The magical acts of Cirque du Soleil have taken over Dallas with the phenomenal production of Amaluna. The performers make you feel like you have been transformed into a world of magic and flight!  One thing that sets this production apart from anything I have ever seen is that the show is actually in a tent, just like the circus used to be. I think that the production team has so much integrity by keeping the authenticity and good old fun of the circus. I had never seen a show like this before, and I urge everyone to see a Cirque du Soleil show at least once in their life.

This production takes place on an island ruled and governed by goddesses. The story starts when a storm brings in a group of sailors from sea. The queen of the islands daughter, Miranda, falls in love with one of the shipmen, Romeo. This show is actually a loose representation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The story unfolds with evil goddesses, jealousy, and betrayal–all with the amazing acts of hand balancing, contortion, aerial straps, and aerial hoops. Cirque du Soleil also demonstrates theatrics, singing, and gymnastics, along with its circus parts. The show had live singers and live music! These performances really put the production over the top!

The show begins with the celebration of Queen Prospera’s daughter Miranda and her coming of age. Prospera knows that Miranda wants to find true love, but she is hesitant to let her adventurous daughter find it on her own. Miranda’s trusty sidekick Cali is a half-lizard half-human friend who is also hesitant to lose his best friend to another man. The first we see of phenomenal tricks is 3 aerialists soaring through the sky on aerial straps. We also see what looks to be like 2 Siamese twins doing unbelievable tricks on unicycles. Then the fun of the circus really begins! A large glass bowl of water is pushed to the center of the stage and from the ceiling comes the Moon Goddess on a lyra aerial hoop. This performer did some of the craziest contortion and strength work I have ever seen. For the first part of this performance, Miranda is observing the breathtaking goddess.  Miranda then joins the act and adorns the ring with the Moon Goddess. They do amazing partner work all while on a ring in the sky. At the end of the Moon Goddesses performance, Miranda is dropped into the water and emerges ready for her time to shine. She attaches handstand canes to a platform of the bowl. Miranda then goes on to do a strength-defying hand balancing act while going in and out of the giant water bowl. I am still in awe of her performance!

After Miranda and the Moon Goddess leave the stage, the men are washed onto shore. They are confused but in awe of the beauty of the island that they have landed on. Romeo sees Miranda for the first time and they know it is love at first sight. They are quickly drawn apart from the forces of evil but know they will reunite. The men of the ship then go into their act with help from the female gymnast of the island. The women perform an amazing uneven bars act while the men flip the night away on a seesaw where they bounce each other into the sky! They flipped and soared all over the sky and gave the crowd quite a scare with some of their death-defying tricks.

Continuing the show, we find Miranda and Romeo once again trying to reconnect their love–when we find out that Miranda’s trusty sidekick Cali is actually evil! Cali performs an enchanting juggling act like nothing I have ever seen. Cali and his evil team capture Miranda from Romeo as he does everything he can to save her. Romeo has his time in the spotlight and performs an amazing strength act. He rescues Miranda and they fight together to defeat Cali once and for all.

Miranda and Cali are finally free from all the evil forces keeping them apart! Prospera is happy to see Miranda and Romeo’s strength and determination for her and is happy with her daughter’s choice for marriage. The whole island throws a party and celebrates the uniting of the two. The finale was definitely my favorite performance because all the acts came back on stage and performed as one! There were 6 people soaring from the sky, contortionists all over the stage, and amazing singers, guitarists, and drummers pulling the whole performance all together!

These shows were not something I was thinking I would love as much as I did. But, I found a real love for Cirque du Soleil and will definitely be trying to find another show near me to see. In the meantime, you should absolutely go to a night in the tent and be blown away by the performers from around the world and their amazing abilities to entertain and demonstrate strength!