We've been to see the circus - The Cirque du Soleil - we went a few years ago, but not VIP tickets - so we were excited! The show here was called 'Dralion' and promised to be spectacular! It was just the girls and I and even then the price was shocking!
Cirque du Soleil was founded in 1984. It has over 3,500 employees from over 40 countries and produces 15 shows over every continent except Africa and Antarctica. On the programme we noticed the clown was from France, the ringmaster was Australian and the planted audience member was Brazilian - an eclectic mix!
It's strange to think it was originally a one year project, founded by 3 friends, who, when they ran out of funds walked 56 miles on stilts to raise enough funds to continue! I can't even get up on the stilts! Why would you?
Each show has a storyline and is an reinvented style of circus, with no ring and no animals. We've seen plenty with the trained elephants and even one in France where they rode an ostrich round the ring - I prefer the non-animal ones..
Our show, Dralion, had a setting which is Eastern in nature. Its theme was the clash between the Eastern and Western worlds - there were dragons involved, wall climbing,trapezing, incredible trampolining, juggling, shadow dancing, body bending, ballet on lightbulbs, somersaulting, aerial hoops, amazing aria singing, balancing acts and acrobatics,clowns who were actually funny and a hourglass connecting it all.
Since we were VIPs we met the performers and visited the Big Top in advance for champagne and canapes. Servers carried hors d'oeuvres in baskets: smoked scallops, spring rolls, seared beef noodles, seasoned chicken sticks, dumplings and countless others! And all the while wines and champagnes flowed. The girls got special boxes with toffee popcorn, jelly beans, fruits and chocolates in, to keep them going during the performance!
In the interval we had a desserts only episode, served by acrobats and surrounded by ice sculptures of a dragon and a lion - quite spectacular! There were strawberry brownie, red berry mousse, passion fruit jelly, creme de menthe pastries, and other yummies that we didn't have a name for, but we ate them anyway, while the ice sculptures melted slowly and steam swirled off them!
So, no sticky candy floss and queuing for popcorn... noone behind us being sick - children don't sit in the VIP area... no struggling to park the car, we get a valet...and being five rows from the front, no danger of being picked on, but the best views! Gorgeous food and pampering all the way! Wish we could always do things in this style..
It was a real girl's night out, and tomorrow we're off to Fiji - there's a hammock and cocktail out there with my name on..aaahhhh, the life of the New Zealand immigrant, it's a tough one!
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