Hoop divers extraordinaire, the Submergence duo. Photo: Jordan Munns
Taking its theme as man’s landing on the moon, Cirque Stratosphere launches into a series of feats of daring and acrobatics that are – at times – almost as impossible to believe as Neil Armstrong’s epic moonwalk in 1969.
The show begins with a humorous and audience-assisted rendition of the fanfare from Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra, which is orchestrated by Salvador Salangsang as The Clown. Dressed in a white spacesuit, Salangsang is an essential, funny and very effective compere for a series of acts that will have most sitting on the edge of their seats and wondering at the strength, agility and danger of the various performers. The Clown is aided by The Host, Steve Capps’ equally entertaining but silent act TapeFace. (Expect some audience participation!)
The set is suitably space age, all blue lights and what could pass as moon landing equipment, and all those spacesuits lend themselves very well to the straps and gear required by various aerial acts, such as The Cosmonaut’s (Oleg Spigin) gravity-defying Washington Trapeze.There are a dozen acts in total, including The Rocketeers, who catapult themselves skywards; the Planetary Prodigy Polina Volchek, whose strength and barefoot agility on Pole looks and is amazing; Sydney-based Emma Dutton, aka the Meteor Master, who performs on an aerial hoop; and the Trio Transcendent, made up of Oleksii Balakhchy, Tymofii Chemko and Mykola Mykytchyn, who have been flying high and casting each other into the air with might and precision since 2011.
Thrill and spills abound, and – as with all such acts – when, very occasionally, a performer lands awkwardly or temporarily loses balance, the tension and excitement ratchets up. Then the act is repeated, just to show how it should be done!
It’s difficult to name all the performers and to single out acts but here are three standouts: Duo Velocity is comprised of roller skaters Evgenii Isaev and Natalia Korzhukova, who skate, twirl and spin dangerously around and off each other on a raised platform that is little bigger in circumference than a mini trampoline; The Galactus Gods, aka Dmitry Makrushin and Oleg Bespalov, whose power, flexibility and balance are turned into a pseudo macho feud (all in the name of supremacy in space, you understand); and hoop divers Submergence (Nicholas-Yang Wang and Shengpeng Nie) whose acrobatics are awesome and who also take out the award for Pure Showmanship.
Appropriately enough, it all finishes up with The Flyers Valencia (Roy Miller and Luis Romero) on their Wheel of Death, guaranteed to make your day job seem very boring indeed! Quite what drives Messrs Miller and Romero to run around revolving wheels at high altitude with no safety nets is an unanswered question.
Cirque Stratosphere is all good, clean and aerial fun, which will leave you wondering how and why and at the strength of the performers. Expect to be elevated, dazzled and amazed! A great family show, it is on until 29 December, and then returns in 2020 for a week, from 14-19 January.
Tickets from $39 (child) – $119
