Corteo Night

June 28, 2008 | 8:06 am

Last night Russ and I attended a performance of Cirque Du Soleil’s Corteo during their stop here in Vancouver. Corteo is an Italian word which means “cortege” - a funeral procession.

The story revolves around a dream of a clown. This clown dreams of his funeral, and we the audience are all there. The funeral takes

place in a carnival atmosphere, watched over by quietly caring angels. Juxtaposing the large with the small, the ridiculous with the tragic and the magic of perfection with the charm of imperfection, the show highlights the strength and fragility of the clown, as well as his wisdom and kindness, to illustrate the portion of humanity that is within each of us. The music, by turns lyrical and playful, carries Corteo through a timeless celebration in which illusion teases reality.

Out of the 3 Cirque Du Soleil’s that have made it to Vancouver, this by far was very enjoyable to watch. The stage is also slightly different than the other two pervious shows. The main stage cuts right through the audience and we become a mirror image of each other. Even during the beginning “clown” performance, just before the big show begins, both sides of the audience recieve similar performances.

Russ and I had front row seats this time around as I wanted to get up and close to be able to see the performances. I think we might have been too close as we really had to stretch our necks to see the aireal acrobats. I don’t believe there is a bad view point at all under the big top.

The Acrobats are just amazing to watch. The Aerial Straps, totally amazing, the Bouncing Beds, just plain fun, the Chandeliers, breath taking, the Cyr Wheel, amazing, the Tightwire, wow new respect for the hula hoop, and the Tournik just to name a few. I don’t think any of these athelets have an ounce of fat on them. Turly amazing to watch.

The music is poetic. A combination of French, Spanish and Italian was heard.

I recommend you catch this show if you haven’t already.

The show is here in Vancouver until July 20th and then heads to Calgary from July 31 - August 31 and then Ottawa from September 24 to October 12.