Cirque du Soleil's awe-inspiring 'Totem', a not to be missed

Cirque du Soleil means "Circus of the Sun", in French. Founded in Montreal, Canada in 1984, by two former street performers, the now world's largest theatrical producer has hit the shores of Singapore, at Marina Bay Sands, with Totem.

Totem is the Canadian director, Robert Lepage’s vision and interpretation of a fascinating journey into the evolution of mankind.

Like all shows under the Cirque du Soleil brand, Totem is an acrobatic theatre with a character-driven approach and filled with astonishing agility.

Totem

Sparks of Life, an act where amphibians and fishes playfully burst into life, launching themselves into the air from a power track, springing from one bar to the next. - All pictures courtesy of Cirque du Soleil.

Unlike the traditional circus, Cirque du Soleil is without the presence of performing animals – an element that has helped define the show as a contemporary circus. With Cirque du Soleil, the remarkable manifestation of its acrobatic display alone supersedes all other substance.

In Totem, the wondrous display of technical skills is undeniable awe-inspiring.

Staying true to the plot of evolution and promoting the love for nature, Totem opens with a massive cage structure that represents a giant turtle shell and two parallel bars where performers leap and swing from.

There is also a group of five women juggling and tossing metal bowls using their heads and feet whilst on unicycles.

My favourite would be the colourful acrobats in the most amazing glow-in-the-dark costumes, jumping (or more like catapulting) from four metre-long parallel vaulting poles in the Russian bar act.

Totem

Women on unicycles toss metal bowls with their feet and over their shoulders and catch them on their heads!

Every act intertwines with humour, like the clown who was shamelessly flirting with the audience. Donning a shirt and shorts, he pretended to be a visitor and was littering all over the stage.

Every second of the circus is weaved in with the sounds of nature, with influences from the natives and vocal rhythms masterfully pieced together by Cirque du Soleil's composers.

With a stunning play of lights and impeccable projection of real-life visuals of rivers and nature incorporated into the stage, Totem brings together the story of humanity, encapsulating indigenous music and instruments from around the world ranging from North America to the Indian subcontinent with Spanish flamenco in between.

Totem

Acrobats in their glow-in-the-dark costumes in the Russian Bar act, jumping on long flexible poles like they're trampolines.

There were one or two instances when performers faced some hiccups, like when one of the female unicyclist dropped one of her metal bowls. But this imperfection somehow gives comfort to the audience, the fall only made them realise that the performers are only human, despite their superhuman skills and abilities.

All in all, Totem is a brilliant, colourful and highly entertaining show, one that shouldn't be missed.