Cirque Mother AfricaNew Zealand TourSeptember 7 – 29Since Cirque de Soleil began 25 years ago in Canada virtually every country has turned out their own version. This month will see an African version touring the country with Cirque Mother Africa wh
Cirque Mother Africa
New Zealand Tour
September 7 – 29
Since Cirque de Soleil began 25 years ago in Canada virtually every country has turned out their own version. This month will see an African version touring the country with Cirque Mother Africa which has been created by an African, Winston Ruddle. The show has so far been seen by two million people.
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It will open at the Founders Theatre, Hamilton, on September 7 and continue its New Zealand tour with shows in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch.
The show is filled with the energy, emotions, surprises and amazement that comes with such shows with a full circus range of juggling, contortionists, high-wire acts as well as live music, dances and beautiful costumes.
Contortionists Lazaraus and Hassani from Kenya and the Ramadhani Brothers, present hand-in hand artistry, while the “Adagio Act” from Tanzania is a slow aesthetic dance where a couple show slow motion movements by using leverage forces.
“Icarus Games” is the name of a juggling act. Two artists juggle with their colleagues in the air by using their feet. Fast, colourful and swinging, that’s how the programme is presented: The “Hoola-Hoop Act” with “a thousand hoops around a beautiful woman’s waist” and the “Diabolo Act,” where the diabolo flies high from one rope to the other.
The “In Africa Band” delivers a traditional sound, played with the “Kora,” an instrument that comes from the African West Coast. With its 20 strings it sounds like a mixture between guitar and harp. Three women from South Africa and Zimbabwe are the lead singers, creating a warm and powerful sound together with the In Africa Band.
Cirque Mother Africa is made up of 40 artists from throughout the African continent – Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Benin, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Guinea, South Africa - performing in intoxicating colours and extraordinary costumes and masks.
Producer Mark Rafter says he saw Cirque Mother Africa while producing a show in Germany. ‘I wasn’t expecting too much, to be frank, but when I saw the show I loved it! I thought, “It’s a Cirque De Soleil with a twist from the heart of Africa.
Hamilton - Founders Theatre
September 7 & 8
Wellington - St. James Theatre
September 10 & 11
Auckland - Skycity Theatre
September 14 - 24
Christchurch - Isaac Theatre Royal
September 28 & 29
