American Neil Goldberg's Dream It circus show is on the road in Taiwan, mixing European "cirque" and Broadway spectacle
Goldberg's approach to circus takes acrobatics and routines out of the big top and puts them on stage in a dramatic, action-packed theatrical performance.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KHAM
The show features jump rope, aerial rope, hand balance, rola bola, duo trapeze, German wheel, fire and comedy juggling, and vocals.
Dream It toured the US and South America last year and is one of many circus and dream-themed shows by Goldberg's company, Cirque Productions.
Goldberg's world famous cirque shows have been called "a sumptuous big top spectacle turned stage show" (Los Angeles Times) and mix cirque and contemporary theater. The European concept of cirque stems from Cirque Municipal, a circus devised by author Jules Verne in 1874.
In 1993, Goldberg, who has a lot of theater experience, developed a show that used cirque concepts and produced it for corporate events. Goldberg's earliest shows combined cirque with choreography, cabaret and Vaudeville acts -- and the synthesis was successful right away.
In 1996, Goldberg opened "Cirque Ingenieux" at an Atlantic City casino and from there his fame grew.
Goldberg's circuses have performed worldwide at casinos, theaters, and world famous venues, including the Moulin Rouge in Paris and Prince Rainers' Circus in Monaco.
Cirque Productions attracts the best venues worldwide and the best talent, such as members of the the Mongolian School of Contortion, the Acrobatic Training Center of Beijing and the Moscow Circus. The troupe continues to grow quickly -- already from 12 in 1993 to over 100 today.
After every show, performing artists contact the company in hopes of getting an audition. The most talented hopefuls are sent to Cirque Productions' base in South Florida: Dream Studios.
There, contracted performers train for the shot at being cast in Goldberg's shows. All performers follow Cirque
Productions' mission statement, which says that each person is the actor and author of his or her own dreams. Cirque Productions are a place where dreams and reality collide and where audiences are inspired to let their imaginations soar.
Goldberg has also developed events for occasions, such as two Super Bowl halftime shows, two Miss Universe Pageants and various Walt Disney World productions.
In his many TV productions, Goldberg has worked with entertainers such as Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Hope, Diana Ross, and Muhammad Ali.
Besides Dream It and other tours, Cirque Productions hosts seasonal US shows such as Christmas Dreams, has put on Branson Missouri's "Cirque Branson," and the outdoor theme park entertainment experience Imaginique at Busch Gardens, Virginia. Goldberg's troupe also performs private shows for corporate parties.
In the mainstream view, the Philippines should be worried that a conflict over Taiwan between the superpowers will drag in Manila. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr observed in an interview in The Wall Street Journal last year, “I learned an African saying: When elephants fight, the only one that loses is the grass. We are the grass in this situation. We don’t want to get trampled.” Such sentiments are widespread. Few seem to have imagined the opposite: that a gray zone incursion of People’s Republic of China (PRC) ships into the Philippines’ waters could trigger a conflict that drags in Taiwan. Fewer
March 18 to March 24 Yasushi Noro knew that it was not the right time to scale Hehuan Mountain (合歡). It was March 1913 and the weather was still bitingly cold at high altitudes. But he knew he couldn’t afford to wait, either. Launched in 1910, the Japanese colonial government’s “five year plan to govern the savages” was going well. After numerous bloody battles, they had subdued almost all of the indigenous peoples in northeastern Taiwan, save for the Truku who held strong to their territory around the Liwu River (立霧溪) and Mugua River (木瓜溪) basins in today’s Hualien County (花蓮). The Japanese
Pei-Ru Ko (柯沛如) says her Taipei upbringing was a little different from her peers. “We lived near the National Palace Museum [north of Taipei] and our neighbors had rice paddies. They were growing food right next to us. There was a mountain and a river so people would say, ‘you live in the mountains,’ and my friends wouldn’t want to come and visit.” While her school friends remained a bus ride away, Ko’s semi-rural upbringing schooled her in other things, including where food comes from. “Most people living in Taipei wouldn’t have a neighbor that was growing food,” she says. “So
Whether you’re interested in the history of ceramics, the production process itself, creating your own pottery, shopping for ceramic vessels, or simply admiring beautiful handmade items, the Zhunan Snake Kiln (竹南蛇窯) in Jhunan Township (竹南), Miaoli County, is definitely worth a visit. For centuries, kiln products were an integral part of daily life in Taiwan: bricks for walls, tiles for roofs, pottery for the kitchen, jugs for fermenting alcoholic drinks, as well as decorative elements on temples, all came from kilns, and Miaoli was a major hub for the production of these items. The Zhunan Snake Kiln has a large area dedicated