The music plays. The acrobatic bars get underway. The show has started. Alegría, the renewed Cirque du Soleil show, premiered last night in the large tent installed in the Cultural District of l’Hospitalet de Llobregat. The venue has room for 2,400 people and was full.
The people of Barcelona were looking forward to seeing the pirouettes of the Canadian circus artists again, whose last stay in the city dates back to two years ago with the applauded Luzia. What was offered this Wednesday was pure circus. Excellent music. A modern, brand-new show, with the appreciable flavor of nostalgia.
Because Alegría is new, but it is not new. Cirque du Soleil launched it in 1994. It was one of its most popular shows, touring around the world for 20 years, until it said goodbye in 2014. But the public wanted more. I wanted to see her again. So at the circus headquarters in Montreal they decided to give it a second life and reinvented Alegría.
The story told by the renewed Alegría has a lot to do with the original. It is set in a dystopian world where there are three classes: the aristocrats, like clowns, very close to the king; the broncos, young people who discuss the authority of the monarch and his entourage; and the angels, who, when they lived, were aristocrats or broncos.
The king dies and Mr. Fleur, the court jester, tries to seize power by kidnapping a clown, which leads to two hours of circus. From here everything is new. Circus of the 21st century. Like the fire knives dance performed by Samoan artist Jacktai Laban, or the final flying trapeze number, something that had not been seen before on any dance floor. The living example of the most difficult yet.
A few months ago, in an interview with La Vanguardia, the president and executive director of Cirque du Soleil, Stéphane Lefebvre, stated that the Canadian circus “lives a love story with Spain.” A statement that the Barcelona public confirmed this Wednesday with his presence and with their applause, including a spectacular snowfall. The mayor of l’Hospitalet, Núria Marín, did not miss the opening night; the Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga; nor the leader of the commons in the Parliament, Jéssica Albiach.
There was also a large representation of actors in the audience, such as Enric Auquer, Jordi Bosch, Cristina Brondo, Pablo Derqui, Ivan Massagué and Juanjo Puigcorbé. Magician Lari, tennis player Àlex Corretja and swimmer Ona Carbonell; the models Martina Klein and Verónica Blume and the designer Josep Abril also stood out among the wide range of personalities who attended the premiere of Alegría.
All of them, along with the rest of the audience, were able to enjoy the antics of Pablo Gomis and Pablo Bermejo, the Spanish clowns, two of the main protagonists of the show. And also the synchronized trapeze duo, the aerial canvases, the tightrope walkers, the spectacular contortion number, the Cyr wheel, the artists who move to the rhythm of the hula hoop…
At the close of this edition, the premiere of Alegría was pure circus, on a spring night not to be forgotten.
