pigmy

the cirque du soleil meets AND exceeds its reputation.

back in the summer rhonda and i made the decision to go to the cirque in ottawa this fall. it was so fun and utterly amazing. we sat in the back row of a large tent referred to as the "grand chapiteau" which holds 2,600 people, and yet still had a great view and didn't feel far from the action. the huge portable "big top" was intimate in spite of it's vast size.

we saw corteo – i encourage you to watch the 30 second video clip on the intro page, it shows up at the top of the page once its fully loaded.

the performances and performers were enchanting. from women dangling from chandeliers to trampoline beds, tight-rope walking to trapeze artists. cirque du soleil IS what the circus was meant to be. it was amazing. one of my favourite elements is when i see all the acrobatics and gymnastics i think "this is exactly what those olympians are training to do!" it's nice seeing all of those skills in use, and it makes it all the more beautiful in context. the final scene involved about 8 high-bars and at several times there were about a dozen men twirling and flipping simultaneously. at that point i leaned over to rhonda and said "the only thing that would make this better is if they all didn't have shirts on..."

seriously, the whole experience was magical. there were a few scenes with these two costume horses – you know the kind that have two people in side? i love costume horses, i think even better than real-live horses, they're frickin hilarious!

i was also extremely impressed by the grand chapiteau, it definitely did NOT feel like we were in the middle of a parking lot beside a mall. it has such a distinct atmosphere inside it that it made you forget everything beyond the walls. all the merchandize was insanely expensive, like i'm talking clothes that cost more than my ticket. but i did treat myself to a cirque du soleil tea cup, it was a decent price and a nice keepsake.

we thoroughly enjoyed the experience and have resolved to do things like that more often.

the next issue of hatch was supposed to be "hatch gets cultured" but due lack of funds we've had to cancel the fall issue and skip to the winter one. i was going to write about corteo, but al said to save it and not blab it all in the blogosphere. i don't know if we're going to ditch the "gets cultured" theme or not, but i think i'll write my story anyways because if i wait i'll forget. besides, it'll be a nice reminder for me to read over later.

things are good my people.

i've got places to be,
but nowhere that i need to go.