When they skated their way into town in early April, Cirque du Soleil brought an acrobatic ice show featuring many stunts to Phoenix. Created with a lot of hard work in Montreal, Canada the performance toured the world for the past three years. The show consists of all sorts of gymnastics, acrobatics and extreme skateboarding, all on ice skates.
A favorite in Las Vegas since 1993, Cirque du Soleil features shows all over the world and first hit the road three years ago on a world tour of their first show on ice, “CRYSTAL.” Inspired by her teenage years, writer Shana Carroll brought “CRYSTAL” to life with the help of Cirque du Soleil’s creative team. The creative team worked hard to put the show together by writing, composing and hiring artists to develop the set and characters.
“It is a big team of people that come together for months, years at a time sometimes but I believe [Carroll] was inspired by something in her own life from when she was a teenager,” said “CRYSTAL” publicist, Roberto Larrude.
Laurrude spoke about how Carroll became inspired to make it such a performance. They specifically designed dances and acrobatics to match the story line and the emotions that “CRYSTAL” creates. The name “CRYSTAL” comes from the relation the crystal-like looks of the ice.
When the touring show comes to a new city, the crew assembles the ice and set, which consists of over 200 set pieces. Their ice is made of a chemical that quickly freezes to create a smooth surface, and the structure takes around 15 hours to build. All of this equipment travels with them from country to country, city to city. At the end of the run, they take it down and pack it all up in 4-6 hours.
PHS Blueprint Magazine staff attended Cirque du Soleil’s student media day and the show on opening night. At the media day event, the staff saw the performers practice and prepare for the evening show, took a backstage tour and interviewed a cast member.
An experience in itself, the media event impressed, but seeing it come to life was exhilarating for Blueprint staff members.
“Learning how long it takes them and what they do to be prepared as well as learn all the fun facts such as like how fast they take down things or put up things, and where they are from [was impressive],” said sophomore Reece Scricco, PHS Blueprint staff writer and editor.
Cirque du Soleil brought a different perspective to ice skating and continues to create shows all over the world. In Las Vegas, Nevada they have an on-going show for all to see and discover a different art style. This opportunity was a great way for the magazine staff to learn more about journalism techniques in a real-world entertainment event.
