Believe it or not, some companies still use fax machines for advertising. DMC gets random faxes from time to time - old printers for sale, window washing, prank faxes of cat jokes from our Boston office, etc. We usually ignore them, but a fax arrived this April that caught my attention: Corporate presale for KURIOS ending! Buy tickets now!
I immediately knew that DMC had to go. KURIOS: Cabinet of Curiosities is Cirque du Soleil's latest attraction, featuring an inventor who "defies the laws of time, space and dimension". The show's aesthetic can most easily be described as "steampunk", or a fusion of science fiction, fantasy, and industrial machinery. I sent out an email gauging interest in the show and was promptly overwhelmed with a veritable flood of excited responses! I bought our tickets and hunkered down to wait until August for the actual show.
In the end, almost 40 DMC employees and their guests attended, filling up three entire rows of the big top (conveniently located in the United Center parking lot). This was my first time ever seeing a circus show, so I was absolutely floored. My face hurt by the end of the night from a constant combination of smiling, laughing, and gaping in awe. The "invisible circus" was my favorite part of the show, where a man led invisible characters through real set props. The perfectly timed audio and visual effects really made it believable! I also loved the incredible act where a video was broadcasted onto a huge hot air balloon. It took me several minutes to realize it was a live feed, and they were actually filming the video right there on the stage! I couldn't believe how creative it was.
I could go on for days about all of the cool parts of the show (actually, that's exactly what I did for the rest of the week). I think KURIOS was definitely one of the more thrilling events we've done together at DMC, so I gathered some highlights from other attendees:
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Courtney Mitchell
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"I really liked the concept of the girl who was biking and then started biking in the air, because sometimes I feel like I’m going to just bike right off the ground, so it was cool to actually see. I have never however imagined stacking chairs on my dinner table only to encounter a mirrored dinner table above my table that was also stacking chairs downward towards me. All of the props and costumes were so ethereal and dreamy, and the entire show was thought-provoking and inspiring. I’m so glad I got to see it and I probably wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t for DMC!"
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Katherine Czaplicki
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"My favorite part of the show was the dudes on the trampoline. They were all incredibly in sync with one another and had such control over how high they could get someone to jump. I loved the music that went along with the whole show. It was really cool that they had a live band and the female singer was awesome. The day after the show I just listened to the soundtrack all day at work. The chair stacking was definitely rigged, but you could still see the tower wobbling, which is probably pretty terrifying way up that high."
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Jessica Mlinaric
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"My favorite KURIOS acts were the trampoline and acrobatic troupes. I can't fathom the deftness it takes to coordinate one body in their gravity-defying feats, let alone an entire group in motion! The trampoline act looked really fun, although I don’t know that I would be comfortable getting that much air. I also appreciated the inclusion of pantomime, yo-yo, and hand puppetry in the show. In the age of special effects, these performances were a nice reminder of a tangible wizardry that most of us could never pull off, and a tip of the top hat to circus origins."
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Deborah Nunaley
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"The performer pretending to be a cat with the audience member was a hit with me. As a cat owner, I can attest that he was spot on with his portrayal! I also really enjoyed the performer who balanced on various cylindrical objects. It was sheer idiocy but his skill cannot be denied! The mirrored portrayal on the “ceiling” of the big top of the chair stacking routine was awe inspiring. It took me longer than it should to realize I wasn’t seeing a reflection but a whole other team of performers duplicating the acts (while upside down) that were happening on the main floor."
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