Blowhard, Esq. writes:
When was the last time you saw a show whose explicit, avowed purpose was to arouse so you’d go back to your hotel room and fuck? Such is the raison d’être of Cirque du Soleil’s “Zumanity,” the hot hot hot adults-only Cirque show running for the past 10 years (!) at the New York, New York casino in Vegas.
It’s an excellent performance — playful, erotic, naughty, a little edgy. The acts included a female impersonator as MC, ecstatic African tribal dance, twin lesbian aquatic contortionists, sexy schoolgirl hooping, orgasmic-acrobatic scarf bondage, twin BBW French maid comediennes, interracial homo cage fighting, cowboy beefcake striptease, a whip-wielding dominatrix, a lapdancing redhead, an androgynous cape-swirling mute, and dildo-dispensing sex therapists. Something for everyone!
The crowd was entranced and turned-on by the voluptuous eye candy. Hey, doesn’t hurt that every female performer is topless for most of the show. One of the best things about it is the audience participation and interaction. What a hoot to see Theresa, the overweight VP of a Baltimore call center in purple pants and a floral print top, gleefully feeling up a male dancer’s abs and participating in a mock orgy. The show’s performers are all super hot pros and it’s awesome how they pick average Joes and Janes out of the crowd and make stars out of them for the night. Hilarious when the husband of one couple is relaxed enough to admit to a theaterful of strangers that he’s had a foursome with his wife.
No photography during the show, darn it, or else I’d of course share a bunch of snaps with you. I did take a few pics of the moody red velvet lobby before the performance. That’s Paleo Retiree favorite Felix Cane seductively lounging above.
Have you seen any Cirque shows? What did you think?
Related
- There’s a 9-part “making of” doc about Zumanity on YouTube. Here’s part one.
- Speaking of European-style circus/cabaret, if you’re going to be in San Francisco or Seattle soon, I highly recommend checking out Teatro Zin Zanni. I caught the show late last year when they toured through southern California and had a wonderful time.
- What’s this I hear about Vegas lounge acts being a punchline? During a stay at the Tropicana, I watched their resident act Skye5 perform for over an hour and came away impressed. The band shifted effortlessly between genres — rock, country, r&b, disco — while the lead singer had a great voice and inviting, funny rapport with the audience.
Blowhard, Esq.
Callowman
Sherbrooke
Eddie Pensier
Enzo Nakamura
Epaminondas
Fabrizio del Wrongo
Fenster
Brundle Guy
Glynn Marshes
Paleo Retiree
Atypical Neurotic
Question Lady
Sax von Stroheim
Sir Barken Hyena
The Mistaken
Uncouth Reflections 
Here’s a “taste”… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIVvplvcklw
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Cool, thanks for that.
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Something for everyone!
Guaranteed there’s something I want that’s not in the show 😦
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Such toxic levels of wacky-zany self-awareness. Just watching a few clips around YouTube, I feel the opposite of hypnotized and in-the-mood because self-awareness is so contagious.
You’re supposed to be losing your sense of self, and of the self-ness of others around you (if it’s a carnival setting) or of your partner (if you’re actually about to get it on). Y’know, heady, intoxicating, disorienting, blurring your perception of time and space.
Caricature and camp call so much attention to themselves that they keep waking you up when you’re trying to get dizzy, go with the flow, and get lost in the moment. Worse, it’s a way for the other person or people to scream that they have no desire to lose control themselves — they’re dead set on staying in character, not letting go of themselves. There’s this stinging announcement being broadcast that says, “Look but don’t touch. Keep your distance.” Not inviting and enticing at all. Off-putting.
Outside of a romantic or sexual setting, you know how when a group of teenagers or adults are all boisterous, laughing, and living outside of themselves, all on the same high, say around a major holiday, and some pint-sized brat in the family keeps breaking in to demand all eyes focus on him. “Look at me! I’m so wacky, guys! Isn’t this funny?” It’s like, shut up and go away you little dork — don’t disturb this groove with your shrill self-centeredness.
What would I propose in place of trance-preventing camp? Dude, take something as simple as a Duran Duran music video. The girls play it serious or playful, never caricatured and ironic / self-aware. That single difference gives a genuinely erotic charge to the video for “The Chauffeur,” “Rio,” or “Girls on Film.” Especially the first one.
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I dunno, there was comic relief a couple times, so I guess you can call that “zany” but I can’t say I’d describe the other acts as “campy” or “caricatured.” Can you cite some specific examples of what you mean?
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Sounds awesome indeed. I love the burlesque/variety-show form — the ultimate democratic, pluralistic performance art form, as far as I’m concerned. (Plus, practically speaking, it gives lots of weirdly talented performers such a good chance to show off their talents. And none of them are under any obligation to keep it up for 100 minutes!) And god knows I respect the “let’s turn the audience on” part of the art-making impulse. I’m assuming that the Cirque Du Soleil crowd, being French-Canadian, is good at making it all earthy-yet-elegant? How do they manage to dodge the curse of PC, po-mo and multiculturalism, all of which I often find tend to lower erotic heat levels?
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Cute pic of Felix Cane … Anyone curious about her might want to head over to YouTube and type her name into the search box there. Lots of videos of her doing perfectly amazing pole-dancing.
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One man’s meat is another man’s poison. Personally that kind of shit turns me off.
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Do you know who the current (first half of 2013) whip-girl is? Red boots, not thin (not heavy either).
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I mean the one during the Roue Cyr act (she cracks her whip to orient the guy in the hoola hoop).
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Nope, sorry dude, don’t know her name.
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