| . | 04/28/2009
Kooza
By: Victor Gluck
The act Charivari from Cirque du Soliel’s Kooza
(Photo credit: Cirque du Soleil)
Cirque du Soleil is back in New York under the blue and yellow Grand Chapiteau (Big Top) on Randall’s Island with a new and exciting show called Kooza. Created by David Shiner, master clown and mime who appeared in Cirque du Soleil’s Nouvelle Experience and Broadway’s Fool Moon, the new show is a return to the Cirque du Soleil tradition of acrobatics and the art of clowning. Unlike recent Cirque du Soleil shows on Randall’s Island which relied heavily on pageantry and commedia dell’arte, Kooza is a return to basics with death defying acts which rivet the attention with their precision and expertise.
The name Kooza is derived from the Sanskrit word which means both “box” and “treasure.” After a pre-show of classic clowning with chases through the audience and hijinx on stage, the show begins with the delivery of a box to an Innocent (Stéphan Landry) and out of it jumps a Trickster like a jack-in-the-box (Mike Tyus) who then invites him and us to witness the circus wonders that unfold. Between the acrobatic and aerial acts, the stage is beset by various clowns from the King of Fools (Gordon White) with his magic remote and his courtiers (Christian Fitzharris and Jimmy Slonina) to skeletons, clowns on stilts, show girls, cops chasing robbers, etc.
Clad mainly in varying combinations of red, gold and white in Marie-Chantale Vaillancourt’s colorful and elegant costumes, the eleven acts alternate between feats of seeming physical impossibility and those in which the performers are airborne in stunts that involve great physical danger. Among the impressive acts on the ground are the three female contortionists (Julie Bergez, Natasha Patterson and Dasha Sovik) whose synchronized movement suggest the opening and closing of some beautiful sea plant, the duo unicycle act in which Yuri Shavro balances Diana Aleshchenko on his shoulders while pedaling around the stage, and juggler Anthony Gatto who sends more and more items into the air as he catches them from above, behind and between his legs.
The Wheel of Death from Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza
(Photo credit: Cirque du Soleil)
On the highwire, we watch with bated breath as a quartet of aerialists (Angel Quiros Dominquez, Vincente Quiros Dominquez, Angel Villarejo Dominguez and Flouber Sanchez, aka Pinpon) cross the rope on bicycles, including balancing a member of the team above them. They are followed by Jimmy Ibarra and Carlos Marin Loaiza who enter the Wheel of Death, a 1600 pound mechanism in which two huge drums revolve at great speed in tandem while the performers do such feats as jumping rope and running in place on top of the drums which spin ever faster and faster.
Kooza concludes with two acts of tremendous daring. Chinese gymnast Zhang Gongli creates a tower of eight chairs on a pedestal while he balances on each level until he seems to be reaching for the stratosphere. He is followed by the Teeterboard team of 15 acrobats whose feats includes flips using stilts and the quintuple somersault, all of which must be seen to be believed. Throughout the show, Martin Labrecque’s lighting design subtlely shifts the color of the spotlights as well as the chains of lights that surround the area so that each act has its own mood.
Writer/director David Shiner’s new show for Cirque du Soleil has enough thrills, chills and laughs to delight all ages. With live musical performances in many languages, Kooza has the advantage that it needs no translation to understand the events under the Big Top. With its use of audience volunteers for three of its acts and clowns that race through the seated crowd, Kooza both bridges the gap between viewers and performers at the same time as it astonishes with feats that appear to defy gravity and the limitations of the human body.
Kooza (through June 7)
Grand Chapiteau (Big Top) at Randall’s Island Park, between Manhattan and Queens
For tickets, call 1-800-361-4595 or http://www.cirquedusoleil.com
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