When I used to think of Cirque du Soleil, I would think of people twisting their bodies into pretzels and performing other contortions that should not be allowed by law. After seeing La Nouba, however, I have completely changed my mind.
I was told “la nouba” means a festival or celebration—and the title definitely fits this performance. The show is about a conflict between the urban world and the circus world, following the transformation of a woman trapped in a mundane life. As each act went on, the woman gradually changed, becoming more and more vibrant until the end, when she married a prince. The acts included the tight rope, the trapeze, and German wheel acts among others.
My favorite act, by far, was Diabolos—four little girls who were juggling diabolos on strings. There were some fantastic feats of acrobatics as the girls jumped on each other’s shoulders, and ran about the stage, keeping the spindles in the air the entire time. The whole performance was made even more amazing by the fact that none of the girls could have been older than seven.
The power track and trampoline act perhaps takes a close second. On the power track, acrobats leapt through the air on two tracks that intersected, barely missing crashing into one another. The trampoline part was cooler though—three people were juggling themselves off of the trampoline, using a wall to guide their falls.
Another favorite was the aerial ballet in silk, where the performers rolled themselves up in strips of silk hanging from the ceiling. The women performed acrobatics dropping towards the ground, then ascending again with the silk wrapped around them. While they were doing that, Yuri Maiorov did a beautiful ballet act on both the ground and in the air, swinging above the audience at several points.
The show came into the audience at other points as well. During the stunt bike portion of the show, the performers came very close to the edge of the stage, almost threatening to dive into the audience. The best part, however, was when an audience member was pulled up on stage to be leapt over by one of the bikers. While one clown remained on stage with the audience member, another sat down in the crowd, hugging the poor man’s wife as the stunt was performed.
The two clowns were part of a troupe of four which were a part of almost every act, whether it was making fun of the feats that required more strength or actually playing a part. There were also the sideshow clowns, who provided comic shorts in between the acts (including a trip to the moon).
Words can’t actually capture the essence of La Nouba—it was a full sensory experience with bright colors and constant movement. I found it to be impossible to actually see everything that was going on at any point, and that’s part of the attraction of the show. Seeing La Nouba, or any of the other Cirque du Soleil performances at some point is an imperative—it’s just that good.
