Alegría @ SECC

There are times in Alegría when it feels like your heart has jumped out of your ribcage and into your mouth and it is both awesome and fearsome to watch the performers reach such dizzy heights of achievement.

Meaning jubilation in Spanish, Cirque du Soleil’s Alegría showcases what must be some of the world’s most talented circus performers.  Fifty plus performers create a dramatic and theatrical world which explores youth, age and power. At the helm is Fleur, Alegría’s spindly legged circus master who guides the audience through a show described as “a baroque ode to the energy, grace and power of youth.”  As the Nostalgic Old Birds look longingly back to their youth, Fleur grudgingly applauds what youth can do, then dismisses it.

‘Youth’ more than holds it own though. There’s some extreme swinging from the Synchronised Trapeze duo who whip through the air spinning onto the bar. In a virtuoso performance, the Power Track acrobats fall, leap and somersault onto a trampoline that appears from nowhere. The Hand Balancing Act, performed on tiers of different heights, is so effortless as to appear normal; the performer exerting such strength and control as to become a moving sculpture. 

The acts continue to surprise in the second half. The Flying Man is thrown out of the darkness to achieve beautiful soaring angles using a bungee rope. In one ingenious act a performer spins around inside a ring like the Vitruvian man and as the contortionist duo sinuously morph into unimaginable shapes there is an uneasy confusion at watching the expected dimensions of the body so deconstructed. Then there are the clowns.  Rambunctious, irreverent and downright funny, they are a joy to watch.

With circus acts, music and drama combined, Alegría amounts to a spectacle of mammoth proportions. That the body can achieve such levels of athleticism is astounding, and a joy to watch. The only downside for the creators and performers being that each time the impossible becomes possible the bar is raised and new levels of impossibility are expected. 

It is sobering to experience the Aerial display. Justifying the price of the ticket alone, this last act sees a group of men scamper up rope ladders to three high bars above. As they leap and somersault into the arms of the catchers below I felt a shiver of excitement at their daring and perfect timing. Truly exulting, it is an amazing aerial acrobatic display so scarily beautiful it nearly brings tears to the eyes.