Cirque du Soleil, the Montreal-based, internationally renowned, always-beyond-imaginable performance company brings TORUK-The First Flight to the Wells Fargo Center from March 8 to March 12, 2017. That the show is the one of the kind, spectacular entertainment we’ve become accustomed to from Cirque was evident at a recently preview screening. It’s not just amazing and stunning, it shows how far people’s imagination can take us.
First premiered in Montreal in December 2015, TORUK is based on the world of Avatar, the James Cameron’s movie that caused the big buzz in 2009. Though the creative team of TORUK has taken the world further and deeper like archeologists and scientists would do by researching and adding the histories, the past cultures and the mythologies to the world of Na’vi, the blue skinned creatures who treasure their connections with the world surrounding them in the planet of Pandora.
It is a Bildungsroman (coming-of-age story)of Na’vi teenagers—two boys and one girl—who stand up to save the sacred Tree of Souls when a natural catastrophe threatens to destroy it. They quest through Pandora, high up in the Floating Mountains to find Toruk, the mighty red and orange predator that rules the Pandoran sky. The Tree of Souls may be saved if a pure soul among Na’vi clans rises to ride the fierce and noble Leonopteryx.
The 2009 movie enchanted viewers with the magical and exotic outlook of the world consisting of realistic details such as natures and the creatures created based on the scientific studies and the original language of Na’vi created by Paul Frommer, professor emeritus of clinical management communications at USC. The newest visual effect technologies at the time were used to make everything look more realistic than real on the cinematic screens.
Now, Cirque du Soleil is up to the challenge to bring the world of Pandora to the real world, through performers highly trained to push the physical limit of human race. The choreography introduces original acrobatic language made just for this show to recreate Na’vi in the most credible way. The cutting-edge visual effects and stage sets turn the stage into the magnificent natural world of Pandora while puppets evoke the creatures living in Pandora. The original musical score was composed to bring cinematic experience while filling the space with “the sounds of Na’vi”.
Nowadays, rivers of entertainments can be acquired via smartphones or tablets. But if you want to break the feeling of being stuck in the same ol’ routine, or if you just love adventures, TORUK is the entertainment for you. It’s an experience for your full five senses.
[Cirque du Soleil at Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S Broad St] March 8-12, 2017; https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/?dclid=CLnsrPXUg9ICFUi1swodIV8Arw