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Wednesday, March 04, 2020
We previewed Cirque du Soleil's Disney tribute, 'Drawn to Life'
www.themeparkinsider.com: After standing dark for more than two years, the Cirque du Soleil theater in Disney Springs at the Walt Disney World Resort came alive again today for a media preview of its new production, "Drawn to Life."
9 comments:
Elizabeth Purnell
said...
I am always incredibly impressed by the work that Cirque du Soleil does. I really liked Love, and while I have not ever gotten to see any of their work in person I enjoy reading the countless articles on here or watching videos online. In the Inner World of Animation clip, I was really fascinated by the fact that the dancers - in order to mimic the ‘step by step to complete an action’ technique of animation would mimic the other dancer’s movements - but offset from each other. I think that was a very appropriate homage to the actual work of animation. In the Aerial Pencil piece, first of all - it’s crazy to think that those acrobats can just spin around up in the air seemingly without fear. As someone who is deathly afraid of heights I’m always impressed by people who can just let go in the air - it seems like they’re flying. I also really like how in the set, no matter what part of the show they’re at - we never forget this idea of pen on paper.
I didn’t know that Disney and Cirque worked together. Cirque never fails to amaze and the performances are always stunning. I don’t get how these performers. I didn’t know about the Walt Disney archives and that is really interesting that they have all the first sketches of the animations that they put out, just think about how much the animations have changed from what the audience sees from how the animation started. I would love to see the media in this show, media is being put into all sorts of shows now. I don’t really get what those costumes are (well Cirque always has some interesting costume, but I don’t really like these ones, but that is my opinion) THE SECOND VIDEO IS BEAUTIFUL! The performance is stunning the media screens ARE AMAZING it looks so simple but it is so stunning to look at.
This is really an amazing new show. All of the elements of the production work together incredibly well. I think this is a much better use of the Cirque show than what was previously in the Disney Springs location. La Nouba was the show that was there before. It was a contemporary circus show with no theming specific to Disney. That show ran for 19 years. I think it is exciting to have a new show developed which had Disney branding, but not with specific characters like a Disney on Ice show. I think choosing to showcase the beautiful 2D animation that built the foundation of this empire was a very good choice. Having an unbranded show like La Nouba for that long really surprised me. I expect Disney to only have branded experiences. Had this been something tacky like Disney on Ice (no offense to Disney on Ice), I would have been annoyed that they replaced an unbranded show, but I think this ties in beautifully with the park without feeling tacky. It feels a lot more cohesive.
Disney and Cirque du Soleil have been pretty present in my life as mostly background characters and concepts- the Cirque tent in Downtown Disney is nearly impossible to miss from the highway, and for one of our childhood birthday years, my brothers and I all got a trip to the Cirque tent to see their long running La Nouba. Cirque is constantly pushing boundaries in terms of acrobatics, technological integration, live entertainment, and storytelling using all of those components. It doesn’t surprise me at all to see the new show at the tent using the Disney theme/brand- both Disney and Cirque are innovators in their art and a creative (as well as previous business) partnership just makes sense. The idea of building something from the ground up- a company, a production, a story, an animated world- seems to shine through in this production, and it’ll be interesting to see the overall story arc when it comes to the production as a whole.
I really cannot think of a better way to tribute Disney animation and animation in general than using a Cirque du Soleil show. The two videos provided in the article show some really beautiful physical imagery as well as imagery through media surrounding the performance. I loved the second video because it so simply shows the beauty of some of Disney’s earlier animation styles and exhibits where all of their advanced technology came from to begin with. I love that they are bringing life back to this theater after 2 years of darkness, too. It gives designers and performers another opportunity to work with two amazing organizations. I had no idea that they partnered and I think that that is an awesome idea. I really wish I was able to see this in person. I hope to see some videos about it as it progresses more and maybe I will get to visit some day and see it live.
While I am sure I have said this on the greenpage before, Cirque never seises to amaze me. Cirque always seems to find the absolute best way to portray whatever theme they are currently working on. It is evident how deeply they thing about these things so early in the design and writing process. One way we really see this here is when Daniel Lamarre, the CEO of Cirque, talks about the decision they made to go towards the route of representing Disney Animation, taking the audience back to Disney's roots. The two clips they show in the article are beautiful. One of the neatest things is the floor you can see in the first video. At first it seems more like a tumbling surface, like the surface used for floor routines in gymnastics. This floor is soft and a little springy, but still stiff. As the video goes on it becomes clear that the surfaces way springier, almost like a trampoline. This provides a surface for an amazing routine.
This makes me so happy. For my senior project as an undergraduate, I designed a set that consisted of many different moving video walls, automated on many different axes, that would have lots of different graphics/animations on it to support the story being told. Because it was something that was unrealized, and it was fairly complicated to create something tangible that fully conveyed the ideas that I was going for, there were lots of questions as to how this would be pulled off. Questions like the level of media on the walls interfering with lighting or creating unnecessary shadows, having these two worlds where there were real props on stage but also video walls with animations potentially conflicting each other, etc... It truly warms my heart to see that Cirque du Soleil is doing something in the same tone and pulling it off. I really love the idea of going back to those original Disney animations, and I'm sure true Disney fans will appreciate this. The reasoning behind including it, as the article mentioned the process of animation starting with just a pencil and paper, is so very strong and touching, and I'm glad they found a way to incorporate such an important moment of the process into this production. The level of creativity tied in with being true to Disney in this has my heart extremely full and feeling really inspired. I'm sure there is more to it than that, but I can tell that this will be a beautiful tribute. As always, I hope to see this sometime soon.
I ADORE this. Before going into theatre, I originally thought I was going to take up animation for a career. Taking classes taught me how many hours go into just a simple movement as walking. I have always felt that hand-drawn animation is criminally misappreciated in the entertainment eye. Computer animation is cool, but I will always have a deep love and respect for the traditional method. So seeing a group as talented as Cirque du Soleil not only play tribute to Disney, but the technique of hand-drawn animation. Most companies would go the easy route and tell Disney’s history through its movies and classic characters, but Cirque du Soleil got creative and is paying tribute to the art form that made them a household name in the first place. The sneak peak at the dances and tech shows just how creative they can get. This is a performance I am dying to see.
I am a huge fan of Cirque du Soleil so I love hearing about new shows! I’ve seen a couple of shows live and I used to have a vhs tape of one of their shows that I would watch on repeat as a little kid. I watched the trailer for their tribute to Disney animation and it looks stunning! The costumes are so interesting they way the fabric looks like it’s been drawn on with a marker. I love what Laprise say about how animation is like silk. Well done animation can be so beautiful and satisfying to watch. The video of the pencil test is so beautiful! I’m always amazed by the Cirque du Soleil performers. It makes a lot of sense to me that the Disney characters would be flushed out in pencil first, before being colored and inked. The juxtaposition of the performers mimicking the movement of the act of drawing and the projection of the drawing is very cool.
9 comments:
I am always incredibly impressed by the work that Cirque du Soleil does. I really liked Love, and while I have not ever gotten to see any of their work in person I enjoy reading the countless articles on here or watching videos online. In the Inner World of Animation clip, I was really fascinated by the fact that the dancers - in order to mimic the ‘step by step to complete an action’ technique of animation would mimic the other dancer’s movements - but offset from each other. I think that was a very appropriate homage to the actual work of animation. In the Aerial Pencil piece, first of all - it’s crazy to think that those acrobats can just spin around up in the air seemingly without fear. As someone who is deathly afraid of heights I’m always impressed by people who can just let go in the air - it seems like they’re flying. I also really like how in the set, no matter what part of the show they’re at - we never forget this idea of pen on paper.
I didn’t know that Disney and Cirque worked together. Cirque never fails to amaze and the performances are always stunning. I don’t get how these performers. I didn’t know about the Walt Disney archives and that is really interesting that they have all the first sketches of the animations that they put out, just think about how much the animations have changed from what the audience sees from how the animation started. I would love to see the media in this show, media is being put into all sorts of shows now. I don’t really get what those costumes are (well Cirque always has some interesting costume, but I don’t really like these ones, but that is my opinion) THE SECOND VIDEO IS BEAUTIFUL! The performance is stunning the media screens ARE AMAZING it looks so simple but it is so stunning to look at.
This is really an amazing new show. All of the elements of the production work together incredibly well. I think this is a much better use of the Cirque show than what was previously in the Disney Springs location. La Nouba was the show that was there before. It was a contemporary circus show with no theming specific to Disney. That show ran for 19 years. I think it is exciting to have a new show developed which had Disney branding, but not with specific characters like a Disney on Ice show. I think choosing to showcase the beautiful 2D animation that built the foundation of this empire was a very good choice. Having an unbranded show like La Nouba for that long really surprised me. I expect Disney to only have branded experiences. Had this been something tacky like Disney on Ice (no offense to Disney on Ice), I would have been annoyed that they replaced an unbranded show, but I think this ties in beautifully with the park without feeling tacky. It feels a lot more cohesive.
Disney and Cirque du Soleil have been pretty present in my life as mostly background characters and concepts- the Cirque tent in Downtown Disney is nearly impossible to miss from the highway, and for one of our childhood birthday years, my brothers and I all got a trip to the Cirque tent to see their long running La Nouba. Cirque is constantly pushing boundaries in terms of acrobatics, technological integration, live entertainment, and storytelling using all of those components. It doesn’t surprise me at all to see the new show at the tent using the Disney theme/brand- both Disney and Cirque are innovators in their art and a creative (as well as previous business) partnership just makes sense. The idea of building something from the ground up- a company, a production, a story, an animated world- seems to shine through in this production, and it’ll be interesting to see the overall story arc when it comes to the production as a whole.
I really cannot think of a better way to tribute Disney animation and animation in general than using a Cirque du Soleil show. The two videos provided in the article show some really beautiful physical imagery as well as imagery through media surrounding the performance. I loved the second video because it so simply shows the beauty of some of Disney’s earlier animation styles and exhibits where all of their advanced technology came from to begin with. I love that they are bringing life back to this theater after 2 years of darkness, too. It gives designers and performers another opportunity to work with two amazing organizations. I had no idea that they partnered and I think that that is an awesome idea. I really wish I was able to see this in person. I hope to see some videos about it as it progresses more and maybe I will get to visit some day and see it live.
While I am sure I have said this on the greenpage before, Cirque never seises to amaze me. Cirque always seems to find the absolute best way to portray whatever theme they are currently working on. It is evident how deeply they thing about these things so early in the design and writing process. One way we really see this here is when Daniel Lamarre, the CEO of Cirque, talks about the decision they made to go towards the route of representing Disney Animation, taking the audience back to Disney's roots. The two clips they show in the article are beautiful. One of the neatest things is the floor you can see in the first video. At first it seems more like a tumbling surface, like the surface used for floor routines in gymnastics. This floor is soft and a little springy, but still stiff. As the video goes on it becomes clear that the surfaces way springier, almost like a trampoline. This provides a surface for an amazing routine.
This makes me so happy. For my senior project as an undergraduate, I designed a set that consisted of many different moving video walls, automated on many different axes, that would have lots of different graphics/animations on it to support the story being told. Because it was something that was unrealized, and it was fairly complicated to create something tangible that fully conveyed the ideas that I was going for, there were lots of questions as to how this would be pulled off. Questions like the level of media on the walls interfering with lighting or creating unnecessary shadows, having these two worlds where there were real props on stage but also video walls with animations potentially conflicting each other, etc... It truly warms my heart to see that Cirque du Soleil is doing something in the same tone and pulling it off. I really love the idea of going back to those original Disney animations, and I'm sure true Disney fans will appreciate this. The reasoning behind including it, as the article mentioned the process of animation starting with just a pencil and paper, is so very strong and touching, and I'm glad they found a way to incorporate such an important moment of the process into this production. The level of creativity tied in with being true to Disney in this has my heart extremely full and feeling really inspired. I'm sure there is more to it than that, but I can tell that this will be a beautiful tribute. As always, I hope to see this sometime soon.
I ADORE this. Before going into theatre, I originally thought I was going to take up animation for a career. Taking classes taught me how many hours go into just a simple movement as walking. I have always felt that hand-drawn animation is criminally misappreciated in the entertainment eye. Computer animation is cool, but I will always have a deep love and respect for the traditional method. So seeing a group as talented as Cirque du Soleil not only play tribute to Disney, but the technique of hand-drawn animation. Most companies would go the easy route and tell Disney’s history through its movies and classic characters, but Cirque du Soleil got creative and is paying tribute to the art form that made them a household name in the first place. The sneak peak at the dances and tech shows just how creative they can get. This is a performance I am dying to see.
I am a huge fan of Cirque du Soleil so I love hearing about new shows! I’ve seen a couple of shows live and I used to have a vhs tape of one of their shows that I would watch on repeat as a little kid. I watched the trailer for their tribute to Disney animation and it looks stunning! The costumes are so interesting they way the fabric looks like it’s been drawn on with a marker. I love what Laprise say about how animation is like silk. Well done animation can be so beautiful and satisfying to watch. The video of the pencil test is so beautiful! I’m always amazed by the Cirque du Soleil performers. It makes a lot of sense to me that the Disney characters would be flushed out in pencil first, before being colored and inked. The juxtaposition of the performers mimicking the movement of the act of drawing and the projection of the drawing is very cool.
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