5 Curious Facts about KURIOS
When you hear “Cirque du Soleil” you know you’re in for a good time. So when they announced they were bringing their newest show KURIOS – Cabinet of Curiosities™ to Australia, we were instantly excited! But bringing a show like this across the world is no easy feat. Take a look at what we can expect when KURIOS comes to Australia this year!
1. A talented cast
In order to put on a show of this calibre you need the best of the best. KURIOS’ 57-member cast includes performers hailing from 23 different countries, from the US and Australia to Kazakhstan and Mongolia. And they have a range of talents including contortion, acrobatics, unicycling, juggling and even yo-yoing! Among the cast is the smallest woman in the world, at just 3.3 feet tall and 18.6kg.
2. A cabinet of couture
With such a brilliant cast, you need brilliant costumes to dress them in. KURIOS features more than 100 custom costumes, with more than 800 pieces including accessories, shoes and wigs. And these are not your everyday Halloween costumes. Some pieces, like the Accordion Man’s attire, took more than a week to sew just the inside. Mr. Microcosmo’s belly took around 250 hours to build, weighs more than 9kg and houses its own lighting and ventilation system. At one point his coat even unfolds into a 19-metre long locomotive, out of which a swarm of travellers emerge.
3. One man’s trash
Set in what could be described as a retro-future, KURIOS takes place in a steampunk Victorian fantasy. Set designer Stéphane Roy describes it as “Jules Verne meets Thomas Edison in an alternate reality, out of time”, and she brings this world to life with everything from gramophones to old typewriters and turbines. In fact, many items were salvaged from junkyards, then dismantled and fused back together with tubes and pipes. One piece in particular, The Seeker’s chair (which stands at a whopping 3.5 metres tall), is decorated entirely with recycled pieces of metal.
4. The most objects in Cirque history
This parallel reality is filled with literally tonnes of unusual objects to pique your curiosity. 426 unusual objects to be exact — the most of any production in Cirque du Soleil history. These unusual objects include everything from a giant hot-air balloon to a massive mechanical hand that weighs 340kg and measures almost five metres by two metres in size. These objects are so extreme that it takes around 65 trucks to transport close to 2,000 tonnes of equipment.
5. A village on wheels
Speaking of transport, when Cirque du Soleil travels, they don’t travel light. Their “mobile village” includes the iconic Big Top circus tent, one large entrance tent, the artistic tent, a kitchen (which turns out 300 to 400 meals a day), offices, warehouses and more. Not only do they create their own village at each site, but they’re also completely self-sufficient for electrical power and rely only on local water supply and telecommunication facilities. They also employ local staff in each city to help get the job done.
KURIOS – Cabinet of Curiosities™ will tour Australia from October 2019. See Cirque du Soleil’s newest creation under the Big Top for yourself!
