Cirque du Soleil

Rating: 9 out of 10

My parents have always loved Cirque du Soleil. I saw it on television once and I had to admit this had to be one of the best performances I had ever seen.

Some time ago a dear friend of mine said his company gave him the opportunity to go to the Cirque. He also mentioned that he had an extra ticket. I must tell you that under normal circumstances I am quite humble, certainly not cheeky when it comes to material things but I quickly suggested he should take me with him for I was certainly the only one in the entire world on whom this ticket would not be wasted.

Time passed. And then suddenly he called, "You know when I told you about the Cirque?, It's Saturday.". Ucolleaguesnfortunately I had to cancel another appointment but I already told my friend months ago that I would come and I really wanted to see this. So yesterday, a little past six we went on our way to Rotterdam.

When we arrived we were greeted by his colleagues and we got the chance to drink a beer before the show started.

The tent itself wasn't as big as I had expected but that is of no importance, it's just something that I noticed. There were clowns, three of them. Luckily, these clowns were quite innovative without losing their clowniness. The head clown as you might call him had a haircut that looked as if a crow was nailed to the back of his head, frozen in time while trying to land. Another was small in a way that has you wondering if it was just small or vertically impaired as Leah once called herself ( which she is not ). The third clown looked as if he had down syndrome and I haven't figured out if he did or just did a very good job pretending. I also have to mention the hilarious comb over of the latter.

Above mentioned clowns did an impressive job diverting my and many other's attention away from the changing of the stage. I can't tell you about the whole performance because this post would be to lengthy for any average reader and because I am sure what I write simply would not do any justice to what I've seen only a day ago. I can tell you that the performance included people running up walls, jumping through rings I could barely work my way through with all the time in the world and music. Best of all, Cirque du Soleil does not have any acts with animals in it, ever. The only mammals tortured are Chinese kids ( which can often bend in very strange ways while standing on nothing but one arm ).

During the show a fourth clown was introduced and this fourth clown was necessary to make a parody of the four cultures theme the whole performance was about. These four cultures were of course the West, Africa, the middle East and the ( regular? ) East. These cultures were represented by four dancers / acrobats with costumes that impressed even me and I hate any clothing that has too much things on it that aren't supposed to be there.

After the show we went to a very nice cafe. Drinks and snacks were paid for by the company, as was everything but the fuel. I had a really good time, not only because they served Brand ( my favourite beer ) but because it was just a very fun place to be. After some time we went away to find some place were the people are a bit more dynamic. We asked around a bit and were told we should go to 'De Kazerne'. Once we found it it turned out the minimum age to get in is 23. I have to say that I really wanted to go ( not because of the music, but the fact that you have to be 23 must mean stuff happens that I'm not allowed to know about ) but waiting for 5 years was just a little too long.

After that we went home and it has been an experience I will never forget. If at one time you have to choose between starving to death or going to the Cirque, buy a ticket!