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Performers from Cirque du Soleil’s Crystal will feature in 19 shows across Auckland and Christchurch, combining jaw dropping acrobatics with ice skating.
REVIEW: Christchurch residents were spoilt for choice with Friday night entertainment, with the Super Rugby Semi-final and Cirque Du Soleil’s show ‘Crystal’ putting on a show just hundreds of metres apart.
But even Richie Mo’unga’s best moves couldn’t compare to the jaw dropping, head spinning acrobatics of Cirque du Soleil.
For more than two hours, dozens of entertainers, skated, flipped and flew around Christchurch arena. Crystal was a highly skilled, expertly executed and polished performance.
It pays to arrive early, because from the moment you sit down in your seat, you’ll be transported into a winter wonderland.
Ahead of the official start time, performers slowly make their way out onto the rink, a four-piece band walks around the arena and one of the show’s most delightful characters makes himself known.
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The show’s main character Crystal wowed the audience as she skated, spun and swung her way around the rink.
The show follows Crystal, a teenage girl, desperate to escape her suffocating suburban life.
A life-changing moment forces her to look at the world in new ways, and use the power of a pen, and her imagination, to write a more positive future for herself.
Crystal’s first New Zealand performance kicked off in front of a not quite sold out but very enthusiastic crowd at Christchurch Arena.
The show was a spectacle. A masterclass in precision, coordination and down-right bravery on the part of the performers.
Oohs and aahs echoed around the audience as one man balanced on a tower of chairs with just one hand and there were audible gasps as ice skaters hurtled towards each other at great speed only to backflip over one another.
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Much like the audience, fellow performers watch this man in awe as he balances above a tower of chairs.
For the first time Cirque du Soleil featured ice skating and acrobatics side by side, all the while showing off both disciplines to their full potential.
While innovative and unique, Crystal didn’t stray too far from more traditional circus elements.
High octane hockey players made way for graceful figure skaters before heart skipping trapeze stints and astonishing high-speed juggling.
Live music added great energy to the show while pop songs like Beyoncé’s Halo and U2’s Beautiful Day had people quietly singing along.
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These “ice hockey players” zoomed around the rink at such a speed their margin of error seemed like mere millimetres.
Almost two million people from 18 different countries have seen Crystal since it first opened in 2017.
The Friday night show was the first of 10 Christchurch performances, before the group heads north for nine shows at Auckland’s Spark Arena.
Tickets are still available for all Christchurch and all but one Auckland show.
A 30% off sale (which is still going) suggests sales aren’t going as well as promoters would have hoped but it does mean tickets are available for as little as $53.10.
In my opinion, it would be money well spent.
Crystal promised to be spectacular, jaw dropping and gravity defying, and it did not disappoint.
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