Twelve years later and Dralion is still an entertaining show.  The beauty and brilliance of Cirque du Soleil is not the skills involved.  What they do better than anyone else is imagination and presentation.  Cirque du Soleil shows are loved worldwide due to their originality of presentation.  It is not that they do acrobatics, tumbling, trampoline stunts, dancing, and aerial artistics, though that is all done at a supreme level, it is the story they tell and the way they tell it.

The fact that Dralion was being presented in cavernous interior of the Bell Center (meant to be a place for NHL hockey games not circus shows) made me a little nervous.  Would it be too big?  Would you be too far away to connect with the performers?  How would the sound be?  All my fears were allayed from the very first number. Not all Cirque du Soleil shows would work in an arena, but Dralion does.  The props like the bamboo poles and spears can be clearly seen from a distance.  Phew!

Dralion is an exotic, colourful, loud, powerful, graceful, and exhilarating show.  Director Guy Caron has brought to the Montreal public a show that assaults all your senses.  Okay, a little bit of exaggeration as I did not smell anything except the popcorn around me.  But sight, sound and even feeling were all stimulated.  Never overwhelming, but all encompassing, the show is an enthralling one.

The title of Dralion comes from a word that represents the half dragon, half lion creatures (made up of two humans) that appear throughout the show.  Not just there for decoration the Dralions also performed.  They danced around and even did an amazing (amazing because it involved two people working in unison under the heavy costume) balancing on a large ball act.

Much of the show and its overtones are Oriental in essence.  Which makes sense as many of the group sections were developed in China.  There are two group sections that literally took my breath away.  One was when a group of male acrobats/tumblers perform a hoop diving act.  During that entire section I found myself holding my breath as I was sure that there was going to be some grievous injuries happening.  Besides the obvious tumbling skills, the timing involved was amazing.  They were diving through these hoops (up to four piled one on top of another) at the same time without colliding.

The other section that made the biggest impression on me was the group rope skipping one that was the final act.  Using up to three ropes at the same time (one guy was skipping his own smaller rope while at the same time Double Dutching with two giant ropes) and even making a human pyramid and then skipping while in formation, it was amazing.  They do things that you could never conceive of and even if you were presented the idea of it you would not believe it possible.

None of the sections were boring.  Including the three part gibberish, part Italian spewing clowns who warmed up the crowd before the show began (of course using a couple of audience members) and then reappeared at different points throughout.  There was also a trampoline section in which the acrobats used a tiled wall to jump off and onto the trampolines, an amazing hand balancing act (Han Yuzen), an energetic juggler (Vladislav Myagkostupov), a poetic ribbon aerial duet, a bamboo pole act, and a solo aerial hoop (Marie-Eve Bisson) acrobat.

The costumes, designed by Francois Barbeau, are bright reds, blues, greens and yellows.  All filled with detail and eye catching.  The sets are large and clear from afar.  The music is live with the orchestra/band sitting right on the stage behind a piece of the set.  The music, which featured a ton of percussion, was amplified by two vocalists, a male (Cristian Zabala) and female (Agnes Sohier), with very powerful voices.

This was the last performance of Dralion this time around.  If it ever comes back I highly recommend it.  Don’t miss it next time it passes through town if you didn’t see it this go round.