'CIRQUE' DOES NOT WORQUE DOCUMENTARY FAILS TO CAPTURE CIRCUS ATMOSPHERE.Byline: David Kronke TV Critic IF YOU'VE SEEN a Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (French for "Circus of the Sun") is an entertainment empire based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier. show, you know they're extravaganzas of jaw-dropping acrobatic bedazzlement, of real-life special effects - human bodies doing things human bodies shouldn't be able to do. ``Cirque du Soleil: Fire Within,'' alas, scarcely represents as high- flying an achievement as a live performance. This behind-the-scenes documentary series follows the evolution of a Cirque show, from the recruitment of new talent to training, choreography and rehearsals. There's also very mild backstage drama provided by the performers' personal lives playing out in the severe apartments of the Cirque's projects-like residences. Ultimately, ``Fire Within'' calls to mind what they say about sausage - you may enjoy it, but you really don't want to see how it's made How It's Made (also broadcast in French under the title Comment c'est fait, in Polish under the title Jak to jest zrobione, in Italian under the title Come è fatto, and in Russian under the title . Not because the procedure is so grisly, in this case, but so determinedly tedious. As the series opens, narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. Christopher Dyson, reading from series creator Lewis Cohen's portentous por·ten·tous adj. 1. Of the nature of or constituting a portent; foreboding: "The present aspect of society is portentous of great change" Edward Bellamy. 2. script, grimly intones, ``Not all who started on that journey made it to the end.'' Huh? Did they kill some mimes? Dyson's voice, choked with grim emotion, should be narrating documentaries about the Balkan genocide, not a show about clowns and acrobats getting ready for a circus. ``Fire Within'' skimps on the trademark Cirque stunt work in egregious favor of banal discussions and observations from the troupe's members and trainers. For example, one trainer notes somewhat less than scintillatingly of a new recruit, ``If you say to him, 'Do something,' he'll try and do it.'' Another issues forth this proclamation: ``For me, life is movement; movement is life.'' Oh, jeez jeez interj. Used to express surprise or annoyance. [Alteration of Jesus1.] . Cirque solemnity SOLEMNITY. The formality established by law to render a contract, agreement, or other act valid. 2. A marriage, for example, would not be valid if made in jest, and without solemnity. Vide Marriage, and Dig. 4, 1, 7; Id. 45, 1, 30. spills over into the narration, which offers its own inanities. Describing a talent scout searching for singers, Dyson marvels, ``Her first day, she sees over 36 candidates.'' So that would be 37 candidates? Acrobats and gymnasts describe their craft as prosaically as I herewith here·with adv. 1. Along with this. 2. By this means; hereby. herewith Adverb Formal together with this: describe mine: ``When I type, it's a little challenging, because your fingers have to go on the right keys on the keyboard or else it all turns out all wrong and then you'll have to use the delete key and fix it all.'' Actually, a delete key might've come in handy Verb 1. come in handy - be useful for a certain purpose be - have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun); "John is rich"; "This is not a good answer" early in the conception of ``Fire Within.'' Eventually, the series will show a full-blown performance, but until then, the backstage drama hardly amounts to any drama at all. CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: FIRE WITHIN - Two stars What: Behind-the-scenes series about the members of the innovative circus troupe. Where: Bravo. When: 9 tonight. In a nutshell: You know what they say about seeing how sausage is made? Same deal here, only not as interesting. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Twins Kevin and Andrew Atherton of Cirque du Soleil produce a mirror effect as they dangle dangle Nursing A popular term for the first movement a Pt is allowed, either after surgery under general anesthesia, or 'under local', where the recuperee allows his/her feet to dangle over the side of the bed on the aerial straps. |
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