“A nameless passer-by, alone in a crowd, in a society that has become too impersonal,” is how Cirque Du Soleil’s newest installation Quidam can be described as it made its stop at the Cow Palace in San Francisco this last week.
Quidam has a post World War II, Industrial Revolution timeline to it as many of the costumes consisted of newsboy caps, suspenders and button-up shirts with dust, coal and oil stains from factory life.
The story starts off with a young girl, Zoe, whose mother and farther are distant and busy with their lives to play attention to her until a mysterious visitor arrives and presents her with a sequin purple derby. When she slips on the hat she is taken to a world where she is no longer alone and bored. She is taken to a land of German wheels, aerial contortion, trapeze artists and jumprope connoisseurs.
Other characters in the performance who did not reflect the story’s period had very playful and amorous costumes of bright colors made of lame and lycra materials or wore costumes that appeared to look like they were wearing nothing at all.
My favorite costume was the one worn by the diabolos performers. The diabolos or Chinese yo-yo performers wore bright and youthful corset tops with black lame shorts. The combination sounds simple, but witnessing how the girls performed in the costume made them look fun and playful.
This was the fourth Cirque Du Soleil performance I’ve had the pleasure to see and these performances leave me in awe each time. This was however the first time seeing a traveling Soleil performance since most of their homes are in Las Vegas. Quidam will be back in the Bay Area in May for their last U.S. stop before they head to London.
