I joined the crowd walking down the Santa Monica Pier on the way to my very first Cirque du Soleil performance. At the suggestion of the Voice Dialogue facilitator with whom I had been working all week, I decided to take in the evening show. My visit to the area had revealed spectacular personal discoveries that offered new life and direction so I was expectant that my evening adventure would deliver more of the same. It seemed to be the succulent path upon which I now traveled
In a prophetic bit of serendipity, I purchased the very last ticket to the performance. My seat was just two rows back from the front and dead center stage – the best in the house. As I settled into my place, I was both grateful for this diversion and immensely appreciative for the opportunity. It was a timely, refreshing pause.
The Show
I was about to see Dralion – a metaphoric story of East meets West expressed in music and dance. I had read about Cirque du Soleil and knew a bit about the spectacular poetic and daring feats that were the hallmark of every performance. The performers spent hours of practice to painstakingly perfect every choreographed movement of their art that the website had declared was an “ode to human effort”. The evening held the promise of a great experience and I was prepared to be inspired.
From beginning to end, the production was a riveting, breathtaking extravaganza. I was transported into imaginary worlds through the skillfully woven tale that was unfolding before me. The profusion of brilliant color and costumes, dramatic music and unbelievable acrobatics offered a rich feast for the senses. As I observed the grace and dexterity of the performers I couldn’t help but think that their contortions were simply not humanly possible to achieve. Yet the impossible was the reality I saw before me. How could anyone do that with their bodies? This stunning spectacle was testament to the indomitable presence of passion and the fuel it provides in any life undertaking. I was flooded with a deep knowing that what I was witness to here carried the message that anything was possible – anything.
I left the performance knowing that I was forever changed by what I had just witnessed. The founder’s passionate mission to “develop an international laboratory of creativity, audacity, imagination so as to ensure limitless possibilities” (www.cirquedusoleil.com) had infused me with inspiration and “sacred fire”. My visit to Santa Monica had indeed been a portal to a new life and this experience had been its exclamation. As witness to the impossible made possible in that performance, I was filled with the knowing that any obstacle was surmountable.
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The Queen in response to Alice in Wonderland’s lament that there is no use in trying to believe impossible things, “I dare say, you haven’t had much practice. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast” … Lewis Carroll
Filed under: passion and purpose, personal growth, This Physical Reality, voice dialogue | Tagged: cirque du soleil, empowerment and well-being, impossible feats, theater, voice dialogue | Leave a comment »