Totem (Cirque du Soleil)
Encyclopedia
Totem is a touring show by Cirque du Soleil
which premiered in Montréal on April 22, 2010. It was created and directed by previous collaborator Robert Lepage
(Kà
). Cirque du Soleil describes Totems theme as the evolution of mankind from its primordial, amphibian state toward the aspiration of flight, taking inspiration from many of mankind's founding myth
s.
All of Cirque du Soleil's previous touring productions were originally created to be performed inside large, custom-designed tents (called the grand chapiteau), but many of those shows have since been re-staged in arenas and other venues after the conclusion of their "big top" tour. Totems creation team faced the challenge of designing a show that could be adapted for arenas and other venues from the outset. Totem began its tour in Canada (Montreal
and Quebec
) before heading to Europe (Amsterdam
). This was a change from the usual touring routes, the next stop usually being San Francisco, as Cirque already had three touring shows (Ovo
, Koozå
and Alegría) in the United States.
Equipment and props which are not part of the set have been just as carefully planned out and created. The unicycles are 7 feet (2.1 m) tall, but are very light for better maneuverability. Similarly, the perch poles are made of duralumin
, the largest of which is 33 feet (10.1 m) tall. In total summation, Totem utilizes 65 tractor-trailer sized containers to transport its 1200 tonnes (1,181 LT) of equipment from site to site.
During the Scientist's juggling act, he uses balls made with 96 red, 96 blue, and 96 green LED lights inside. The colors are changed remotely by show technicians during the performance.
Scientist: Performs experiments and visits the different worlds of Totem.
Amerindian dancer: Traces the evolution of species.
Crystal man: Opens the show by bringing the carapace to life, and ends the show by diving into the lagoon.
Intermission
, Spanish flamenco
, and Indian music
. One unique attribute of the music in Totem is that all the musicians sing at some point, which allows for moments of a cappella.
Below are the track titles as they appear in order on the CD, which was originally released on October 6, 2010. The items in parentheses reflect the act correlated with each song.
The following colorboxes indicate the region of each performance: Europe North America
Québec, QC - From 22 July 2010 to 29 August 2010
Amsterdam, NL - From 7 October 2010 to 22 December 2010
Charlotte, NC - From 3 March 2011 to 27 March 2011
Baltimore, MD - From 7 April 2011 to 1 May 2011
Pittsburgh, PA - From 12 May 2011 to 5 June 2011
Montréal, QC - From 15 June 2011 to 31 July 2011
Toronto, ON - From 10 August 2011 to 9 October 2011
San Francisco, CA - From 28 October 2011 to 18 December 2011
San Jose, CA - From 2 March 2012 to 1 April 2012
Atlanta, GA - From 8 May 2012 to 17 June 2012
Washington, DC - Coming soon
Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil , is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy...
which premiered in Montréal on April 22, 2010. It was created and directed by previous collaborator Robert Lepage
Robert Lepage
Robert Lepage, is a playwright, actor, film director, and stage director from Québec City, Québec, and is one of Canada's most honoured theatre artists.- Life and work :...
(Kà
Ka
-Language:* Ka * Ka * Georgian language, ISO 639-1 code ka* A glyph in the Brahmic family of scripts-Media and entertainment:* Ka * Kà, a Cirque du Soleil show* Mister Mosquito, a video game, known in Japan as Ka...
). Cirque du Soleil describes Totems theme as the evolution of mankind from its primordial, amphibian state toward the aspiration of flight, taking inspiration from many of mankind's founding myth
Founding myth
A national myth is an inspiring narrative or anecdote about a nation's past. Such myths often serve as an important national symbol and affirm a set of national values. A national myth may sometimes take the form of a national epic...
s.
All of Cirque du Soleil's previous touring productions were originally created to be performed inside large, custom-designed tents (called the grand chapiteau), but many of those shows have since been re-staged in arenas and other venues after the conclusion of their "big top" tour. Totems creation team faced the challenge of designing a show that could be adapted for arenas and other venues from the outset. Totem began its tour in Canada (Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
) before heading to Europe (Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
). This was a change from the usual touring routes, the next stop usually being San Francisco, as Cirque already had three touring shows (Ovo
Ovo (Cirque du Soleil)
Ovo is a touring circus production by Cirque du Soleil which premiered in Montréal, Canada, in 2009. Ovos creator and director, Deborah Colker, took inspiration from the world of insects. The idea for Ovo was not to be about the acts, nor dancing, nor insects, but about movement...
, Koozå
Koozå
Koozå is a touring circus production by Cirque du Soleil which premiered in Montréal, Canada, in 2007. The show was written and directed by David Shiner, who had previously worked as a clown in Cirque du Soleil's production of Nouvelle Expérience...
and Alegría) in the United States.
Set and technical information
Cirque du Soleil used interactive projection technologies to enhance and provide variety to the types of scenes created for Totem, including swamps, starry nights, lakes, volcanos, and other natural environments. The kinetic images are created with the help of infrared cameras; the projection system can dynamically create projections, making it seem as if they are reacting to the artists' movements in both real-time and pre-recorded sequences. One of the major elements for the set is the large turtle carapace, which functions as both a decorative piece as well as acrobatic equipment. When not in use, the shell is tilted or raised completely to the top of the tent or arena. It weighs 2700 pounds (1,224.7 kg), has two horizontal bars, and is covered in a non-slip finish. Another major component of the set is the "scorpion bridge", which functions as an entrance at times. It is made of 10000 pounds (4,535.9 kg) of steel and has eight mineral oil hydraulic motors which allow it to move in three dimensions—extending, retracting, curling, etc. Underneath said bridge is housing for a laser, speakers, lighting equipment, and cameras. Movement of the scorpion bridge is controlled by an operator who uses four infrared cameras. Of final note, the marsh reeds at the back of the stage are actually inflatable, which allows for easier transport between performance locations.Equipment and props which are not part of the set have been just as carefully planned out and created. The unicycles are 7 feet (2.1 m) tall, but are very light for better maneuverability. Similarly, the perch poles are made of duralumin
Duralumin
Duralumin is the trade name of one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The main alloying constituents are copper, manganese, and magnesium. A commonly used modern equivalent of this alloy type is AA2024, which contains 4.4% copper, 1.5% magnesium, 0.6% manganese and 93.5%...
, the largest of which is 33 feet (10.1 m) tall. In total summation, Totem utilizes 65 tractor-trailer sized containers to transport its 1200 tonnes (1,181 LT) of equipment from site to site.
During the Scientist's juggling act, he uses balls made with 96 red, 96 blue, and 96 green LED lights inside. The colors are changed remotely by show technicians during the performance.
Cast
Fifty-two performing artists from 19 countries comprise the cast as of Totems première.Acts
Totems acts reflect the continued development of the movements and aspirations of human evolution. They combine many acrobatic skills making truly unique acts.- Opening
- Parallel bar and trampolineTrampoliningTrampolining is a competitive Olympic sport in which gymnasts perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. These can include simple jumps in the pike, tuck or straddle position to more complex combinations of forward or backward somersaults and twists....
- Hoop dance
- Rings trio
- ClownClownClowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
act - Chinese unicycle and bowls
- Foot jugglingEquilibristicsEquilibristics is a blanket term for a number of circus skills which involve balancing or maintaining equilibrium. The term applies equally to acts in which the performer balances on a prop, and acts in which the performer balances or spins a prop....
- Perches
Intermission
- Devil sticksDevil sticksThe manipulation of devil sticks is a form of gyroscopic juggling or equilibristics, and is generally considered to be one of the circus arts...
- Fixed trapezeTrapezeA trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances...
duo - Cone jugglingJugglingJuggling is a skill involving moving objects for entertainment or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, in which the juggler throws objects up to catch and toss up again. This may be one object or many objects, at the same time with one or many hands. Jugglers often refer...
- ClownClownClowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
act - Hoop dance
- Roller skate
- Russian barRussian BarThe Russian bar is a circus act which combines the gymnastic skills of the balance beam, the rebound tempo skills of trampoline and the swing handstands skills of the uneven bars and the parallel bars...
- Finale
Costumes
As Totems storyline includes the evolution of mankind, inspiration for the 779 costume elements came directly from nature. Costume designer Kym Barrett primarily focused on how to treat various fabrics rather than the materials themselves in order to replicate the elements found in nature. Such treatments included advanced printing techniques, fluorescent pigments, and utilizing mirror fragments and crystals for adornment. Below is more detailed information about specific costume pieces and the wardrobe collection as a whole.- The Crystal Man's stretch velvet leotard is encrusted with nearly 4,500 reflective components; 4,001 are mirror fragments. This costume is the show's heaviest, weighing eight pounds.
- The foot juggling duo's lycra body stockings are each adorned with 3,500 crystals, and each headpiece has another 1,000.
- The hoop dancer's costume is inspired by not one traditional Native American tribe, but by several. For instance it includes a HopiHopiThe Hopi are a federally recognized tribe of indigenous Native American people, who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi area according to the 2000 census has a population of 6,946 people. Their Hopi language is one of the 30 of the Uto-Aztecan language...
cross and headdress. - The unicyclists each have a very distinct look that suggests autumn and the abundance from harvest. Each costume is printed with earth tones and then embellished with hand-sewn details, including bolts, screws, seedpods, feathers, flowers and insects.
Music
As Totems storyline is about the evolution of mankind, the musical components selected by composers Guy Dubuc and Marc Lessard aimed to reflect this theme. Their score includes instruments and rhythms from around the world, including elements from Native American musicNative American music
American Indian music is the music that is used, created or performed by Native North Americans, specifically traditional tribal music. In addition to the traditional music of the Native American groups, there now exist pan-tribal and inter-tribal genres as well as distinct Indian subgenres of...
, Spanish flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
, and Indian music
Music of India
The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, classical music and R&B. India's classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and developed over several eras. It remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as...
. One unique attribute of the music in Totem is that all the musicians sing at some point, which allows for moments of a cappella.
Below are the track titles as they appear in order on the CD, which was originally released on October 6, 2010. The items in parentheses reflect the act correlated with each song.
- Omé Kayo (Opening, high bar, hoop dance 1)
- Cum Sancto Spiritu (Backup act)
- Indie-Hip (Rings trio)
- Koumaya (Unicycles with bowls)
- Crystal Pyramid (Foot juggling)
- Thunder (Perches)
- Toreador (Devil sticks)
- Qué Viyéra (Fixed trapeze duo)
- Mr. Beaker (Manipulation)
- Onta (Hoops dance 2, roller skates)
- Kunda Tayé (Hand balancing)
- Fast Boat (Speedboat clown act)
- Terre-mère (Russian bars)
- Omé Yo Kanoubé (Finale)
Tour
The Totem tour started off different from normal tours by going to Europe before coming to the United States.The following colorboxes indicate the region of each performance: Europe North America
2010 schedule
Montréal, QC - From 22 April 2010 to 11 July 2010Québec, QC - From 22 July 2010 to 29 August 2010
Amsterdam, NL - From 7 October 2010 to 22 December 2010
2011 schedule
London, UK - From 5 January 2011 to 17 February 2011Charlotte, NC - From 3 March 2011 to 27 March 2011
Baltimore, MD - From 7 April 2011 to 1 May 2011
Pittsburgh, PA - From 12 May 2011 to 5 June 2011
Montréal, QC - From 15 June 2011 to 31 July 2011
Toronto, ON - From 10 August 2011 to 9 October 2011
San Francisco, CA - From 28 October 2011 to 18 December 2011
2012 schedule
London, UK - From 5 January 2012 to 5 February 2012San Jose, CA - From 2 March 2012 to 1 April 2012
Atlanta, GA - From 8 May 2012 to 17 June 2012
Washington, DC - Coming soon