I believe it was PT Barnum who said ” A fool and his money are soon parted”. He was referring, of course, to the penchant for people to visit the circus and witness a world full of midway wonders and disappointing marvels.
Today the circus has changed significantly.
When I was a child it included lions and tigers and bears (Oh my!). I once rode an elephant when the Shriners brought the circus to Prince George.
But now the circus means something totally different to me. It means Cirque……as in Cirque du Soleil
I saw it once or twice on TV…then we saw a show in Vancouver (Quidam) and I was amazed. What a wonderful show!
Then, last year, Kirk surprised me with the most amazing gift for my 40th birthday. A bouquet of flowers (that had to be placed high above any cat activity) and a card that contained two tickets for a Cirque du Soleil show…”O”…in Las Vegas!!!
We just went to see Corteo and it was wonderful. The story centres around the funeral of a clown. We bought the CD since the music was so wonderful. In the back of the CD booklet was the story of the show….it is a wonderfully written bit and I’ve copied it below.
“In the end we all have to learn how to fly, be it with wings, on a bicycle, it doesn’t matter. In the end there will be a party attended by all our friends, all those people who loved us so well, recalling memories, little details, fragrances of a life, will gather to honour us. There will be a bed, and a long pageant of emotion will play out before that bed. There will be angels, and if it’s a clown who is dead, there will be acrobats, and an entire circus will parade by. To turn a burial into a celebration, there will also have to be music…wild, nostalgic and evocative strains. Music beckoning one to blend acrobatics and dance and be carried away on an wave of memories.”
“If we are lucky, we will look back, and those we leave behind will wave white handkerchiefs, and cry out wonderful words to us. If we are lucky, we will leave behind an entire circus that will weep and laugh, laugh and weep, that will celebrate by sharing memories, transforming our life into a modest legend”
“In the end, we will fly away and the music will take us by the hand and we will begin to dance. We will close our eyes and remember everything, we will invent everything.”