The march to the CIrque du Soleil

We had bought tickets for  Cirque Du Soleil for  Friday the 8th of Oct .By 'we '  I mean Eija ,Aurelia,Carmen  , Lalla and me.We left soon after lunch at the Stamp by 12.45 PM ,  as we had our regular Friday seminar from 9 -  12 Noon.We took the shuttle to the Metro and there a minor hiccup occurred  .  I used the Metro card bought for my son ,  Prathyush when he had come to see me.As the edges of the card were a little soiled , it got stuck in the slot at the entry gate . So I had to wait for the officer in charge to come and release it.Thanks to me , we missed one train.After a short wait for the next train we boarded and traveled for 45 minutes till the end of the Green line;Branch Avenue.There we took a Metro bus to National Harbour and at the Harbour we picked up the free shuttle to the Cirque....
               The Cirque is held on a picturesque Plateau in the Harbour area.We crossed it even as we traveled by the Metro bus from the Branch Avenue Metro . But as there is no scheduled stop next to it , we had to continue till the Harbour and make our way back on the free Cirque Shuttle. We arrived by 3.20 PM. A brisk walk up an incline brought us to the entrance of the Cirque. We showed our tickets ( which Carmen handed over to  each  of us ) , at the entrance and proceeded inside. As we went in , Aurelia stopped short and retraced her steps to a person standing on a slightrly raised platform  , at the entrance selling something. I walked back and found to my surpise that the programme and pictures of the Cirque were being sold. We had been told that no photography would be permitted , so we quickly bought one each as a souvenir.On going past the ticket checker , we entered an enclosure where all kinds of memorablia for the Cirque was being sold.We bought some popcorn and some gifts and went into the Big Top. We saw that squat in the middle of the stage in front ,  was a big egg illuminated in a dull light "  Every Cirque show has some theme " , was the very informed comment  passed by Carmen . So there was the theme staring at us ...... "OVO" ( Egg).
  The first scene saw the insects waking up and getting ready to face the day.Insects of all kinds ; crickets , dragon-flies , lady-bug etc. They are awakened by Master Flipo  who plays the role of a joker in the entire act. As the insects awaken , the dragon-fly got into the act and did flips and spirals with both hands and then one so effortlessly that we found ourselves clapping at the end of its act. .The story then builds up with a foreigner arriving carrying his treasure;  an egg . As he  gets distracted by an attractive looking lady-bug , the OVO gets smuggled away by the other insects.Having realised his loss , the foreigner runs behind the insects that have smuggled his egg and thus goes off stage. Then there was a show by the ants with some pieces of kiwi fruit amd corn .The display involved the twirling and rolling of these pieces with their legs , all the time lying on their backs . They even rolled from  the legs of one to the  other  and were twirled up and down ,  as effortlessly as the pieces of fruit that they had used earlier. Then there was a beautiful metamorphosis of  a larvae  , to pupa stage and finally into a butterfly.It was all done on a pair of ropes. The slow transformation  was set to slow lilting music  and it was a sight to behold. Then there was a love duet of a pair of white butterflies , It was an act on a single rope . It was so captivating .  Next came the dance of a firefly which was very adept juggling of several pulleys on a string which were thrown  up  and caught on a string very quickly . Then came the trapeze act by the Scarabs .It was like they were flying in the air  from one end of  the arena to the other . The next act was the movement of spiders in a web put up on the stage . With crickets moving all over the web as prey , the slow  movement and gymnastics   of the spiders was very sensual.Next came the dance of the fleas .It was set to quick music and was very spritely .  All though these acts was the blossoming love affair between the foreigner and the lady-bug which added humour to the show. Then there was a display of very quick footwork , jumps and leaps on to and from a trampoline floor on to a vertical wall , by the crickets and fleas.This had some very good roll of drums . It was a feast for the eyes and the ears. The finale saw the insect world come together for a banquet to celebrate the acknowledgement of love by the foreigner and the lady-bug for each other . The elusive OVO makes it appearance again at last . The colour , the costumes with the very appropriate make-up , the  skilful gymnastics  and the foot-tapping music  all had us celebrating the "END" with the participants.

                 
                   Throughout the programme we were either holding our breathe when the different insects got into the act or were appreciating the feast of colour spread out in front of us , or  tapping our feet to the samba we heard. The essence of the theme "OVO" came through musically and coloufully .
               I will be  eternally grateful to Carmen for having got the chance to savour the experience . With no acts using animals and  with only men/women playing their different roles , displaying  such fine gymnastic skills ,the gratifying feeling I had as   I came out of the Big Top was one of accomplishment-as if I had done something satisfying . While all I had done was watch a dramatic mix of circus acts( with no animals) in outrageous costumes and captivating colours set to some very catchy and foot-tapping music .