Cirque du Soleil returns to Australia with a spectacular show presented under the much-loved blue and yellow Big Top.
TOTEM traces the awe-inspiring journey of the human species from its original amphibian state to its ultimate desire to fly.
The cast features 45 performing artists from 16 countries specialising in many breathtaking acrobatic acts. TOTEM marks Cirque du Soleil’s second collaboration with acclaimed theatre and film director Robert Lepage following KÁ at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Somewhere between science and legend, TOTEM explores the ties that bind mankind to other species, his dreams and his infinite potential.
SHOW DATES:
| Sydney, NSW | Opens on October 28, 2014 |
| Melbourne, VI | Opens on January 21, 2015 |
| Brisbane, QL | Opens on April 10, 2015 |
| Adelaide, SA | Opens on June 11, 2015 |
| Perth, WA | Opens on July 31, 2015 |
Sydney Morning Herald Review of Totem | Cirque Du Soleil
Every night during Cirque du Soleil's performance of Totem, Pascal Sioui, the head of automation, straps a chunky black and yellow box to his right hip. In its centre is a big red button surrounded by three words: "Stop Stop Stop"
Sioui, in charge of "everything that moves", has not had to push the button many times. In his 15 years with the world's biggest and best-known circus company, only two shows have been cancelled.
"I would say I have looked after about 4000 performances in 95 cities," he says, tapping his iPad screen to make the set's 4500-kilogram mirrored hydraulic bridge rise like a scorpion's tail. "We stopped the show in Washington because the wind was picking up and it was too dangerous to use the tent. Safety is No. 1."
Totem's close-knit troupe of 120 cast and crew from 14 countries features people who perform and create astounding, gravity-defying acts of visual and physical wizardry. It also includes coaches, creative artists, physiotherapists, cooks and technicians.
But when you have presented a show 1500 times in 25 cities during four years of touring, with three more to come, another priority creeps in: how to keep everyone, including accompanying spouses and children, happy and sane on such an epic theatrical roadtrip.
