La Nouba Acts and Performers
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Roue allemande (German Wheel)
What started as a popular gymnastics exercise in Germany has become a crowd-pleasing act for Cirque du Soleil. Six-and-a-half feet in diameter, the wheel consists of two metal hoops joined at six points. Identical twin brothers turn and spin the wheels while performing gravity-defying somersaults and acrobatics. Though both were featured in Cirque du Soleil's Nouvelle Expérience, this is the first time they are performing together as a duo.
Bruce Bilodeau, Stacey Bilodeau.
Funambule (High Wire)
The Funambule act takes place on a 90-foot, half-inch wide steel wire. With remarkable balance and precision, a high wire walker ascends to a height of 34 feet above the stage as his partner descends from the theater's eighth level to the fifth on a diagonal wire. The performers' breathtaking maneuvers include head balancing, and death defying somersaults. Using two different types of bicycles, one of the high wire walkers executes a wheelie and later crosses the wire while carrying another artist on his shoulder. This amazing team is comprised of three acrobats who are life-long students of the discipline.
Igor Arefiev, Valentina Jabina, Valery Bassan.
Diabolos
The diabolo, or Chinese yo-yo, is a children's game first introduced into the realm of the arts in Cirque du Soleil's Quidam. This entrancing act features four young Chinese performers. Holding two sticks linked by a string, they slide, juggle and toss a musical wooden spool while performing flips in the air. Demonstrating increasingly difficult maneuvers, the artists attempt to outdo each other in dexterity and ingenuity.
Ao Jingru, Zhou Lu, Wu Meng, Wang Wei Yi.
Vélos (Cycles)
This act gets rolling with a BMX wizard whose difficult maneuvers never fail to mesmerize the public. His technical twists, gymnastic turns and spins on one wheel are highlighted in incredible tricks such as G-turns, boomerangs and megaspins, all accompanied by lots of footwork. The second half of the act features yet another artist whose feats are equally astonishing. His hard-to-believe stunts include riding over obstacles without ever putting his feet down, jumping off high platforms, hopping up and down steps and into the audience on one wheel, and even jumping over an artist and a guest before literally plunging into the bowels of the stage.
Rob Alton, Lance Trappe.
Cadre aérien (Aerial Cradle)
The aerial cradle looks like a door and is a perfect example of equal-opportunity strength and agility. This amazing athletic display features elements of traditional circus aerial cradle with a unique and special difference - the male and female artists take turns supporting one another 34 feet above the stage.
Kristy Lee Wilson, Carlos Màrcio Moreira.
Ballet air et soie (Aerial Ballet in Silk)
In a stunning display of grace and strength, the artists become one with the ribbon of red fabric that cradles them. This breathtaking aerial dance requires immense agility and flexibility, and allows the performers a wide latitude of acrobatic and artistic expression.
Christina Campolongo, Julie Dionne.
Equilibre sur chaises (Balancing on Chairs
Rokardy's chair act was created exclusively for La Nouba, and integrated in the show on January 24, 2003. The artist stacks furniture he has found in the imaginary attic of La Nouba in order to light a chandelier, which mysteriously rises just beyond his reach every time he tries to get to the last candle. Rokardy defies gravity and the laws of physics as he balances precariously on a stack of six chairs, two books, and a baby carriage atop a table elevated 16 feet in the air. When he finally manages to reach the chandelier, Rokardy, who is now 34 feet in the air, surprises his audience with a unique hand balancing image, before lighting the last candle.
Carlos Diaz (Rockardy)
Grands volants (Flying Trapeze)
Four pendulum-like swings, on two different levels, carry a team of perfectly synchronized aerialists 53 feet above the stage. This innovative bi-level rigging enables the trapezists to create a visually arresting exhibition of rhythm and athleticism. Timing is key when all four trapezes are swinging in tandem and the aerialists switch places - barely inches away from colliding.
Victor Bouriak, Pavel Bragantsev, Vitali Cherstnev, Robert Dawson, Yakov Dyrda, Oleg Kouroedov, Volodymyr Moskalenko, Sergiy Poletskyy, Kristen Powell, Renzo Ramirez, Andrei Roublev, Jany Salazar
Power Track/Trampoline
This act in La Nouba takes ordinary trampoline and power track performance to a new level. The stage is set on fire in this high-energy acrobatic display of phenomenal timing and spatial awareness.
Melanie Bayol, Stéphane Bayol, Brian Beech, Bo Chen, Alexandre Daniltchenko, Vladislav Dounaev, Grygoriy Duchenko, Kenneth Futamura, Marina Goriounova, Mark Griffith, Vesselina Guencheva, Dustin Hill, Kristina Ivanova, Wellington Lima, Tatiana Louchina, Krystian Sawicki, Dallas Stevens, Justin Sullivan, Roman Timokhine, Christina Van Fleet, Kristy Lee Wilson, Maxim Zassypkine
Characters
La Femme de ménage (The Cleaning Lady) - Sarah Touchette
Les Cons (The Nuts) - Pawel Biegaj, Witold Biegaj, David Lebel, Justin Osbourne
Les Danseurs (The Dancers) - Natalia Bashkatova, Anthony Kunikeyev
Le Titan (The Titan) - Krystian Sawicki
Le Promeneur (The Walker) - Carlos Màrcio Moreira
L'Oiseau vert (The Green Bird) - Natasha Hallett
Le Pierrot acrobate (The Pierrot Acrobat) - Wellington Lima
Clowns Balthazar & Sergei - Michel Deschamps, Sergei Chachelev
Musicians
Band leader - Benoit Glazer
Bass, Double Bass - Jean-François Bédard
Vocalist - Dessy Di Lauro
Drums - Georges Bertrand
Guitars - Clifford Schwartz
Keyboards & accordion - Alexander Clements
Saxophone, keyboards - Alan Bradette
Violinist - Benoît Lajeunesse
Female Vocalist - Lesley-Anne Benjamin
Male Vocalist - Ralph Rawe
