WINTUK (Cirque du Soleil)

"Wintuk" (pronounced "win-took"; amalgamating the English word "winter" with Inupiaq phonetics) is a semi-permanent and seasonal residency show created by Cirque du Soleil.

Performances

Wintuk will play ten weeks at the WaMu Theater at the Madison Square Gardens entertainment complex in New York. The show will run more than 5 years, between the holiday seasons of 2007 to 2011. Previews of Wintuk began November 1 2007 and the world premiere and inaugural season was launched on November 7 2007. Wintuk's first season ran from November 7 2007 to January 6 2008. Wintuk is a 90-minute show with a 20-minute intermission.

Season 2 shows open October 30, 2008 and run through January 4, 2009.

ynopsis

A young boy named Jamie lives in a city that has entered the season of winter. Although the season has brought ice long shadows and intense cold, the most important arrival has not come: there is no snow.

Jamie takes it on himself to try and discover what has caused this. On his quest, he interacts with a variety of characters - ranging from high-energy urban street characters, to giant dogs, to talking marionettes. He is also joined by the shy man known as Wimpy, the playful young girl known as Shadowgirl, and a lost Shaman.

This adventure brings the characters to an imaginary arctic world know as Wintuk - an environment without sunlight. Jamie and his friends find themselves surrounded by giant ice creatures and the People of the North. When the sun finally returns to Wintuk, Jamie and his friends are transported home, flying on the back of a giant crane. This generates a snowstorm, and snow finally falls on the city.

Characters

* Jamie: Jamie is a bright, optimistic and open-minded young boy with a boundless sense of curiosity. Jamie has the rare ability to understand the language of the puppet lampposts and dogs in the world of Wintuk.
* Shadow Girl: Shadow Girl is a mysterious, playful young girl who appears in the form of a shadow. She finds it quite amusing to annoy Jamie with silly games. When a sunbeam finally sets her free from her shadow, she joins Jamie on his quest to recover snow.
* Wimpy: A shy young man, Wimpy is scared of many things, including his shadow. However, it is destined that he will discover his courage, and he joins Jamie on his pursuit for snow.
* The Shaman: The homeless woman living in the city with her dogs is actually The Shaman. She is known to have great powers, including being able to summon the moon. After Jamie convinces the Shaman to help him in his quest, she finally reconnects with her own identity.
* The People of the North: Under the eye of their High Priestess, the impervious and cold People of the North are swift and agile. They welcome the Shaman and her dogs back to their icy homeland, and also aid Jamie on his quest.
* The Puppets: Throughout Wintuk, puppets are found, ranging from lampposts that help Jamie on his quest to the fantastic ice giants.

Acts

* Aerial Straps: Two artists perform an aerial straps act. Through the air, this acrobatic ballet shows grace and elegance that symbolizes rebirth, the coming dawn, and the Sun's victory over the Shadows.
* Charivari: A group of skateboarders, inline skaters and trial bike riders take the stage demonstrating technical twists, acrobatic turns and one-wheel spins.
* Cyr Wheel: Two artists representing the People of the North slip inside six-and-a-half-foot-wide metallic rings and perform a "Cyr wheel" act.
* Hoops: With the extreme flexibilty, the artist performs a hoops act, by combining moves of contortion and hula-hooping.
* Inner Tubes: In their icy cold homeland, the People of the North make a buoyant entrance as they bounce up and down frantically on inner tubes.
* Juggling: The gigantic dogs spot a man who they try to include into their game. The dogs bring the artist various items for him to juggle, resulting in a high-speed act.
* Rola-bola: In an attempt to turn a light back on, an acrobat performs a balancing act using the props his coworkers toss him—pipes, panels, boards and globes.
* Rag Doll: A life-size rag doll tumbles out of a strange package. A thief and a businessman fight over the seemingly lifeless toy, spinning it around and bending it in impossible positions.
* Russian Bars: The traditional Russian Bars act is performed but with a twist: it is performed horizontally rather than vertically.
* Slack Wire: Standing on a village clothes line,a wire walker ascends high above the stage. Supported by a half-inch steel wire, a series of striking moves and about-turns is performed.
* Swiss Balls: A duo of acrobatic clowns known as "Les Vitaminés" springs into action to present a high-energy act in which they bounce up and down on Swiss balls like springs.

Creators

* Richard Blackburn - Director
* Fernand Rainville - Director of Creation
* Patricia Ruel - Set/Props Designer
* François Barbeau - Costumer Designer
* Simon Carpentier - Songwriter
* Catherine Archambault - Choreographer
* Yves Aucoin - Lighting Designer
* Francis Laporte - Projections Designer
* Jonathan Deans and Leon Rothenberg - Sound Co-designers
* Daniel Cola - Acrobatic Performance Designer
* Guy St-Amour - Acrobatic Equipment and Rigging Designer
* Eleni Uranis - Make-up Designer

oundtrack

The music of "Wintuk" was composed by Simon Carpentier, who also composed the music of Cirque du Soleil's 2003 production of Zumanity. Below is the track-listing from the CD.

# Something's Missing
# Shadows
# Beyond the Clouds
# Dogs will be Dogs!
# He's Scared of his Shadow
# Norah Knows
# Heading North
# Back Where We Belong
# Northern Folk
# Elena
# Ice Giants
# Dolce Luce
# Tundra Ballet
# We Want to See it Snow
# Nothing's Missing
# Snow Storm

External links

* [http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/wintuk/intro/intro.htm "Wintuk" - Cirque du Soleil official website]
* [http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/Pressroom/cirquedusoleil/public/pressreleases/news113.htm Cirque du Soleil press release]
* [http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1184491527&channel687136571&=715978035 "Wintuk" media conference video clip] (2007-09-18)