound, are all incorporated to try and make this performance just as awe-inspiring as the rest of their productions.
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