Cirque du Soleil, Totem

When: April 25 - May 27, 2012
Where: Del Mar Fairgrounds
Big Top Tent, East Parking Lot (map)
Del Mar, San Diego, CA
More info: Event website

Cirque du Soleil Highlights

Cirque du Soleil, which means "Circus of the Sun", will perform in the big top tent for three weeks, at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, a short distance from Del Mar Village. Cue du Soleil is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment."

Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world, with its own central theme and storyline. They draw the audience into the performance through continuous live music, with performers rather than stagehands changing the props.

Totem, the Story

The circus will perform Totem, which traces the fascinating journey of the human species from its original amphibian state to its ultimate desire to fly. The characters evolve on a stage evoking a giant turtle, the symbol of origin for many ancient civilizations.

Inspired by many founding myths, Totem illustrates, through a visual and acrobatic language, the evolutionary progress of species.

Somewhere between science and legend Totem explores the ties that bind Man to other species, his dreams and his infinite potential.

Set Design and Projections

The Turtle - Support of the World

At the heart of many founding myths that live on in a variety of legends and oral traditions, the turtle represents the earth and carries the entire weight of the world on its shell. This totemic animal is also omnipresent in the scenic environment of TOTEM.

The large oval framework on stage represents the skeletal substructure of a huge turtle shell that serves both as a decorative set element and as acrobatic equipment. At the start of the show it is covered with a cloth printed with the shell markings of a forest turtle, reproduced through macro photography. Depending on the artistic needs of TOTEM, the skeleton is raised to the top of the tent or opened at an angle like an enormous shell.

An organic world of multiple transformations

The visual environment of TOTEM is an organic world, a marsh lined with reeds near an island (the stage), on which images are projected. Set designer Carl Fillion gave it curves and non-linear forms to reflect the natural world.

Tilted slightly forward, the image marsh acts both as a stage entrance and as a projection surface. Through the magic of moving images it becomes a virtual swamp, a river source, a marsh, a lake, an ocean, a volcanic island, a pond and a starry sky.

The images in the TOTEM projections are drawn from nature and were shot for the production in various parts of the world, including Iceland, Hawaii and Guatemala. Even the images of boiling lava were filmed by Image Content designer Pedro Pires.

The "scorpion bridge,” which serves as a mobile platform connecting the marsh to the scene features variable geometry allowing it to adapt to each tableau. In one of the clown numbers, for example, it becomes the prow of a boat, then rises to become a plane in flight, and finally a rocket taking off. In another scene, the bridge is configured to look like a vertical totem pole.

The concept of the scorpion bridge was loosely based on a retractable pedestrian bridge in London. Built of steel and weighing 10,000 lbs, its eight powerful mineral oil hydraulic motors allow it to rise, descend, extend, retract and curl in on itself like a scorpion’s tail. Its reflective surfaces, which shine like mirrors, are made of stainless steel plates. The base of the bridge houses lighting equipment, a laser, speakers and cameras. During the show, the bridge is monitored by an operator using four infrared cameras.