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Acts
Parade:
The house lights fade and illuminate only a narrow channel of red carpet seperating the two tiers of audience seating. Many characters enter to a trumpet's song ("La Nouba") and reveal their personalities as they parade throughout the aisle and exit.
Ouverture (Opening), Roue allemande (German Wheel): The Urbans emerge from the shadows of the stage where energy is building and smoke is billowing. As they engage in a hip-hop infused dance, buildings arise from the floor of the set, eventually towering over the stage. Suddenly, two German Wheels enter. (German wheel- two white wheel frames, each six feet in diameter, connected by six rungs) Each carries one man inside, both with identical costumes. They spin around in their wheels, oftentimes coming within an inch of touching the ground. The two men then enter one wheel and perform tricks together, while in the background, various urbanites spin in their own wheels.
Funambule (High Wire): Two men and one woman gracefully display the art of balance as they move across a highwire suspended high above the stage, stopping to perform amazing feats. The lights onstage are low, and a harvest moon illuminates the set.
Clowns Balthazar & Serguei: Two clowns, Balthazar and Serguei, thrill the audience with their playful and comedic antics throughout the show. Diabolos (Diabolos): Four young Chinese girls show off their awesome skills with the Diabolo as they amaze the audience with flips, somersaults, and the building of human pyramids, all meanwhile masterfully manipulating the diabolo.
Vélos (Cycles): One of the most contemporary acts in La Nouba, the cycles act combines the tricks of a stunt biker with the strength and skill of an endurance biker. The trick biker amazes all as he performs twists and turns on his bikes, such as g-spins, while the endurance biker plunges into the aisles and back onto the stage. This act has been featured on Univisión.
Cadre aérien (Aerial Cradle): A man and woman demonstrate equality in strength and grace between the sexes in this beautiful display of aerial skill that takes place on a decorative door frame.
Ballet air et soie (Aerial Ballet in Silk): Four women and one man surround themselves in an ocean of red silk. The women wrap themselves up in a cocoon-like fashion only to unfold and twist downward, plunging towards the stage, catching themselves an instant before colliding with the ground. The man wraps his upper body in a sheet of red silk and flies majestically above the audience.
Equilibre sur chaises (Balancing on Chairs): First a hit in the Cirque du Soleil® 1990 production, Nouvelle Expérience, the Balancing on Chairs act creatd by Vasily Demenchoukov is a hit again in La Nouba, entertaining the entire audience as the artist stacks up numerous chairs to eventually tower over the audience and spin a cake with flaming candles on his head.
Grands volants (Flying Trapeze): Clothed in white leotards accented with feathers, the aerial artists fly across the stage in perfect synchronicity.
Power-track/ Trampoline (Power Track/ Trampoline): An amazing act comprised of two parts: Power Track and Trampoline. The first, Power Track, is a set of two tumbling lines that criss-cross the floor so that artists twist and turn over one another missing eachother by mere inches. The second part, Trampoline, involves several athletes who catapult themselves from atop a building and from windows, forming intricate patterns as they propel themselves onto the trampoline and bounce back in the air.
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