Press Kit - Cirque du Soleil

Show OverviewWritten and Directed by Dominic ChampagneVarekai is a critically-acclaimed production that has wowedover 8 million people worldwide since it first premiered inMontreal in 2002. Since then, Varekai has visited more than72 cities in 20 different countries around the world.Deep within a forest, at the summit of a volcano, existsan extraordinary world where something else is possible.A world called Varekai.The sky lets go a solitary young man, and the story of Varekaibegins. Parachuted into the shadows of a magical forest,a kaleidoscopic world imbued with fantastical creatures, ayoung man takes flight in an adventure both absurd andextraordinary. On this day at the edge of time, in this place ofpure and undiluted possibility, begins an inspired incantationto a life rediscovered and to a newly found wonder in themysteries of the world and the mind.The word Varekai (pronounced ver·ay·’kie) means “wherever”in the Romany language of the gypsies—the universalwanderers. Written and directed by Dominic Champagne,this production pays tribute to the nomadic soul, to the spiritand art of the circus tradition, and to those who quest withinfinite passion along the path that leads to Varekai.Varekai emerges from an explosive fusion of drama andacrobatics. The impossible becomes possible in stunningdisplays of skill and power set against innovative musicand otherworldly sets, interwoven with vivid choreographythat speaks to all in the universal language of movement.The pendulum of time sweeps backward, paying tribute tothe ancient and rare circus traditions of Icarian games andGeorgian dance. Varekai then catapults to the future withrevolutionary twists on such acts as Russianswings and slippery surface.Varekai features an international cast of 50 performers andmusicians from 18 different countries.