Quidam

Quidam
Company	Cirque du Soleil
Genre	Contemporary circus
Show type	Touring production
Date of premiere	April 23, 1996
Creative team
Writer and director	Franco Dragone
Director of creation	Gilles Ste-Croix
Senior artistic director	Richard Dagenais
Artistic director	Fabrice Lemire
Composer	Benoît Jutras
Costume designer	Dominique Lemieux
Set designer	Michel Crête
Lighting designer	Luc Lafortune
Choreographer	Debra Brown
Sound designer	François Bergeron
Make-up designer	Nathalie Gagné
Artistic guide	Guy Laliberté
Other information
Preceded by	Alegría (1994)
Succeeded by	O (1998)
Official website

Quidam (/kiːˈdɑːm/ kee-DAHM) is the ninth stage show produced by Cirque du Soleil. It premiered in April 1996 and has now been watched by millions of spectators around the world.^[1] Quidam originated as a big top show since its premiere in Montreal, but has since been converted into an arena format beginning with its 2010 tour in North America.^[2]

The entire show is imagined by a bored young girl named Zoé who is alienated and ignored by her parents. She dreams up the whimsical world of Quidam as a means of escaping the monotony of her life.^[1]

The show's title refers to the feature character, a man without a head, carrying an umbrella and a bowler hat. Quidam is said to be the embodiment of both everyone and no one at the same time. According to Cirque du Soleil literature "Quidam: a nameless passer-by, a solitary figure lingering on a street corner, a person rushing past. ... One who cries out, sings and dreams within us all."^[1]

History

Quidam has won awards for some of its acts throughout its production history.

• Banquine, 1999 Golden Clown at the International Monte Carlo Circus Festival.^[3]
• Diabolos, 1995 Gold Medal at Festival du Cirque de Demain^[3]

Set and technical information

The minimalistic stage was designed by Michel Crête to represent a monolithic structure such as an airport or train station where people are always coming to and from. The major set element includes the five, all-aluminum, 120-foot (36.57-meter) arches above the stage, known as the téléphérique. These allow performers to be transported onto and off the stage from above. Each rail of the téléphérique has two trolleys: one to raise and lower the performer or equipment, and the second to transport it onto or off the stage. As for the stage floor itself, it is made of aluminum decks with a perforated, rubber-type mat. The perforations, of which there are over 200,000, allow light to pass through from below the stage, creating various visual effects.^[1]

Cast

The cast of Quidam has over 50 acrobats, musicians, singers, and characters, some of which are detailed below.^[1][4][5]

• Zoé: She is the principal character in Quidam. Although average in nature, she longs for excitement.
• Father: Completely, though unwittingly, self-absorbed. His white shoes are the only indication of a hidden personality.
• Mother: Conveys an air of absence and alienation. Inside her lie fear, frustration, and desire.
• Quidam: The show's titular character, who is anonymous, everyone, and no one. He may have stepped out of a surrealist painting or been conjured up out of Zoé's imagination.
• John: Part game-show host and part substitute teacher who is the guide through the world of Quidam. Also is represented as a father figure to Zoé hence him stepping into her fathers shoes.
• Target: A living human bullseye fired at by everyone, but is always smiling.
• Chiennes Blanches: The silent chorus, the nameless and the faceless, the dehumanized, mechanical crowd, simultaneously leading and following. They also accompany the principal characters as they make their entrances and exits.
• Boum-Boum: Enjoys screaming at the audience and walking away proudly, but will run away if an audience member screams back.
• Rabbit: A minor character who chases and gets chased by other characters.
• Aviator: A character who has skeletal wings who looks like he is not ready to take off.
• Les Égarés: Lost individuals who gather together in the streets and abandoned buildings of Quidam. They perform in the banquine act.

Acts

Quidam combines a mix of acrobatic skills and traditional circus acts. These acts are listed below.^[1][3][6]

• German wheel: An acrobat performs tricks within a German wheel.
• Diabolo: A performer manipulates diabolos (i.e. Chinese yo-yo), which are two sticks linked by a string on which a wooden spool balances.
• Aerial contortion in silk: Intensity, power and grace combine when a young woman becomes one with the column of red fabric which supports and cradles her.
• Skipping ropes: Drawing inspiration from dance, acrobatics, and the art of manipulation, a group of 20 acrobats performs this familiar child's game in a steady stream of solo, duo, and group jumps and figures.
• Aerial hoops: Two performers use hoops attached to the ceiling to perform various tricks.
• Handbalancing: Using strength and balance, a performer contorts into different poses while on balancing canes.
• Spanish webs: Artists fly over the stage, attached to trolleys on the overhead tracks. In turn or as a group, they occasionally perform a sudden drop, stopped only by the ropes looped around their waists or ankles.
• Statue: Never losing contact, two strong, flexible performers move almost imperceptibly, assuming positions impossible without an impeccable sense of balance.
• Banquine: An Italian acrobatic tradition going back to the Middle Ages that combines gymnastics and ballet. Showcasing the agility of the human body, up to 15 artists perform sequences of feats and human pyramids with their perfectly synchronized movements.

Acts in rotation

• Juggling: Up to 5 balls fly through the air, with additional manipulation of a briefcase, umbrella, and bowler hat.
• Cyr Wheel: An acrobat performs tricks in a large metal ring.

Retired acts

• Manipulation: Three performers used warped metal sheets to juggle and manipulate a red ball that they each had, later in the act they got rid of the metal sheet and juggled the red balls as well as many other red balls and a bowler hat each.
• Aerial straps: Two artists grasped cords that dangled from the overhead rails, sometimes they performed on the ground, sometimes in the air.
• Hoops: A sensational routine that involved up to 20 spinning hoops that a seductive performer manipulated all over her body, it combined the agility and skill of a gymnast with the flexibility of a contortionist, the dexterity of a juggler, and the grace of a ballerina.
• Cloud swing: A unique combination of Trapeze and Spanish web techniques were combined in this act. This act was dropped out of the show in 2013 allegedly due to financial issues the company was facing,it was to reduce the cost of the show (the apparatus and artist), and to reduce the length of the show.

Costumes

Quidam's costume designer, Dominique Lemieux, drew inspiration from Surrealist art, particularly the works of René Magritte and Paul Delvaux. The costumes convey the alienation of the characters and represent an urban landscape through the use of painted textures and fabrics. The dominant color throughout Quidam is grey, but is supplemented by deep, rich, warm colors and embellished with metals. Quidam was the first Cirque du Soleil show to utilize everyday clothing for the outfits, although those in the acrobatic acts are modified. The fabric chosen for Quidam is primarily stretch linen, but also includes leather, jute, linen crepe, wool, velvet and 42 types of cotton.^[7]

Quidam has approximately 250 costumes, 500 costume accessories, and 200-300 shoes. The reason for the large amount of costumes for the cast is that each artist has anywhere from 2 to 7 costumes, of which there are at least 2 spares. The costumes, although washed every day, can last anywhere from 6 months to 2 years.^[1]

Music

Quidam’s music was composed by Benoît Jutras, and has been released in three album editions featuring additional songs, alternative new cover designs, and higher quality sounds. The first CD was released on January 14, 1997. (ASIN B000003G5M) The album features the voices of Audrey Brisson-Jutras and Mathieu Lavoie, with the exception of two bonus tracks sung by Brisson-Jutras and Richard Price on the extended CD released in 2001 (recorded live in Amsterdam, 1999).^[8]

Below is a list of tracks as featured on the original 1997 release, alongside each of which is listed the act which the track accompanies. The two tracks on the 2001 extended album are also included at the end: Mìsere and Enfant d'Acier.^[8]

1. Atmadja (Opening)
2. Incantation (German wheel)
3. Marelle (Interlude)
4. Rivage
   • Manipulation (1996–1998)
   • Juggling (1999–2004, 2006 onward)
5. Zydeko (Skipping ropes)
6. Let Me Fall (Aerial contortion in silk)
7. Innocence (Skipping ropes)
8. Carrousel
   • Clown act
   • Diabolos
   • Aerial hoops
9. Steel Dream
   • Handbalancing (1996–1998)
   • Aerial straps (2004–2005)
10. Seisouso
    • Aerial hoops
    • Cloud swing
11. Réveil (Statues)
12. Quidam (Finale)
13. Misère (Banquine)
14. Enfants d'Acier (Diabolos)

Tour

Quidam started as a Grand Chapiteau touring show before being fully converted to an arena touring show in 2010.^[2] For a short period of time in 2009, Quidam toured the UK and IE in arena format before switching back to Grand Chapiteau when it went to South America.

Cirque du Soleil started using a customized tour bus as a method of helping to advertise Quidam during its tour in the Northeastern part of North America during the fall of 2011. During the shows stops in various cities, the tour bus makes appearances at local merchants, allowing people to meet part of the crew.^[9]

The following colorboxes indicate the region of each performance:
  EU   Europe   NA   North America   SA   South and Central Americas   AP   Asia/Pacific   OC   Oceania

See also

• Solstrom

References

External links

• Cirque du Soleil's Official Quidam site
• Patrick McGuire's Quidam Manipulation
• Zoe Actress Interviews by A Girl's World
• Cirque du Soleil Quidam in Ontario, California, 2011