BWW Reviews: Cirque du Soleil's TOTEM

TOTEM traces the fascinating journey of the human species from its original amphibian state to its ultimate desire to fly. The characters evolve on a stage evoking a giant turtle, the symbol of origin for many ancient civilizations. Inspired by many founding myths, TOTEM illustrates, through a visual and acrobatic language, the evolutionary progress of species.

The Characters: Opening the show is the Crystal Man who comes from space to spark life on Earth. Early in the show, we see him animate the turtle's skeleton and at the end he closes the show by diving into a lagoon. We are treated to several American Indian dancers who take us into a magical world, tracing the history of the evolution of species with his rings.

A Darwinesque explorer; who visits the different worlds of the show. In his advanced laboratory, aided by his assistants and a monkey, he dazzles us with his amazing physics experiments. The Tracker: Environmentally conscious, a friend of the animals, he guides and assists the Scientist in his explorations. Angered by the thoughtless, polluting actions of a clown, he transforms before our eyes into a Toreador.

The Show: What appears to be a scene straight out of Cocoon, a giant turtle at center stage represents the origins of life on earth. The creature's shell is whisked away to reveal an effervescent community of amphibians and fish that lives beneath its carapace. They burst into a playful parallel bars number, with artists embodying frogs launching themselves into the air from a power track and leaping from one bar to the next, criss-crossing in mid-air with inches to spare.

Each group of performers are a perfect specimen of athletic agility; from the two men as they compete against each other on the rings - until a woman arrives and shows them how it's done. Their graceful movements, sheer physical strength and superb physiques take to the skies above a summer beach.

Some of the obvious crowd pleasers are the Unicycles and Bowls presentation: The abundance of fall is represented by the harvest colors and details of the costumes as five unicyclists juggle metal bowls in an astounding display of agility, balance, synchronized control and physical grace, tossing the bowls with their feet - sometimes over their shoulders - and catching them on their heads without using their hands.

Foot Juggling- The Crystal Ladies: Two Crystal Ladies emerge from the fiery bowels of the earth to evoke the creation of the world and the beauty of minerals. Wearing sparkling costumes that mirror the Crystal Man, the artists spin squares of glittering material on their hands and feet before coming together to create a dazzling display of coordinated high-speed motion.

Fixed Trapeze Duo: Like two lovebirds, a young man and woman tease, play and sulk in an innocent game of seduction and eventually intertwine their bodies in a lighthearted vertical dance of fresh, unusual movements and lifts.

Roller Skating Pair: In a scene that evokes a winter wedding ceremony, pair of roller skaters spin and whirl at heart-stopping speeds atop a tiny platform - just 1.8 meters in diameter - shaped like a drum.

Costume designer Kym Barrett has three main goals creating the Totem garb. This process entailed research into real animals, plants and birds as well as traditional cultural and tribal designs to source her fanciful, inventive concoctions. The show's theme is evolution, which led her to emphasize the importance of the human body at every opportunity. She points to the example of a forest populated by butterflies and frogs, saying it was important to her to show the human body as part of the overall visual mosaic of the scene. The third show theme reflected in the costumes is the cycle of the seasons, which underscores the importance of nature to the show.

Set Designs: The Turtle - Support of the World

At the heart of many founding myths that live on in a variety of legends and oral traditions, the turtle represents the earth and carries the entire weight of the world on its shell. This totemic animal is also omnipresent in the scenic environment of TOTEM.

The large oval framework on stage represents the skeletal substructure of a huge turtle shell that serves both as a decorative set element and as acrobatic equipment. At the start of the show it is covered with a cloth printed with the shell markings of a forest turtle, reproduced through macro photography. Depending on the artistic needs of TOTEM, the skeleton is raised to the top of the tent or opened at an angle like an enormous shell.

The Set Projections: The visual environment of TOTEM is an organic world, a marsh lined with reeds near an island (the stage), on which images are projected. Set designer Carl Fillion gave it curves and non-linear forms to reflect the natural world.

Tilted slightly forward, the image marsh acts both as a stage entrance and as a projection surface. Through the magic of moving images it becomes a virtual swamp, a river source, a marsh, a lake, an ocean, a Volcanic Island, a pond and a starry sky.

The images in the TOTEM projections are drawn from nature and were shot for the production in various parts of the world, including Iceland, Hawaii and Guatemala. Even the images of boiling lava were filmed by Image Content designer Pedro Pires.

In all this is a spectacular event for all ages. There are probably two live shows that should be seen at least once in a lifetime; Disney's Broadway production of the Lion King and Cirque du Soleil.

Cirque du Soleil is presented under the Big Top (no worries, it's air conditioned), at the Camden Waterfront overlooking the Philadelphia skyline through June 30th. For tickets and more information visit www.cirquedusoleil.com

Photos: www.cirquedusoleil.com

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