The other evening we attended the opening night for Cirque Du Soleil: TORUK. This was the first time Jason and our daughter Evie would be seeing a Cirque performance and we were bringing my sister with us too. We were excited to have a family night out at Cirque.
When it comes to Cirque du Soleil you can be certain that you are in for a night filled with entertainment, whimsical characters, and performances that leave you pondering how it’s even possible for the human body to do such feats. This time Cirque has taken inspiration from Avatar to create TORUK.
TORUK is here in Vancouver til December 18th, 2016 at the Pacific Coliseum. The tickets range in price from $41.50 – $130.00+ fees. You can also take advantage of the family 4 pack of tickets which allows you to save $10 per ticket. My recommendation would be to get tickets for seats in the lower bowl and around rows 16 and lower. This has you close to the performance, you can see the details, and you just might be in for a surprise or two with performance suddenly being in the audience. Tickets are available online.
Upon arriving something was missing, the big tent. Normally when Cirque comes to town you cannot miss it because you spot that yellow blue big top right away. I kind of with that somehow a part of this would have been tied into the entrance of the building, perhaps a mini version enter through? I understood why TORUK was not inside the tent as soon as we went into the venue. It is definitely a BIG performance from the stage and scenery to the rigging up in the rafters.
We got Evie a booster seat, just in case there was someone tall sitting in the seat in front of her, and found our seats so we could settle in for the performance. We soon found out that there was an app you could download onto your phone that would notify you for when to use your phone to interact with the performance in a unique way. We decided to load the app and see what it was all about. We had to enter our seat information and wait for the first notification. Thankfully the app does also inform you as to when to opportunities will come up to use the app feature. So we knew roughly when to open it. For example, before the show started we got to interact with the “fireflies” that were flying around the stage.
Evie was completely enthralled by TORUK as soon as it started. We had simply informed her that we were going to a performance that would remind her of the times we had taken her to the Circus Lab to play and explore. She was quick to appreciate the skills of all of the performers and kept asking to get to see more of the “blue kitties”. Her imagination was running wild during the whole of TORUK. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen something captivate her the way Cirque did.
For the rest of us, we were left wishing that there were TORUK subtitles so that we could understand some of what was going on. The performance was narrated but we still had some difficulties keeping up with the storyline at times. If you are a big fan of Avatar you will appreciate the show as it tells the tale of how the Na’vi came to be riders of the creatures that fly in Pandora.
Unfortunately, the plot line is lacking, but Cirque makes up for the lack of a storyline with the amazing talents of its performers. You just never know what gravity-defying acrobatics is going to be shown next. Your eyes have to be constantly moving across the stage, even then you are sure to miss something done by one of the performers.
It is the acrobatics, stagecraft, and the costumes that draw you into a Cirque performance. It’s incredible to see how they transform an arena into Pandora. Plus the stage is constantly changing throughout the show. One minute everything looks like a dry and desert land and the next it is covered in water thanks to video projections on the floor of the arena. There is also a lot of wonderfully done puppetry work that incorporates the beasts and predators into TORUK.
If you are off to TORUK while it is in Vancouver you will for sure see Cirque’s usual captivating acrobatics, beautiful costumes and makeup artistry, and creative stage designs. It’s the intrigue from the kids in the audience that will help draw you into the show even more. Cirque du Soleil definitely went big with TORUK and it was an interesting change to what is usually seen by them.
Will you be seeing Cirque du Soleil’s TORUK while it’s in Vancouver?
Disclosure: We received media tickets to this event for review purposes. All opinions expressed are completely our own, based on our personal experience. Your experience may differ. Some of the images used in this post have been provided to us and have been used with permission.
I have seen the Cirque du Soleil twice. I absolutely loved both shows! This show looks wonderful too! Gorgeous production!
I have never been to a Cirque show…they all look amazing!!
I’ve been to a few cirque shows in Las Vegas and they’re just incredible. ALl the artistry and visuals are stunning.
Cirque is one of the best family outings. We’ve experienced a couple shows & I’m really hoping Toruk comes to our city because my daughter really enjoys the shows.