I was waiting for your Quidam vid and was so happy it was the next one. Your series totally encapsulates what I've been feeling about CDS for years now - the shows today are missing that special ingredient. Thanks for packaging all your research, theories, and montages into these eps. I can only imagine how long that takes. Highly anticipating the rest of your series!
Keep it up with these amazing videos! Can't wait to hear you talk about Saltimbanco or Mystere. I would've liked to hear more analyzing of the themes and imagery of Quidam though.
Thank you! I have wanted to know more about this show and its creative inspirations for over 20 years! This show has such an impact on my life that I got Quidam tattooed many years ago! 😮 To me it’s the most impactful show cirque has ever made.
I very much appreciate your take on Quidam. I was fortunate enough to watch it live in its early years. Thank you my ballet company. I live in Vegas, and have watched a few Cirque shows. Quidam has always been my number one. I wish they would bring it back. There is a dark beauty about it.
One thing I wanted to point out about the Banquine act, there was some symbolism that wasn’t touched on in your video. Andrii Lytvak, check out his channel Cirque Arts, previously performed this act and he replied to a question I had regarding the transition of colors for Les Egares: basically at the end of act one there is an explosion and Les Egares fall to the ground. Shortly afterwards they release their souls in the form of heart shaped balloons. When we see them again at the start of act two, their once colorful personas have been replaced with gray tattered versions of themselves, symbolizing that they lost everything, like people post war as you mentioned. The banquine act represents the climax of their story to regain what once was lost: life. On a minor note, when Zoe sees the tragedy before her she release her balloon soul which caught in a cage by Karl: her innocence may have been lost but her soul isn’t completely lost. Comment 2 of 3.
I know you have a specific theory but as someone who was born in 1995, I'd love to hear you talk about other shows I grew up with and love like Verekai and Corteo. Quidam is one of my all time favorites as well, thank you for such a comprehensive video.
Thank you for this incredible amount of research and dissection of the show’s concept! A bonus detail I love on the silks act is that through the show’s history, it was frequently performed by the artist who plays the mom’s character. At the end of the act she falls back into the father’s arms, or in the DVD version, her own. Not to mention every performer’s take on the act like Vaudelle’s hanging illusion. Also another fave is the intermission “Égaré” sequence where the colourful skipping rope characters collapse on stage as Zoe’s balloon flies into a cage target is carrying. After intermission we come back to find them turned into the dark grey banquine characters. Loss of innocence and great example of sequence of movements. Just so much detail you can’t find in new shows like Kurios or Volta. Completely agree an original revamp would fit perfectly in today’s context.
@@felipecoral8878 I’ve had a few other people point out the intermission “transformation.” I wish I had had a little more access to real footage to include that, it’s something I forgot from the small number of times I saw it live. Glad you enjoyed it and yes; they don’t make them like they used to! Haha.
(so sorry this is so long lmao) I’m so happy you’re doing quidam! Its my favorite cirque show by far even though i never got to see it live. It also has one of my favorite acts in any cirque du soleil show, the red silks. I absolutely love how intense, sad and angry it all is not to mention how I interpret this part of the story it’s really deep and personal to me and it never fails to get my crying lmao. I personally interpret the character doing the silks to be a visual metaphor showing either how the mom has been recently or how she’s currently feeling in the present, and I personally interpret the silks to represent all her intense emotions and desires good and bad swirling around her, tangling her up in everything with no time for rest (though personally If i had to be specific I’d say they mostly represent the desire for death/the desire to be “free”). And the mom and the woman who pick her up at the end i view as the mom finally getting the strength to save herself, pulling herself away from it yet her old self not wanting to let go of it. I would argue that quidam/the hat aren’t entirely “meaningless” to the plot. I think what they add most to the story is what/who they represent, sure quidam himself doesn't actually do much in the show but without him in it zoe wouldn’t have been thrown into the journey she finds herself in. not to mention to me at least i love how they have quidam just walking around the background throughout the show, to me it adds even more of an element to what quidam means, a passerby who you kind of notice don’t really interact with, someone who is simply just there. I love learning more about cirque but especially quidam, unsurprisingly I knew most of this but there was also alot i didnt, really excited to see whats next !
Haha, well firstly don't apologize for a long comment, I just made a 25+ minute video, I should be apologizing! The silks act probably could have its own video I think it's a really big deal, and it's cool that it has seemed to really grab a lot of people and be moving and memorable. And yes, Quidam is an interesting character, he's maybe not as pointless as I make him out to be. I find it interesting that he's such a big visual memory of the show, but his stage time is like... 2-3 minutes or something. But it does underline the basic theme of the show. It feels like it is his hand in the sky, like he's the one always watching. Thanks for watching with interest, it's really fun to hear from people!
I have seen all the shows that had came under THE BIG TOP to Spain since Alegria 1998. Quidam is the best of them. It is the creative peek of CDS itinerant shows. Thanks for your amazing videos!
I didn't know all that information you shared but I totally agree. I have always thought of these shows as the golden age of Cirque du Soleil. I really enjoy watching your videos. Great work and thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for making this! Never seen the show and will probably never have the chance, so I'm really glad to at least have a second hand perspective. Great work!
Finally I wanted to say how someone pointed out to how this is almost like the Yang to Saltimbanco’s Yin: a cold dark society filled with disconnection and suffering in contrast to a warm hopeful society. Sorry if this was too much to point out. You covered a lot of great material in this video. I just wanted to voice my opinions even if I had a lot. Comment 3 of 3.
@@colinmcallister3038 I love it! There’s always something I will miss; near the end of editing I found out about the connection with Robert Doisneau that I totally missed. As you know these are packed with thousands of little details and it is difficult to capture it all. I do think there’s symbolism in the hat and shoes for sure, more than anything it’s just funny to me how much I associate this show with Quidam the character and he’s barely got any stage time! I guess that’s the point about strangers, you remember them sometimes even if you only see them in passing. My main point in making these videos is not necessarily to be 100% right or capture every little detail, but instead to point out the level of detail the creators were working to include. I find it somewhat annoying that a causal viewer might feel like the shows are just “random” dream scene non-sense. On the contrary they’re highly detailed and things are selected to be put into the show for their meaning and how they support the overall message (and of course how compelling they are to the audience). It’s telling that it takes many years and many conversations and books to find the many inspirations and sources that lead to these shows. I really appreciate you watching and sharing your knowledge!
aboslutely in love with your series! last year i started scripting circus shows in eastern europe. your critique provides interesting perspective. thank you. i hope you will continue
I am so happy you talked about the lady in the red silk act. I totally felt all three emotions she was going through during that act. I knew what she was going through because I felt I was going through the same thing at that time. Amazing act, I LOVED every part of this show!! ❤️
Realmente me encantó el video! Te felicito por todo el estudio y el empeño que has logrado. Desde pequeño que veía los clásicos del Cirque du Soleil, y cuando veía Quidam no era de mis favoritos (pues claramente era un niño hahahah) pero ahora veo el espectáculo con otros ojos, sobre todo a las grandes referencias e inspiración que sacó el director (que lo amo) para hacer este espectáculo, pues claramente como dijiste “cualquier persona de la edad moderna entendería Quidam”. De verdad muchas gracias por el video. PD: tienes mucha razón al final del video, porfavor, que si sacan otra vez Quidam ¡Que sea solo Quidam! No 2.0 😂😂, ya que el nuevo Alegria me decepcionó mucho, sobre todo musicalmente
No creo que Alegría «In a new light» sea terrible... Desgraciadamente sólo está bien. Es una secuela. Las secuelas tienen fama de ser malas, jaja. Pero si van a hacer un remake de una función, que sea lo más parecido al original. Si no, que hagan una actuación totalmente nueva. ¡Gracias por compartir tu historia y tus amables palabras!
24:50, the end of the statue act is in my opinion one of the best parts of all the show! I have never seen such a terrific representation of something fading out in real life! Music, lightning, images, just utterly perfect!
This was a great analysis on Quidam, I really like this show for how different it is from the lighthearted Cirque shows. However, I have to disagree when you called the Bowler Hat a “meaningless plot device”: there’s a saying that wearing another person’s hat is like wearing someone else’s shoes ergo when Zoe put on Quidam’s bowler hat, she found herself in the world that we get to explore throughout the show. Speaking of shoes, John putting on Zoe’s father’s shoes symbolizes him stepping into his role and after the adventure Father has been on, John gives the shoes back knowing that he was ready to fulfill the role that he was meant to be for his daughter. Comment 1 of 3.
19:39, in a later version, can’t remember the performer, there was also a sequence in which it looked liked the woman hung herself. So emotional to see live. I wish they would bring this show back, just the way it was, under the big top!
thank you. I always thought the original Diabolo's act was a commentary on child labor - the Chinese girls are dressed like clockwork wind up dolls, machines spinning spools and gears - one of several reflections on loss of innocence in the show and oppressed people. like the transformation of the school yard children into the banquine act.
@@Audovauld that’s a clever interpretation, particularly how young they are; it stands out in that act when you see it live, you can’t imagine how somebody that age is able to perform in that way. And they really are dressed up like parts of the machine. I think the first 50 times I saw it on video I couldn’t get past how much they look like the tin man!
Would love to know your opinion on the show Varikai. To me it feels like the last true cirque show that ended the golden era of cirque. Just remember watching how the show was made (as it was a documentary show on it) and the levels they went to.
That's an interesting question because of course that was directed by Dominic Champagne, totally different costume director, and so forth. A very different creation team, though many of the coaches and act creation people were overlapping. I think Dominic spent time trying to understand the existing work of Cirque at that point so I definitely think there are echoes of this time. Also, of course, John Gilkey was involved in Varekai as well. So I think it certainly has a relationship to this era of work, but was in the hands of a pretty significantly different team which is why I tend to leave it out of my area of analysis. It was super interesting to hear Dominic interviewed on the Tapis Rouge podcast saying what I suspected all along: that when he joined Cirque to make Varekai, the company was in absolute chaos. Franco had left and nobody knew how to organize the machine to create a show!
I was waiting for your Quidam vid and was so happy it was the next one. Your series totally encapsulates what I've been feeling about CDS for years now - the shows today are missing that special ingredient. Thanks for packaging all your research, theories, and montages into these eps. I can only imagine how long that takes. Highly anticipating the rest of your series!
@@dougfong3878 thanks for your comment! Happy to hear from like minded folks, makes it all worth it!
Keep it up with these amazing videos! Can't wait to hear you talk about Saltimbanco or Mystere. I would've liked to hear more analyzing of the themes and imagery of Quidam though.
Thank you! I have wanted to know more about this show and its creative inspirations for over 20 years! This show has such an impact on my life that I got Quidam tattooed many years ago! 😮 To me it’s the most impactful show cirque has ever made.
I love that you got a Quidam tattoo! I need one... I have stilt walkers from Mystére on my arm but would love a Quidam tattoo. What is it of?
I have Quidam himself holding the hat on a street in the rain. Black and grey, covering my whole ribcage 😅
@@stanleytaylor2105 incredible!
I very much appreciate your take on Quidam. I was fortunate enough to watch it live in its early years. Thank you my ballet company. I live in Vegas, and have watched a few Cirque shows. Quidam has always been my number one. I wish they would bring it back. There is a dark beauty about it.
Ah, my people! Nerding on Cirque du Soleil ❤ quidam is SO special to me for so many reasons and now I have a daughter…Zoe 🥲
One thing I wanted to point out about the Banquine act, there was some symbolism that wasn’t touched on in your video. Andrii Lytvak, check out his channel Cirque Arts, previously performed this act and he replied to a question I had regarding the transition of colors for Les Egares: basically at the end of act one there is an explosion and Les Egares fall to the ground. Shortly afterwards they release their souls in the form of heart shaped balloons. When we see them again at the start of act two, their once colorful personas have been replaced with gray tattered versions of themselves, symbolizing that they lost everything, like people post war as you mentioned. The banquine act represents the climax of their story to regain what once was lost: life. On a minor note, when Zoe sees the tragedy before her she release her balloon soul which caught in a cage by Karl: her innocence may have been lost but her soul isn’t completely lost. Comment 2 of 3.
I know you have a specific theory but as someone who was born in 1995, I'd love to hear you talk about other shows I grew up with and love like Verekai and Corteo. Quidam is one of my all time favorites as well, thank you for such a comprehensive video.
Thank you for this incredible amount of research and dissection of the show’s concept!
A bonus detail I love on the silks act is that through the show’s history, it was frequently performed by the artist who plays the mom’s character. At the end of the act she falls back into the father’s arms, or in the DVD version, her own. Not to mention every performer’s take on the act like Vaudelle’s hanging illusion.
Also another fave is the intermission “Égaré” sequence where the colourful skipping rope characters collapse on stage as Zoe’s balloon flies into a cage target is carrying. After intermission we come back to find them turned into the dark grey banquine characters. Loss of innocence and great example of sequence of movements.
Just so much detail you can’t find in new shows like Kurios or Volta. Completely agree an original revamp would fit perfectly in today’s context.
@@felipecoral8878 I’ve had a few other people point out the intermission “transformation.” I wish I had had a little more access to real footage to include that, it’s something I forgot from the small number of times I saw it live.
Glad you enjoyed it and yes; they don’t make them like they used to! Haha.
(so sorry this is so long lmao)
I’m so happy you’re doing quidam! Its my favorite cirque show by far even though i never got to see it live. It also has one of my favorite acts in any cirque du soleil show, the red silks. I absolutely love how intense, sad and angry it all is not to mention how I interpret this part of the story it’s really deep and personal to me and it never fails to get my crying lmao.
I personally interpret the character doing the silks to be a visual metaphor showing either how the mom has been recently or how she’s currently feeling in the present, and I personally interpret the silks to represent all her intense emotions and desires good and bad swirling around her, tangling her up in everything with no time for rest (though personally If i had to be specific I’d say they mostly represent the desire for death/the desire to be “free”). And the mom and the woman who pick her up at the end i view as the mom finally getting the strength to save herself, pulling herself away from it yet her old self not wanting to let go of it.
I would argue that quidam/the hat aren’t entirely “meaningless” to the plot. I think what they add most to the story is what/who they represent, sure quidam himself doesn't actually do much in the show but without him in it zoe wouldn’t have been thrown into the journey she finds herself in. not to mention to me at least i love how they have quidam just walking around the background throughout the show, to me it adds even more of an element to what quidam means, a passerby who you kind of notice don’t really interact with, someone who is simply just there.
I love learning more about cirque but especially quidam, unsurprisingly I knew most of this but there was also alot i didnt, really excited to see whats next !
Haha, well firstly don't apologize for a long comment, I just made a 25+ minute video, I should be apologizing!
The silks act probably could have its own video I think it's a really big deal, and it's cool that it has seemed to really grab a lot of people and be moving and memorable.
And yes, Quidam is an interesting character, he's maybe not as pointless as I make him out to be. I find it interesting that he's such a big visual memory of the show, but his stage time is like... 2-3 minutes or something. But it does underline the basic theme of the show. It feels like it is his hand in the sky, like he's the one always watching.
Thanks for watching with interest, it's really fun to hear from people!
I have seen all the shows that had came under THE BIG TOP to Spain since Alegria 1998. Quidam is the best of them. It is the creative peek of CDS itinerant shows.
Thanks for your amazing videos!
Brilliant! Love the analysis and historical references to artists that influenced the shows!
Amazing! Everything is right. The painting, the theme, the colors. You did an amazing work there. Wow I'm impressed. Thank you very much 🙏🏼
WOW 😍
Incredible video!!! 🤩🤩🤩
More videos please… DRALION, ALEGRIA, LA NOUBA, VAREKAI
New fan nd subscriber!! 😊😊😊
I didn't know all that information you shared but I totally agree. I have always thought of these shows as the golden age of Cirque du Soleil. I really enjoy watching your videos. Great work and thanks for sharing!
Amazing Video, I never knew of what inspired quidam and am fascinated by those artists
I hope this show returns one day to the big top.
Thank you so much for making this! Never seen the show and will probably never have the chance, so I'm really glad to at least have a second hand perspective. Great work!
Finally I wanted to say how someone pointed out to how this is almost like the Yang to Saltimbanco’s Yin: a cold dark society filled with disconnection and suffering in contrast to a warm hopeful society. Sorry if this was too much to point out. You covered a lot of great material in this video. I just wanted to voice my opinions even if I had a lot. Comment 3 of 3.
@@colinmcallister3038 I love it! There’s always something I will miss; near the end of editing I found out about the connection with Robert Doisneau that I totally missed. As you know these are packed with thousands of little details and it is difficult to capture it all.
I do think there’s symbolism in the hat and shoes for sure, more than anything it’s just funny to me how much I associate this show with Quidam the character and he’s barely got any stage time! I guess that’s the point about strangers, you remember them sometimes even if you only see them in passing.
My main point in making these videos is not necessarily to be 100% right or capture every little detail, but instead to point out the level of detail the creators were working to include. I find it somewhat annoying that a causal viewer might feel like the shows are just “random” dream scene non-sense. On the contrary they’re highly detailed and things are selected to be put into the show for their meaning and how they support the overall message (and of course how compelling they are to the audience).
It’s telling that it takes many years and many conversations and books to find the many inspirations and sources that lead to these shows.
I really appreciate you watching and sharing your knowledge!
aboslutely in love with your series! last year i started scripting circus shows in eastern europe. your critique provides interesting perspective. thank you. i hope you will continue
@@dinofnomad that’s such a nice compliment! Glad you enjoyed it, and it’s comments like this that reminds me I should make a new episode, haha. 🙏
Wowow what a great analysis on an incredible show. Thank you so much for this one!!! Your insight and knowledge is mind blowing!
@@1trandaman glad you enjoyed it!
I am so happy you talked about the lady in the red silk act. I totally felt all three emotions she was going through during that act. I knew what she was going through because I felt I was going through the same thing at that time. Amazing act, I LOVED every part of this show!! ❤️
Realmente me encantó el video! Te felicito por todo el estudio y el empeño que has logrado. Desde pequeño que veía los clásicos del Cirque du Soleil, y cuando veía Quidam no era de mis favoritos (pues claramente era un niño hahahah) pero ahora veo el espectáculo con otros ojos, sobre todo a las grandes referencias e inspiración que sacó el director (que lo amo) para hacer este espectáculo, pues claramente como dijiste “cualquier persona de la edad moderna entendería Quidam”. De verdad muchas gracias por el video. PD: tienes mucha razón al final del video, porfavor, que si sacan otra vez Quidam ¡Que sea solo Quidam! No 2.0 😂😂, ya que el nuevo Alegria me decepcionó mucho, sobre todo musicalmente
No creo que Alegría «In a new light» sea terrible... Desgraciadamente sólo está bien. Es una secuela. Las secuelas tienen fama de ser malas, jaja. Pero si van a hacer un remake de una función, que sea lo más parecido al original. Si no, que hagan una actuación totalmente nueva.
¡Gracias por compartir tu historia y tus amables palabras!
24:50, the end of the statue act is in my opinion one of the best parts of all the show! I have never seen such a terrific representation of something fading out in real life! Music, lightning, images, just utterly perfect!
Love the username and love hearing from the fans!
I was in Quidam... an amazing experience.
@@VitalMGermaine tell me more! Which act? What years? Would love to hear about your experience!
this channel is going places
Nouvelle experience and le cirque reinvente episodes
Fun stuff
This was a great analysis on Quidam, I really like this show for how different it is from the lighthearted Cirque shows. However, I have to disagree when you called the Bowler Hat a “meaningless plot device”: there’s a saying that wearing another person’s hat is like wearing someone else’s shoes ergo when Zoe put on Quidam’s bowler hat, she found herself in the world that we get to explore throughout the show. Speaking of shoes, John putting on Zoe’s father’s shoes symbolizes him stepping into his role and after the adventure Father has been on, John gives the shoes back knowing that he was ready to fulfill the role that he was meant to be for his daughter. Comment 1 of 3.
19:39, in a later version, can’t remember the performer, there was also a sequence in which it looked liked the woman hung herself. So emotional to see live. I wish they would bring this show back, just the way it was, under the big top!
thank you. I always thought the original Diabolo's act was a commentary on child labor - the Chinese girls are dressed like clockwork wind up dolls, machines spinning spools and gears - one of several reflections on loss of innocence in the show and oppressed people. like the transformation of the school yard children into the banquine act.
@@Audovauld that’s a clever interpretation, particularly how young they are; it stands out in that act when you see it live, you can’t imagine how somebody that age is able to perform in that way. And they really are dressed up like parts of the machine.
I think the first 50 times I saw it on video I couldn’t get past how much they look like the tin man!
Would love to know your opinion on the show Varikai. To me it feels like the last true cirque show that ended the golden era of cirque. Just remember watching how the show was made (as it was a documentary show on it) and the levels they went to.
That's an interesting question because of course that was directed by Dominic Champagne, totally different costume director, and so forth. A very different creation team, though many of the coaches and act creation people were overlapping. I think Dominic spent time trying to understand the existing work of Cirque at that point so I definitely think there are echoes of this time. Also, of course, John Gilkey was involved in Varekai as well.
So I think it certainly has a relationship to this era of work, but was in the hands of a pretty significantly different team which is why I tend to leave it out of my area of analysis.
It was super interesting to hear Dominic interviewed on the Tapis Rouge podcast saying what I suspected all along: that when he joined Cirque to make Varekai, the company was in absolute chaos. Franco had left and nobody knew how to organize the machine to create a show!
@@TheGoldenAgeOfCirqueDuSoleil really cool, I will have to take a look at the podcast as well