Kooza – Cirque du Soleil – Review of My Recent Experience

Last night on April 14, 2010 I attended a performance of Kooza, here in Portland, Oregon. What an amazing show. If you have never seen a live production of Cirque du Soleil, then I HIGHLY recommend you do the first opportunity you have.

Kooza was filled with action, death defying thrills, gut wrenching laughter and wonderful music.

The project for Kooza was first begun in 2005, under the direction of David Shriner and two years later in May of 2007 they had their premier performance. For the last three (3) years the show has continued to be perfected and I believe it has even evolved a little. From what I can tell the word Kooza comes from a Sanskrit word meaning “magical box.”

I attended this show with a wonderful new friend and it definitely made for an exciting evening filled with many wonderful memories that will not be soon forgotten. After the show I purchased a DVD, since taking pictures or recording video is not allowed ‘under the big top’. Since then I was able to peruse a little bit of the DVD, to refresh some of my thoughts before writing about my experience. This buy Tamoxifen online is when I noticed some differences between the Live show and the DVD.

For instance, one of the clowns was different in the show that I saw than in the DVD. There were slight changes in some of the things that were said and done in the interaction between the clowns and the audience. The Lead Clown, did not have a beard in the DVD either. In fact, when I was watching the live performance, I thought that he reminded me or looked a little like Don Quixote, from the ‘Man From la Mancha’.

Just like Don Quixote, he acted like a man immersed in fantasy, illusion and in simple ignorance of certain realities. He appeared to consistently lose balance, stumble and fall, in strike contrast of the highly perfected, talented and deliberate actions of the other highly athletic circus style performances. But this was a good thing, as he was very, very funny and he interacted quite well with the audience and his fellow cast members.

The show was very well designed, between intense laughter and intense action, fear or awe inspiring stunts and performances, it was the perfect contrast. On the DVD, in the extras, one of the cast members that is a clown speaks of the connection between clowns and religion, because laughter is something that draws people together and creates a strong bond. Their were religious ceremonies where a clown would interact with those in attendance to create that bond that comes from laughter and then immediately they would go into some serious ceremony. Although I believe in the sacredness of religious rites and services and I probably would not combine a clown with them, I do understand and respect the contrast and how it may have been used in history.

Another very notable difference between the DVD and live performance which I attended, was in the DVD there is a juggler, while in the live performance there was a women that used rings or hoola hoops. She was quite amazing. Much like a belly dancer, she used her skills to keep the hoops in motion upon her body, around arms & legs and even on her feet. She used her motion, flexibility and gymnastics skills to delight and amaze the audience.

It was interesting to see some of the places where clearly the slip-ups or so-called ‘accidents’ were actually deliberate and part of the show, in order to heighten or intensify the sense of fear and danger that already exists.

But I guess it is to be expected that some people will change over time, people do need breaks and careers progress and change over time and it is quite certain that parts of the live performance will always be different from one show to the next as the actors continue to explore their roles and the show becomes more and more defined. Unpredictably and change, is I’m sure also part of the attraction of any circus or live style performance.

Overall, it was an amazing performance that I can’t recommend enough to anyone that has not gone to see it. If you have the opportunity, do not hesitate to go and see it.

I look forward to the next Cirque du Soleil Show that comes to town, as I will definitely go again. Or even if and when I am someplace with the time to see another performance, this will remain at the top of my list of exciting entertaining things to do.

Learn more about Kooza at: http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/kooza/

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