“0” – Cirque du Soleil Fluid Theater at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas

This stirring experience resuscitated my spirit and quenched my imagination’s thirst for divine beauty. It is an aquatic tapestry of surreal romantic theatre inspired by the elegance of water’s pure form. The images, performers, sounds, sets, costumes, lighting, and makeup submerged my senses into an innovative and breathtaking master piece that shown with illusory splendors.

At the heart of the production is a large 1.5 million-gallon pool of water center stage that emerges and disappears supplying the 85 cast of characters with a set that is liquid beauty. The fluid choreography of 17 world-class synchronized swimmers provided the necessary link between the elements of fire, earth, air, and water, and pushed for me the creative envelope of what beauty could be!

As I watched the performance unfold before me I gasped in astonishment! I realized that “O” was a true visual for what I imagined divine beauty to be. There was the Duo-Trapeze, performed by two aerialists who danced in the air with a single trapeze. Their breath-taking maneuvers and feet-to-feet catches emulated the beauty of harmony and complete trust.

The aerialist in the Solo Trapeze was a gymnastically challenging routine that mesmerized me. The spectacular dismount at the end as she flew threw the air and dove flawlessly into the water validated that beauty can be found when the elements of air and water are linked together as one.

Then the beauty found in strength and fearlessness emerged when a team of talented acrobats performed atop a floating raft in the Barge act. There were eight world champion women who had a background in sport acrobatics. They combined innovative gymnastic performances with the traditional circus act of banquine and the balletic prowess of adagio. The Olympic divers and the synchronized swimmers blended their skills with this act that validated beauty is discovered by balancing fearlessness with strength.

The momentum of energy built as the stage transformed itself into a performance of FIRE. I watched with a deep fascination as the performers incorporated the rage of fire from ancient folklore with the precision of the martial arts. As the water purified the performance the stage merged into one brilliant scintillating visual. Passion controlled by beauty.

As passionate as the evening became, there was immense pleasure in watching the beauty in celebration. It cast a spell over the entire theatre during the Russian Swing sequence. A church bell atop a large swing signaled for the party of life, love, and death to begin. The divers created a swinging movement and trajectory of flight that moved them from the initial point of ground level to the highest point of 32 feet. I held my breath as I felt the divers’ momentary weightlessness at zero gravity was followed by the tremendous acceleration down to the water. The intense pleasure in viewing this extremely dangerous feat was beautiful.

The show continued to astound and fascinate me as a cadre of performers dressed in zebra stripes displayed how to maintain balance in this stormy staged universe. They were constantly realigning themselves, hanging on until the very end. The entire number took place suspended in mid-air between the sky and the water. I decided that even living on the edge could be beautiful when we are resilient.

In the High Dive, four world class high divers leapt from a 60 foot grid level to a small exposed section of the pool. Taking the plunge from this high dive is a scary proposition for anyone. But I was terrified when one of the diver’s pulled from the audience a seemingly innocent spectator, and coerced him into taking the leap! What was the beauty in that? As the spectator took the plunge and expertly executed his dive, I realized that beauty was found in ALL that is possible.