Similarities to “Alice in Wonderland” are definitely given in the new production of Cirque du Soleil. According to the title, however, Alice is called Crystal here. And instead of going down a rabbit hole to Wonderland, the ice-skating Crystal falls through brittle ice into a fantastic underwater world. The Canadian circus presents the coming-of-age story in the Olympic Hall, to which it bases its artistry this time, as a funny ice revue until it breaks into the underwater world, and this is now transformed into an unprecedented mixture of acrobatics, trapeze and strapping -Numbers, juggling and clowning with rapid figure skating.
In terms of lighting technology, the lighting is so grandiose that the corresponding effects apparently break the ice at the beginning, into which Crystal dives. The ice-skating actress soon disappears into the darkness, while a second actress as Crystal slides down a rope from the ceiling. Like Alice in Wonderland, Crystal now encounters different characters that sometimes seem to be borrowed from the conventional circus world, sometimes from ice sports. Ice hockey players jump through the air, daringly sliding over ramps. Somersaults are also jumped on skids. And in what is probably the most beautiful scene, Crystal is lifted into the air by a man swinging on aerial silks.
Musically accompanied by Beyoncé’s “Halo”, this Pas de Deux Crystals with what may be her first great love sums up most impressively what the fast-paced show of Cirque du Soleil places above its previous, already exceptionally beautiful circus presentations: figure skating and acrobatics merge here into a dance theater-like show Unity that almost lyrically seems to defy all gravity. The wonderful blaze of color of the story, which is told right up to the happy end, also makes “Crystal” an atmospheric winter fairy tale.