Storytime...

Cirque du Soleil's  "Toruk" was inspired by James Cameron's Avatar and depicts a world before the events in the film.  Taking place in Dubai's World Trade Centre, Toruk felt immediately different than other Cirque performances - with a very wide stage and just a few rows of seating.  This meant every ticket in the house seemed to be a good one and was fully engaged in the the action.

After running into some CBC friends and colleagues, we settled in to watch the  performance... 

The storyline was much more involved and engaging than previous shows and the visuals even more beautiful.  But we were struck by the lack of spectacular "tricks".  Besides an amazing demonstration using boomerangs, the rest of the show focused much more on costumes and puppetry than actual acrobats.

Although the story was engaging and very entertaining, Cirque would be well-served to blend this more developed storyline with their world-famous spectacular and show-stopping stunts!