Chinese Pole Dancers - by Al Seib
What do you call 90 minutes of death-defying, mind-blowing entertainment that showcases the farthest reaches of athletic endurance and artistry and takes big gambles? In Las Vegas one may be tempted to think of lights, showgirls and slots that typify the world’s largest adult playground oasis.
The reality is, that only one act can accurately portray such scintillating showtime value – Mysteré.
Called “the flower in the desert” by Cirque du Soleil’s founder Guy Laliberté, Mysteré has been right at home in Las Vegas at Cirque’s first permanent theatre for nearly two decades. The show highlights 72 performers who combine feats of acrobatic and athletic prowess as the quintessential “supporting” cast. The synergistic acts rely on the timing, strength and skills of partnering acrobats, aerial artists, musicians, comic and dramatic actors, vocalists and yes, a mischievous clown and an enormous baby.
This ain’t no county fair, that’s for sure. Mysteré has been marveling audience since 1993, and has played before 8.5 million spectators in more than 6,000 shows.
On this night, one could point to the seven equally superb acts which ranged from an aerial gymnast suspended in midair who effortlessly flipped through a sparkling hollow cube to the trapeze artists who made time stand still as they flew 100 feet overhead of a captive crowd, reaching and contorting to catch one another in rapid-fire succession.
The costuming is as flamboyant as ever — birds of a feather flocked together in midair as their long plumes mimicked their every move. It seemed like the chaotic fliers were narrowly missing one other, and the only thing keeping them from free falling was each performer’s minute elastic strings.
The Chinese pole acrobats used nothing more than balance and arm strength to climb, jump and project from one pole to another. They wore decorative masks that seemingly looked out at the audience as they performed, but each mask turned out to be covering the back of their heads, creating a tribal and eerie façade.
Trampoline artists continued the flipping, somersaulting and balancing acts, as each performer catapulted off a trampoline, landing one after another onto a human totem pole. And no act mystified the onlookers more than the dramatic hand-to-hand fluidity of two brothers using nothing but each other to perform gravity-defying movements. The feat was all the more impressive as the two worked their magic all the while on a rotating dome.
Musically, the show was narrated by a full band and two female vocalists. The narrator Moha Samedi and prince clown Brian la petit seemingly did not belong in this fairytale world, but their performance made the show all the more mysterious with no gambles, only experienced risks worth taking for performer and audience member alike.
