People Are Amazing Creatures

Text by: Richard Russo | Mar/Apr 2008
Fascination! Newsletter, Issue #58

A few weeks back, we at "Fascination!" made a couple of purchases through online auction site Ebay that piqued our collective interests. Both were CD-R/DVD-R promo CDs from the Australian tours of Quidam and Varekai; we became inquisitive about the contents of each - were they your basic show promo CD, were they comparable to the promo CDs launched in the United States, and/or did they harbor new, undiscovered gems? So we bought them! And here's what we discovered...

QUIDAM

Optus, a mobile telephone company, which was the presenting sponsor of Quidam during its 2004-2005 Australian tour, produced a wonderful little CD-R as promo material for the Quidam tour. The packaging is a simple Digi-Pak design, with an image of the four hoop girls adorning the front, and Isabelle Vaudelle suspended high above the stage in her red silks on the back. You'll find Quidam himself on the inside front cover and a whirling Shayne Courtright on German Wheel as the CDs silk-screen label.

Slipping the disc in we found an Optus splash screen (with a few Quidam characters popping on and off our field of view) and then the main menu appeared. The content of the Quidam Promo DVD-R is divided up into three distinct sections: Internet, Video and Audio. Each is represented by a specific character from the show itself - Internet is John (and his toaster radio), Audio is Target, video is Boum-Boum (gloved-hands held high triumphantly.) Let's take a look at each:

INTERNET, is a rather unremarkable collection of world-wide-web links. In this section you'll find links to the Official Cirque du Soleil Website, Optus' Official Website, the Cirque Boutique, Optus Zoo Mobile site and CirqueClub. When you click on the link inside the program, it immediately opens up your primary browser of choice and takes you there.

AUDIO, is equally unremarkable today, containing two full-length songs from Cirque du Soleil Musique's repertoire: "Alegría (a Man caleld Adam's Magical Mix {6:07})" and "Emballa (Llorca Remix {5:47})". Both of these mixes can be found on the Tapis Rogue Solarium Chill CD and are played through an in-software audio program.

VIDEO, is the section where we find the most interesting material. Besides the standard DVD promo (this time featuring Varekai {1:40}), we also find a Cirque du Soleil Music Promo (1:02) and a Fire Within TV Series promo (3:04). However, the coop-de-grace in this collection is - get ready for it - a fully digitized "Full Cirque: The Making of Quidam" documentary (22:34) previously available only on VHS (and now well out of print). All four videos play through an in-software video program; however, getting a chance to see a digital version of Full Circle outweighs any negativity brought about by it.

But, if you're curious and adventurous like we were, we discovered one can hear and view the audio/video material on the CD-R itself by placing the disc in their drives and, rather than running the start file (or having the computer automatically running it), traverse the directories using Windows Explorer on the PC or Finder on the Mac. In doing so, you'll find that the two previously mentioned audio tracks are available in MP3 format in the Audio directory. The Alegría remix in 160kbps and the Emballa remix in 256kbps. Under the Video directory, you'll find the four previously mentioned video previews and the full-length Quidam documentary here (in .MPG video format). Which means you can view the documentary in your video player of choice!

And for an added bit of functionality, pop the CD-R into your standard CD player to hear "Alegría (a Man called Adam's Magical Mix)" on Track 1 and "Emballa (Llorca Remix)" on track 2!

VAREKAI

Optus, the presenting sponsor of Cirque du Soleil in Australia, produced yet another great little promo CD-R/DVD-R to promote Varekai on its 2006-2007 Australian Tour. Like its predecessor, this one too sports a simple Digi-Pak design, with an image of the lizard in the Varekai forests for a cover, and the Aerial Hop artists on the back. The inside sports the Body Skaters (in a tower pose) with Icarus and the Green Butterfly on the CDs silk-screen label.

Slipping this disc in our drive found a unique splash screen created from the multiple pin-points of light numerous fireflies give off, as they float about and come together to form the VAREKAI logo. The main menu itself is a flash-animation of the Varekai forest with Icarus hanging from his net above the ground. The content of this CD is divided up into two distinct sections: EXPERIENCE VAREKAI and CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, with further divisions as you continue to explore. So, let's take a look!:

Under CIRQUE DU SOLEIL you'll find "Cirque Club", "Other Cirque DVDs", and "Music" categories.

CIRQUE CLUB, is a standard quick video promo about joining CirqueClub.

OTHER CIRQUE DVDS, is the standard video promo about the Cirque du Soleil DVD catalogue, which has been seen on other DVD special features and/or promotional CDs.

MUSIC, features four Cirque du Soleil songs from four different shows and is the most significant section here: "Kumbalawé" from Saltimbanco, "Alegría" from Alegría, "Réveil" from Quidam, and "Vocea" from Varekai. All tracks are full-length and are from the original studio CDs (i.e., these are not remixes or reissue tracks).

Under EXPERIENCE VAREKAI, there are three selections: "Varekai Preview", "Varekai Short Acts", and "Behind the Scenes".

VAREKAI PREVIEW, is a short video overview of the show itself.

VAREKAI SHORT ACTS, is a video snippet collection of a handful of the acrobatic numbers presented in the show: "Flight of Icarus" (0:27.08), "Icarian Games" (0:29.19), "Water Meteors" (0:28.28), "Clowns" (0:30.00), "Triple Trapeze" (0:30.00), and "Georgian Dance" (0:30.00). The entire montage is set to "Vocea" and only plays if you select the snippet from the first act to play first; otherwise it's a silent preview.

BEHIND THE SCENES, has two items to explore here. First is "Fire Within", which is just the standard promo video for the Television Series (also featured on the Quidam CD-R by Optus). The other selection, "Interviews", is a 4 minute (approximate) interview with the Atherton Twins putting answers to the following five questions: "How would you define Fire Within?", "Has the Experience with Fire Within made you stars?", "What does Fire Within mean to you?", "How did your friends and family react to you in Fire Within?", and "What did you learn about yourselves?" The answers are what you'd expect so we won't elaborate further here.

Unfortunately, unlike with the Quidam promo CD, it's much harder to experience the material outside of the CD-R/DVD-R's program, as the audio and video is in DVD format. Be that as it may, you can traverse the CDs directories using Windows Explorer (PC) or Finder (Mac) to discover the DVD files and force-play them in your DVD Player of choice. Or, for a slightly different experience, just pop the disc in your standard DVD player; however, the music clips are unavailable this way (but we don't see that as a huge loss).

Both CD-R/DVD-R promo CDs were an exceptional buy and if you can find them, we highly recommend you pick them up. Having a digital copy of "Full Circle", the Quidam behind-the-scenes documentary of its creation is a rare treat in any bit-rate - especially since Cirque du Soleil Images missed the boat by not adding this to the Quidam DVD. And viewing the short act previews for Varekai is also a cool thing to have, especially since the show is constantly evolving.