Cirque du Soleil is, without a doubt the most amazing circus on the planet. They find the most incredible performers on earth and assemble them on stage for shows that literally defy description and leave audiences gasping and begging for more.
I’ve seen a number of Cirque du Soleil shows in Las Vegas as well as in various cities when they travel. The bad news is that tickets normally run around $100 per person, and you have to buy them well in advance to get great seats. The good news is, you’ll never see anything cooler in your life, so the shows are worth every penny they charge. The even better news is that I’ve assembled 13 great acts here for you to see without having to pay to do it!
This clip is from Cirque Du Soleil’s 25th Anniversary
This is insane! This guy is literally risking DEATH with every performance! If anyone knows his name, or more specific info about this clip please share!
Elena Lev’s hula hoops show from Alegria
These types of contortions hurt just to watch, so how can she be simultaneously working a hula hoop? Reminds me of Kristina Kireeva the sexy contortionist.
The Water Ballet from the IMAX film Journey of Man
How impossible is this? Well, can YOU swim backwards?
The Wheel of Death from Ka
If just one guy risking life and limb isn’t enough, here are 5 of them doing it simultaneously!
The Cyr Wheel Act from Corteo
How do these people not break their fingers? And why aren’t they throwing up all over the stage?
Alegria’s Aerial High Bar Act
No circus is complete without the trapeze artists!
The Statue Act of Yves Décoste and Marie-Laure Mesnage from Journey of Man
Simply incredible feats of strength, balance and endurance.
Corteo’s Juggling Act
Every circus needs jugglers.
Olga Pikhienko Handbalancing on Canes from Varekai
This woman must be half-feline.
The Russian Bars Act from Alegria
“Ok. What we want you to do see… is get a couple of guys to hold a pole on their shoulders, then we want you to climb up on the middle of it and do backflips. That shouldn’t be a problem right?”
The Jump Rope act from Quidam
Only Cirque du Soleil could take something as mundane as jumping rope and make it exciting.
The Fire Juggler from Alegria
I’ve seen some fire juggling in Hawaii, but never like this…
The Ladder Act from Corteo
Most people don’t even want to climb up a ladder, much less dance all over stage and do stunts on one. This is insane!
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The Digging has commenced: http://digg.com/extreme_sports/13_Amazing_Cirque_du_Soleil_Performances_VIDEOS
So put your vote in!
DM
These are going to be so fun to watch – when I get time – I’ve always wanted to see one of these shows! :D
Once again John: stunning collection. I don’t have the time to watch them all at once but they are bookmarked for future browsing. I wonder, though, did it take a long time to gather all these up? Either way, nice work :)
It took me at least 6 hours to put write this article. :-)
Mainly because I had to watch just about every Cirque duSoliel video I could find in order to sift through them all and just choose the best I could find. There were so many good ones, that I then had to sift through once again and try to choose just a representative sampling.
I really hope everyone enjoys these as much as I enjoyed putting the post together!
John
The tickets to Cirque-du-soleil are indeed expensive but I agree it is an excellent show that should not be missed. Here in Orlando we have the La Nouba show the venue is located at Downtown Disney next to the House of Blues and Pleasure Island. We try and go whenever they have a special promotion for Central Florida residents. Thank you for the video feeds.
I had the big plessure to work with them in 2000 when they were two week in Frankfurt/Germany. Even watching them during practise-sessions, without all the show elements, is just amazing.
The show puts you in another world, where you forget everything around you. It’s worth it to spend some dollars more for good seats to be as close as possible to the performers.
cheers
Rhoody
The first clip was from the celebration of the Montreal International Jazz Festival’s 25th and Cirque du Soleil’s 20th anniversary in 2004. 210,000 fans attended the multi-million dollar event FREE!. I was there-it was a once in a lifetime experience. Available on DVD – “Midnight Sun” on Sony. Recorded with 14 Hi-Def cameras. The video fails to convey the immense scope of the production. They created a snowstorm covering the entire site on the 80 degree summer evening for the finale.
Now that’s one circus I’d like to see!
I looooove cirque. I think you missed a lot of good acts though (probably because you couldn’t find vids of them?). The icarian games act from Varekai is one of the best I’ve seen. The young chinese girls with the diabolos are awesome too. Thanks for the post, it’s good to see some Corteo acts. I haven’t bought the DVD yet.
Ok, I hate being the wet diaper, but I have to tell you guys one thing: Cirque du Soleil looks good because of ‘production value’. Ie, the millions spent on costume lighting and immensely intricate stage design. Take most of those acts and perform them out of setting and they are just about normal, if not bland. The performers all have huge amounts of makeup which totally gives them a mask to hide behind.
I’m not really saying that you shouldn’t see them if they’re in your town, but I am saying that their performances are considered McDonalds Performances in any circus and artistic sphere. You can always find more impressive technical acts or acts with more soul. In fact, some of the acts with the best artistry I’ve ever seen in my life got ruined when integrated into a Cirque show.
Anyways, just my 2 cents. If you really like circus, there’s a huge world of non prefab stuff to discover. I’m not sure if much of it is on youtube though.
PS. I’m a circus performer. I live in montreal. I’ve performed with Cirque.
PPS. Chris Lashua’s (German Wheel) on-stage presence is unbelievable. Check him out (from Quidam DVD).
PPPS. My favorite act in this list is the high bar. It is sweat. The cradle number from Cortea is also very sweet. Thank you for compiling this list.
Oh, and I know I probably sound like an a** hole because there’s no way I could convey the context of where I’m coming from to say this. If any of you have the opportunity to, you should see Zoomanity. It’s a special show (with special tastes, granted), but is by far the highest quality I’ve seen.
They are great but they have “bought” many russian acrobats in the last few years. I was lucky to wathc russian circus many times and they are really great…
S.
Thanks for the insight CB. I don’t doubt you are correct that there are a number of even more talented performers out there, but the problem is that most segments of the population don’t have access to, or know where to find, them.
Cirque is the easiest to get to, and the talent and acts are still far far greater than things any of us mere mortals are used to seeing.
:-)
John
thanks for compiling these.
Awesome collection! I’ve seen these guys perform once and it was still something that stuck with me almost 15 years later.
I am a huge fan of Cirque Du Soleil.
Last week I paid for top price tickets to see their new show Delerium, at the NIA Birmingham (UK). Saddly it was the worst theatrical experience that I have ever sat through. Had there been an interval, I would have left and gone home.
I was so disappointed that I have taken the time to write to the MD of CdS, explaining why my friends and I unanimously felt the show was aweful.
Has anyone else seen the show? If so, did you enjoy it?
Yeah, video posts take so much time. And the funny thing is: I always get the feeling readers think they take LESS time because you didn’t have to write as much text, etc… but they don’t factor in that you’re typically sifting through a lot of videos, each of which you have to watch. I wrote one recently on various kinds of street art in action and it took forever to find, for example, the ‘best’ video showing people tagging a train – and of course, in the end, the video itself is only just over a minute long :P
This guy is NOT literally risking DEATH!
… This guy is literally risking LIFE!
Thats true Bilhanet! :-)
Excellent videos for persons unfamiliar with CDS. Went & saw “Kooza” tonite in San Francisco & everyone we talked to had never seen a Cirque Du Soleil show before [we had seen "O' twice & "Mystere". Excellent again tonite & money well spent - this is circus as good as it gets [p.s. - they also has a "Wheel of Death" & it was better than anything I've seen previously on the internet of other CDS shows].
My fiance and I have been to La Nouba 15 times. We both love the circus and we were teachers for the child performers and the children of performers for Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus. I’ve also taught at a school of the Arts in FL where some of the children of La Nouba performers attended. Thanks for the site.
I have a problem with Quicktime. Is there any way I can watch these clips using Windows Media Player?
thankyou fr this collection i am currently at college studying performing arts and i am havig to write a huge essay on physical theatre watching these has just helped me write so much more so thankyou
I as did so enjoy aligrea in London if only i could see i again WHERE ?
I am french canadian and I have enough of the Cirque. They manufactured shows like muffins, but they forgot to change the recipe! Always the same stupid unknown language, always a character on stage, from begining to the end, most of the time useless, etc. etc. Last night, I watched the Love making of on tv. I cannot even describe how I felt. They are so full of temselves! I am amazed that they aloud people to see their ‘creation’. Oh yes, since they pay, it is ok. Other than that, I am sure the rest of the world doesn’t even exist.
I think that Cirque du Soleil is amazing and the performers have so much athletic and creative talent. I haven’t seen a Cirque du Soleil live but I haven seen some performances online and I think it is great to have so many cultures represented in a show.
Thank you for putting this together. The circus arts is simply amazing.
I am wondering if anyone knows what happened to Olga after her fall in 2007? I think she is simply amazing and could watch her for days. If anyone knows where/how she is and if she still performs, please respond.
Thanks for sharing! And as a return gift: The name of the man in the first video is Joseph Dominic Bauer. :)
Nice post
I’m a acrobat in corteo, I’ve put together a blooper reel from the Japan tour.
Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ0Vus54G-
Enjoy =)
Whoops, thats a bad link above:
This should work http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ0Vus54G-w
ha great tape dude, thanks for sharing!
Personally I don’t particulary like cirque, and I get pretty frustrated when people try and tell me that it’s the best circus out there.
It’s not.
It’s just the best funded.
If you think cirque is amazing, head to any fringe festival and check out some independant circus… It’s not hard to find, just ask around.. That’s if you wanna see some truely ground breaking stuff… Or just look out for posters for any off the touring circuses in your country.
In fact if you really like circus, get out there and support your local circus, cause they need it.
Thanks for reading my rant
Great post and video. I live here in Orlando, we have the La Nouba show located at Downtown Disney. We try to go at least once a year and more if we have family or guest in town. We all enjoy the shows an look forward to the various updates.
Cheers,
Orlando
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