Kooza

Cirque awes audiences again
Even before the performers take the stage, audience members are
entertained at Cirque du Soleil shows. It has been a long-standing
tradition that the artists roam the theater or big top to build up
the excitement before the show truly begins. And it is no different
with the latest touring production, Kooza.
Cirque awes audiences again

Even before the performers take the stage, audience members are entertained at Cirque du Soleil shows. It has been a long-standing tradition that the artists roam the theater or big top to build up the excitement before the show truly begins. And it is no different with the latest touring production, Kooza.

The latest show is parked at Taylor Street Bridge in San Jose and the bright blue and yellow circus tent is hard to miss. In the minutes before the 8 p.m. opening night performance, a sketchy clown with ballon animals wandered through the rows persued by two keystone cops.

A ballerina pulled audience members on to the stage for a mini lesson, setting off an alarm that said “move away from the stage,” every time. In the empty seats behind my guest and I, a balding overweight man in a Hawaiian shirt talked obnoxiously on his cell phone while holding a video camera. He chatted about seeing the Rosicrucian Museum and other local landmarks. The thick layer of makeup tipped us off that he was, indeed a performer, and not just an out-of-town tourist.

Another man, dressed in a gray uniform carried a package and called for Mr. Innocent.

While the show has somewhat of a plot according to the creators, the plot seems secondary. As with many Cirque du Soleil stories, there are characters who reoccur to give us a sense that a journey has been made. In this one Writer/Director David Shiner came up with the idea of the Innocent taken into a world created by the Trickster. The Trickster has all the power in a wand-like tool, and throughout the show the Innocent tries to get it. The audience watches as the Innocent, who is dressed like a small child in footie pajamas and a night cap, responds in awe or terror to the new world in which the Trickster rules.

Other characters who show up throughout include the King of Fools, the Bad Dog and the clowns.

“Kooza is about human connection and the world of duality, good and bad,” David Shriner wrote. “The tone is fun and funny, light and open. The show doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s very much about ideas, too. As it evolves we are exploring concepts such as fear, identity, recognition and power.”

While that might sound a little high brow for some, the show itself is accessible to people of all ages. The show combines the storyline with many traditional circus acts taken to the extreme. The best part about the small venue is that from the front few rows, audience members can see the expressions on the faces of the performers and there really isn’t a bad seat in the house. The seats are small and close together, though, so expect to get cozy with your neighbor.

The acts range from trapeze, high wire, and clowns to unicyclists, but the best performances were the unexpected ones.

One of the first acts includes Julie Bergez, Natasha Patterson and Dasha Sovik who come out on a platform folded into a human Rubik’s cube. The contortionists move their bodies in ways that shouldn’t be possible, folding themselves in half as though they don’t have spines. Their costumes are skin tight, but the elaborate design makes the girls look more like objects than people.

But it was the Wheel of Death duo that drew the most awe from the audience. The contraption lowered from the ceiling of the tent can best be described as two hamster-wheel like circles around a fulcrum. The circles were more than twice the height of each man and when the fulcrum was completely vertical, it was a long way down to the stage. The performers made it rotate solely with their weight and movements. They had to be in step with each other to keep the other from falling while the whole thing moved at high speeds. The performers Jimmy Ibarra Zapata and Carlos Enrique Marin Loaiza raised the stakes when they climbed to the outside of the moving circles. Then they took it one step further. They started to skip rope.

In the background of all the performances eight musicians set the mood. The music during the Wheel of Death included heart-pounding drumming while a unicycle pas de deux had a Latin jazz feel to it. The costumes, music and makeup combined to add to each performance.