The Circus Met the N.C. Symphony in Cirque Dances
with Troupe Vertigo Last Friday and Saturday Night!

The North Carolina Symphony presented Cirque Dances with Troupe Vertigo at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 7th and 8th

On a gorgeous October evening, with Jupiter prominent in the sky, audiences gathered at the front plaza of Raleigh, NC's Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts to soak up the stars, before entering Meymandi Concert Hall for the Saturday, Oct. 8th, performance of Cirque Dances with Troupe Vertigo, a custom collaboration of the Raleigh-based North Carolina Symphony and Troupe Vertigo of Los Angeles, CA.

The North Carolina Symphony has always been great at partnering with other performers and performance groups to create memorable evenings, such as their collaboration with Paperhand Puppet Intervention for Carnival of the Animals in their Young People's Concert Series. Coming in January, Broadway's Capathia Jenkins and Grammy-nominated Ryan Shawn will join the symphony for Aretha: A Tribute in their Pops Season. These kinds of offerings make the 2022-23 season a very exciting one.

Troupe Vertigo refers to itself as a place "where reality bends, expectations twist and the body embraces the imagination." Artistic director Aloysia Gavre and her husband, executive director Rex Camphuis, co-founded the troupe in 2009, as a "Circus-Dance-Theater" company. Custom collaborations with symphonies have become an important aspect of their work.

Recently, Troupe Vertigo partnered with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and composer/conductor Jeff Tyzik to create Nighthawks: A Film Noir Circus, a tribute to the Film Noir era. In February 2022, they collaborated with maestro Jack Everly and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in a re-imagining of Georges Bizet's Carmen as part of a program called España and Beyond!.

The North Carolina Symphony presented Cirque Dances with Troupe Vertigo at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 7th and 8th

Because of their location in Los Angeles, Aloysia and Rex are often called on for their expertise for film projects. In 2011, they worked with film actor Reese Witherspoon for circus instruction and background research for the film Water for Elephants. And in 2015, Aloysia worked with Rebel Wilson on her aerial performance in the famous pants-splitting scene in Pitch Perfect 2.

The evening began with conductor Michelle Di Russo stepping onto the conductor's podium in her signature red shoes to begin Night on Bald Mountain, made famous in the 1940 Disney animated feature film Fantasia. As a side note, Bald Mountain is located near Kyiv, the capital of modern-day Ukraine. The music cccccposed by Modest Mussorgsky and arranged by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is based on a short story by Russian author Nikolai Gogol.

My favorite description of the plot of Night on Bald Mountain comes from the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's SLSO Learning Lab web publications: "St. John sees witches gathering on Bald Mountain. The witches have a party that lasts all night." I knew I was in for fun! In the intro to Cirque Dances with Troupe Vertigo, we meet all seven performers from Troupe Vertigo. One performer is dressed in bright red feathers (a witch?) and another in white (St. John?). This duo performs some astounding aerials, timed perfectly to the music.

The second selection was a lively waltz from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin, and you would swear that the Russian composer was thoroughly Viennese. Showy and theatrical with countermelodies and decorative figures, the six-minute waltz reminded me of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker suite.

Moving into modern times, Mexican composer Arturo Márquez's Danzón No. 2 features a hula-hoop artist, who begins simply, like the danzón itself, slowly ramping in complexity -- adding additional hoops as the orchestration adds additional instruments. The danzón, developed from the habanera, is a creolized Cuban dance form. Clean and strong, both dancer and orchestra were powerfully, perfectly emotive.

Manuel de Falla's Danza ritual del fuego from the 1915 ballet El amor brujo follows. The original story is about a young gypsy girl who dances to entice the ghost of her dead husband to go into the fire and leave her alone. This piece was performed only by the orchestra, but the fast repetitive trills and ornaments in the music are reminiscent of the whirling movements of the dancers and acrobats that we have seen.

The North Carolina Symphony presented Cirque Dances with Troupe Vertigo at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 7th and 8th

The last piece before intermission was Number 17: Polovtsian Dance with Chorus from Alexander Borodin's 1890 opera, Prince Igor. As a fan of musical theater, I was familiar with the melody, "Stranger in Paradise" from the musical Kismet (1953). The performers wearing Kismet-style costumes, ceremonially accompanied an Arabian princess to the center of the stage. To our amazement, the princess commenced to fly over the orchestra, hanging by her hair. Another highlight of this piece was the mastery of juggler Vladislav Miagkostoupov. Both performers transported us to a place where gravity does not exist.

After intermission, the orchestra returned to play Antonín Dvořák's Slavonic Dances, Op. 46, No. 8. A furiant, the fiery and fast Bohemian dance fit perfectly into the evening's selections.

Lastly, they presented a selection of moments from Georges Bizet's Carmen, beginning and ending with the popular Les toréadors or March of the Toreadors. This was presented as a tribute to the American Circus, with a ringmaster, juggling (on a trapeze!), and thrilling aerial performances. To the children's delight, contortion artist Ganchimeg Oyunchimeg performed as a very charming, sometimes misbehaving, jungle cat. It was a great finish to a delightful evening!

Next up for the North Carolina Symphony is a Special Event Concert on Oct. 28th and 29th, The Music of Harry Potter, with Michelle Di Russo conducting. This is sure to sell out, so click here to buy your tickets now.

The North Carolina Symphony presented Cirque Dances with Troupe Vertigo at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 7th and 8th

CIRQUE DANCES WITH TROUPE VERTIGO (Friday and Saturday, Oct. 7th and 8th), conducted by NCS associate conductor Michelle Di Russo and featuring Troupe Vertigo (North Carolina Symphony on the Woolner Stage in the in Meymandi Concert Hall in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh). PROGRAM: https://www.ncsymphony.org/wp-content/uploads/2223-POPS01-cirque-print-file.pdf. TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxuDpl4uVTk. 2022 CONCERTS: https://www.ncsymphony.org/kw-search/?kw=&submit=Go. THE PRESENTER: https://www.ncsymphony.org/, https://www.facebook.com/ncsymphony, https://www.instagram.com/ncsymphony/, https://twitter.com/ncsymphony, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_Symphony, and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeQiXxwgF8zDL_4OVTRnN4A. THE VENUE: https://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/venues, https://www.facebook.com/DECRaleigh, https://www.instagram.com/DECRaleigh/, https://twitter.com/DECRaleigh, and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUCPC9naUI3G8vHw0K8Qnew. TROUPE VERTIGO: http://www.troupevertigo.com/, https://www.facebook.com/TroupeVertigo, https://www.instagram.com/troupevertigo/, https://twitter.com/troupevertigo, and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpL-zbJNmElsSAuP2iYb1Kg. INFORMATION: 919-733-2750 or tickets@ncsymphony.org. PLEASE DONATE TO: North Carolina Symphony. [RUN HAS CONCLUDED.]

EDITOR'S NOTE: Nancy Gardner Rich is a local director/choreographer, with a love for the performing arts and a passion for supporting local artistic work. Nancy and her husband, Rod, own and operate Monkeybravo, a video production company. Nancy is one of the founders of Actors Comedy Lab and participates in local theater as a hired gun, a volunteer and, on very rare occasions, an actor. Nancy recently wrote a series of monologues called The PRINCESS Talks, performed at the 2017 Women's Theatre Festival.

 

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