Friday, September 08, 2006

Las Vegas Showtime!

Well, I can honestly say I have never, (ever) been as impressed by a performance as I was tonight! We’ve just got back from seeing ‘O’ by Cirque Du Soleil and there really is no way to adequately do it justice without dragging you here to see for yourself! Just the most spectacular entertainment I’ve ever witnessed. I don’t even really know how to describe it; a musical, a circus, an opera, a ballet; actually all of them. The cast were all dancers, synchronised swimmers, high divers, gymnasts, athletes, actors, comedians… and whatever they get paid – it’s not enough!! The whole ‘show’ was done to live music and was all performed in, over or under water! The stage, (inside a hotel) is a huge, (as in American huge!) circular affair which goes from being a solid floor to a deep, (as in 100 ft high diving) pool. It must be built like a jigsaw as one minute people are dancing on dry land, the next they’re splashing through inches of water and then bodies appear from under water; you never know which bit of the stage will be wet, dry or what! Much of it is aerial on trapezes and which ever performance you’re watching at the time, another equally impressive act/dance/display is happening in your peripheral vision. I could go on and on but I’m all too aware of over emphasising a point so I won’t. But I could trust me; and the more I go on about it, the more I wouldn’t be able to do it justice. It was expensive, being the most raved about show in Las Vegas; but I would pay twice the cost, and I could watch it every night for a week and still see new stuff!!!

Anyway, enough going on… what else have we been up to? This morning we took the bike into town to go and see “Bodies” the exhibition. These were real (dead) bodies in all sorts of states of dissection. Muscular, skeletal, respiratory, reproductive, coronary systems on show. Every bit was real human tissue, bone, muscle, arteries, skin, tendons, and organs exactly as they are inside us. The only change was the moisture that holds our bodies together had been replaced by a silicon polymer as it wouldn’t dehydrate like the real stuff does when you’re dead! It was fascinating stuff, but then we went to ‘O’…

'O' was in the Bellagio hotel which is the flashiest hotel in Vegas and has a large pond/small lake in front of it and every 15 minutes has an incredible fountain display to music. The word fountain makes it sound so average. Of course it’s not, this is Las Vegas! The water comes from hundreds, maybe thousands of moving, swivelling jets under the surface and are all lit up from underneath; and the whole thing is choreographed like a dance troupe to 29 different pieces of music from classical to jazz to modern dance music – have I used the word impressive too much yet??

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