Our family had the opportunity to experience Cirque du Soleil CRYSTAL on opening night, and it was fantastic. I’ll be honest, I am not a figure skating fan. It’s just not my thing. But I do love Cirque du Soleil and the magic they create in every show, so I knew I’d totally dig this performance. Avery was all in, and excited.  Dave wasn’t so sure, but he went along for the ride. And what a ride it was!

We all agreed that the hockey/pinball scene was our favorite. Irish-style music, plus hockey, plus death-defying stunts?  Yup, that part of the show seemed made for us.  We also loved the costumes, especially our budding costume designer, Avery. The Cirque style is totally her aesthetic. Perhaps she’ll find a job creating for Cirque in the future. We also really loved that much of the music was performed by live musicians who became part of the show. The fiddle player was our favorite, of course.

With this new creation Cirque du Soleil explored the essence of skating, bringing its signature style of acrobatics into unchartered territory– a sheet of ice – and blurring the boundaries between gliding sports and circus arts. In CRYSTAL, acrobats and skaters perform acrobatics on the ice and in the air, seamlessly combining multiple disciplines together. Synchronized skating, freestyle figures, and extreme skating are featured alongside circus disciplines such as swinging trapeze, aerial straps, and hand to hand. Figure skaters learned how to be pushers on Chinese poles, while circus artists learned how to skate, and extreme skaters learned figure skating moves.

Tips for the show: