Blending with the set design of CIRQUE DU SOLEIL CRYSTAL, the overall look of the costumes is one of frivolity laced with surrealism in a fantastical world of ice.

Crystal and her Reflection – With her flamboyant red hair, Crystal is clad in a vintage plaid skirt in blue, a light turquoise cardigan-style shirt and a red scarf that echoes her quirky creativity and unpretentious nature. Her Reflection wears a darker version of the same outfit, but with shiny wave patterns evoking the underwater world. Her costume is the mirror image of Crystal’s where everything is reversed.

The Shadows – The Shadows’ costumes transition from black to white and suggest washed out ink spots and crystal patterns.

Crystal’s family – Spectators see Crystal’s family through her eyes in a warped version of reality. Her mother, father and brother wear whimsical, art-deco-inspired costumes with a sense of suburban nostalgia. Coral pink, mint greens and banana yellows are the chosen colors. Added to the front of their costumes is a simple appliqué representing a full-size, childlike drawing of each of them as seen through Crystal’s eyes.

Home swing – Crystal is seeing her world from above. In this scene, some of the character’s wear clouds or houses on their heads to represent Crystal’s surreal inner world.

Business at the office – In a scene that evokes the rigidity of everyday life at the office business wear a very clean cut navy blue business suit while the Businesswomen’s costumes features an intricate pattern made of standard typewriter letters. At one point, there is a typewriter shape on the chest of each business women.

Big city flats Crystal extravaganza – Angular crystal and origami effects are used throughout the costumes as a unifying component. 3D paper effects were a prism pattern creating volume on the sleeves during the Big City and Poles acts.

Taming the ice - The costumes were designed to withstand the rigours of ice, and keep the artist safe. Catchers wear special padding on their shoulders as well as gloves made of Kevlar equipped with polymer cuffs that absorb shock and protect their forearms from the razor-sharp skate blades.

Some artists slide on the ice. The materials used are water-resistant, non-absorbent, and preserve the gliding properties of the costume.

Some of the acts in the show involve high level floor acrobatics such as banquine and hand to hand that require stability on the ice. The acrobatic shoes have been developed incorporating a combination of small metal spikes and crampons into the soles of the shoes to enable them to walk, slide, run, and so many other things that are normally not possible on ice. Because of this they can keep their stability.

Quick change costumes – All artists (Acrobats and Skaters) wear three to four different costume outfits every performance which implies quick changes between each scene. The costumes are equipped with full length zips that run from ankle to ankle along the inside seam to allow the skaters to change without removing their skates.

We have also used some magnets to enable quick changes between scenes.

The Skates

• All types of skates are used in the show including figure skates, ice dance, and hockey skates. Those used by figure skaters have toe picks for control and flatter blades while hockey skate blades are curved for maneuverability and speed.

• To achieve the look of many pairs of skates throughout the show, we created covers that zips on and off the skates and we have painted the covers so they have the same look as the shoes.

Gloves and crampons

The gloves have a piece of Velcro across the palm of the hand; we attached a plastic plate that has crampons so that people can put their hands on the ice and breakdance.

Costume creation at Cirque du Soleil

• Costumes and their props needed for the various shows are hand-created in Montreal, in the production workshops of the International Headquarters. The Cirque du Soleil workshop is the only one of its kind in North America.

• Approximately 300 artisans of every description (including master shoemakers, milliners, textile experts, sewers, lace makers, carpenters, etc.) are employed full-time making the Cirque du Soleil props and costumes.

• 16,000 or so items (hats, shoes, dresses, bodysuits, etc.) are created for Cirque du Soleil’s shows every year.

• It takes close to 50 kilometers of fabric just to make the shows’ costumes.

• 80% of the fabric required for the costume creation is originally white, before being dyed in the Cirque du Soleil workshop by the textile design team.

• Shoes are hand- and custom-made for all artists by the artisans of the Shoe Workshop. Approximately 1,200 pairs of shoes are produced by the workshop every year.

A living scrapbook – In a décor that can be described as “vintage poetic,” the CIRQUE DU SOLEIL CRYSTAL stage evokes a town square next to a frozen pond. Upstage is a huge quartz wall that contains all the familiar places in Crystal’s life in which she experiences meaningful moments through a series of flashbacks.

Effects of scale and perspective – On top of the wall is a miniature train that travels to the various places in the story through a series of temporal shifts. Inside the wall, effects of scale reinforce the idea that we are in a world of memories and flashbacks.

A frozen playground – On the ice, the show’s versatile stage changes from a schoolyard to a playground to a giant pinball machine to an office tower in a big city, in large part due to the use of video projections and props.

Crystal’s pen is a fountain of imagination – The world of CIRQUE DU SOLEIL CRYSTAL spills from its main character’s pen. Cut-outs, origami, streams of paper, and pop-ups of all sorts are some of the features that make up the show’s visual aesthetics as Crystal navigates through her imaginary world of skewed perspectives.

The music of CIRQUE DU SOLEIL CRYSTAL is cinematic in scope while supporting the narrative and pulsing to the rhythm of the action on, “below”, and above the ice. With its sweeping, atmospheric and romantic soundscapes, the score moves from grand orchestral sounds to klezmer-style chamber music to melodic folk and rock-tinged beats.

Stirring emotions through music – Cover versions of well-known pop songs specifically recorded for the show were added to Cirque du Soleil’s signature-style music – a first for Cirque du Soleil. These riveting songs were added to stir the emotions of spectators and enhance key moments in the narrative. The interpreters were chosen not only for their ability to capture the feeling of the original songs, but also to heighten the emotional charge of the scenes they accompany, thus adding the “Cirque du Soleil touch” to the songs themselves.

MELDING CIRCUS ARTS AND ICE SPORTS

Blurring the boundaries – In CIRQUE DU SOLEIL CRYSTAL, Cirque du Soleil explores the very essence of skating, asking how they can bring their signature style of acrobatics into yet unchartered territory – a sheet of ice – and blur the boundaries between gliding sports and circus arts.

In CIRQUE DU SOLEIL CRYSTAL, gymnasts and skaters performs acrobatics on the ice and in the air, melding both worlds together. Disciplines such as swinging trapeze, aerial straps, and hand to hand are fused together with disciplines such as synchro, freestyle, figure, and extreme skating on ramps, with a dash of all-out speed skating. Figure skaters learn to be pushers on Chinese poles, while circus artists learn to skate, and extreme skaters learn figure skating moves.

Crystal is a misfit with her head in the clouds, a dreamer looking for something more in her life. One day, feeling misunderstood and out of sync with the world, she ventures out on a frozen pond and falls through the ice. In this underwater world of her own imagination, she has a vision: she sees a reflection of herself – her alter ego – that guides her, showing her a distorted version of her life. Her Reflection tries to wake her up to her own genius and creativity. Through her writing, Crystal releases the potential of her hidden talent and transforms the world around her with stroke of her pen. Having summoned the strength to face reality, Crystal ultimately breaks through the ice, stronger than ever.

The show CIRQUE DU SOLEIL CRYSTAL is about looking at things from fresh angles, peeking through the veneer of everyday life, reframing one’s daily reality to see what one might have missed. Sometimes the only way to appreciate things is to look at them sideways. Discovering one’s individuality and uniqueness requires venturing out on thin ice.