Simply amazing!, 5 Feb 2005

I stumbled accross amazon selling the Cirque du Soleil DVDS and almost fainted when I saw they were about a fiver each, and instantly bought them.

This set contains Saltimbanco, Dralion, La Nouba and Alegria. I cant comment on Saltimbanco because Im goign seeing it live again and dont want to spoil the experiance =P As for the others...

Dralion is based a lot on the chinese circus, but it also seems to mix Indian and African culture in too, which can be seen from the music and costumes. My favourite acts in this are the single hand balancing, ballet on lightbulbs (which is literally what the name says) and teeterboard (where acrobats are thrown off the end of a seesaw to make a tower of humans...amazing). Usually I dont really like the clowns, but there is one part that made me really laugh my socks off, adn its really cleverly done. The costumes and music and performances are to the same amazingly high standard you expect from the cirque.

La Nouba seems to be quite dark compared to some of the others. It isnt as long as the other DVDs, but it does compensate for this by having 2 dvds- the first is the actual show, and the second is full of extras such as indepth interviews with the performers, a background into 'Les Cons' (very funny clown-like performers- some of my all time fav characters), lots of behind the scene stuff and an oppertunity to meet the musicians. Some of the dance parts in this are a lil more hip hop which I found really interesting. My favourite act in this is the fast track and trampoline at the end as it is simply entrancing.

Alegria is my favourite out of the pack, not only for the show, but also for the behind the scenes featurette which I found really interesting. Again, the music and costumes are fantastic. The acts include the fast track (the music from this will not want to leave your head once you've heard it!), synchronised trapeze, fire knife dance, hoops, russian bars, contortion and aerial high bar. By the way of extras, theres the behind the scenes (which is about an hour long) as previously mentioned, a look into the filming of alegria, an oppertunity to look at the show in slow motion at different angles, multi angled performances of the fast track an areial high bar (which is great if you want to just watch the act instead of the camera changing shots every so often) and a quick interview with each performer.

Although I havent watched the DVD of Saltimbanco, I think it will probably be my favourite based on the show. Its quite different to the others as its a lot lot lighter and brighter. Its full of vivid colours and wild characters. The music is a bit more rock-like, and this is portrayed in the chracters as they are more punk-like. To give you an image of the show.....think of a big tub of multicoloured jelly beans exploding, and there you have Saltimbanco ^_^

I'd highly reccommend this set, especially as you get 4 DVDs with all the extras for the same price as 1 if you bought it from the live show. For those of you passionate about Cirque du Soleil, Im sure you'll love them as much as I do.

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Can't be bettered ...., 14 Feb 2005

Dralion, in particular, is brilliant on the DVD - verging on the miraculous. The music (despite ignorant newspaper reviews) is probably my favourite of all Cirque productions (with the possible exception of Alegria). The Chinese cirus acts, together with world themes ranging from India to South America via Africa, are truly wonderful. The opening handbalancing act has to be one of the most sureal and beautiful of the show.

Saltimbanco is an older show and has a naivity about it which is refreshing. The cast is young and there is a youthful enthusiasm and driving pace to the whole show. The DVD is an accurate reflection of the show but the Russian swing is even more impressive live where the acrobats seem (at least from the front row) to go into orbit. The hire wire act is nothing short of amazing and syncronised Bungees brought tears of joy as climax to the show. Wonderful.

Alegria is probably my favourite show of the bunch - excellent extras plus a superbly filmed and atmospheric performance from live shows in Sydney.

La Nouba is the permanent show at Disney World in Florida. As a result they can really go wild on the staging. The FastTrack/trampoline sequence alone is worth the price of this CD set and is trualy an amazing piece of correography. It is still the Aerial Ballet in Silk that brings a lump to the throat though every time I watch it.

This really is 4 of the best shows at an amazing price - it really cannot be beaten. If you love CdS and haven't seen any of these you haven't lived. If you have never heard of Cirque du Soleil buy it and prepare to be converted (you have been warned)!! The only way these can be bettered is in the live performance - go and see Saltimbanco while it is in the UK !!

5 stars aren't enough - this deserves at leat 20 (5 for each disc)

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Cirque Du Soleil (... are simply the Best of the Best), 17 Feb 2006

The music is superb and powerful with amazing depth and dynamic range (and this is an experienced classical and theatre sound engineer talking) and the lighting and costumes are just as good. Amazon offer this box set at an amazing price so buy it before they put the price up.

The CD's are fantastic to use (due to the stunning dynamic range of tracks such as "Alegria") to test the performance of your HiFi system as well as any professional sound reinforcement system. Time for me to look at the other DVD's and CD's from Cirque du Soleil here at Amazon.

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