Backflips on Ice: Cirque Du Soleil's 'Crystal' Skates Through Everett

Cirque Du Soleil’s latest production, Crystal, kicked off at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett Wenesday night.

I had the pleasure of attending the show with my wife, Esther.

The entertainment began even before the show had officially started. “Cooper,” the shows comedic relief character, lobbed snowballs at the crowd in true slapstick fashion.

The star of the show, Crystal // Matt Beard / Costumes: Marie-Chantale Vaillancourt / 2018 Cirque du Soleil

Our laughter subsided as the show kicked off with dramatic lights, narration, and impressive use of video projection that set the storyline for the shows main character, Crystal.

What followed was two hours of performers from around the globe dazzling us with choreographed stunts ranging from juggling, to acrobatics, and ice skating; often all at the same time.

Photo credit: Matt Beard / Costumes: Marie-Chantale Vaillancourt / 2018 Cirque du Soleil

Amazing.

There was certainly a storyline to Crystal’s journey. Although I’m not quite sure if I entirely understood it.

That’s okay.

This isn’t the type of show you really go to for the storyline. The visual experience was the true star.

Crystal’s family // Matt Beard / Costumes: Marie-Chantale Vaillancourt / 2018 Cirque du Soleil

My wife exclaimed, “WOW!” and “AWESOME!” more than a few times.

The sets changed fast (ice is helpful for that), live music weaved into the performance effortlessly, and the costumes were top-notch.

The choreography of the stunts on ice, though, was the the most interesting part of the show. I’ve seen acrobats before. I’ve seen ice skating before. But the way they brought it all together was quite impressive.

I knew from our previous article about the show that the ice skaters had to learn acrobatics and the acrobats had to learn how to ice skate. In most cases, though, it was tough to distinguish who was who. After having performed the same show in over 60 cities now, the performers knew exactly what they were doing.

Ice skaters did synchronized backflips. Jumping every which way from ramp to ramp. Then before you knew it, the ice skaters were swinging through the air doing acrobatics. There were often so many coordinated stunts happening at the same time, I didn’t even know which way to look.

Cooper, the snowball-throwing character from the pre-show continued to weave into the story throughout. His comedic antics provided a refreshing contrast from all the intense stunts.