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Every time I am near anything Cirque du Soleil related, I feel a wave of emotion.  Cirque was such an important part of my young adult life.  Many of the best and most impactful events of that part of my life were directly related to Cirque or were in some way heavily influenced by Cirque.

So whenever I get the opportunity to go to a Cirque show, I'll generally try to go.  It's always a nice reminder of those great days I had and I know I'll get to see a polished show.

Kooza was making its return to Hong Kong.  It had visited Hong Kong a few years ago before covid hit, and that had been interestingly one of the few instances where I hadn't been able to attend a show in my vicinity (though I had fortunately been able to catch up with my friends who had been working on the show).  This time, there was sadly no one left I knew who was still working so I would have to pay full price for my tickets.

Arriving at the grounds felt surreal.  My memories of Cirque are so heavily linked to Sydney, so it didn't feel right for me to see le grand chapiteau surrounded by the lights and buildings of Hong Kong.  It all felt slightly out of place.  I took Ron and my friends in, I pointed out things I was familiar with and played the role of guide that I used to.  My knowledge still seemed relevant enough and they were all fascinated that I had had such a strange and unique job in my past.

Once inside, we found our seats and waited with excitement for the show to start.  I hadn't seen Kooza before at all.  I knew the history of its development, but I was just as eager as the others to see what this would be all about.  The show started strong.  The large background and stage setting lent itself to a powerful opening that was full of all the best of Cirque.  It was emotionally moving, visually spectacular and fascinating all at once.

The first half of the show was brilliant.  We were all captivated all the way through to the finale before the intermission.  That was itself a great act, with true excitement and nerves.  The artists running and balancing across the tightrope was thrilling and the crowd gasped at each of their stunts.

We went out at the break, explored the grounds, ate some food and chatted about all the great things we had seen.  Sadly, the second half couldn't match the first.  We had a replacement act and the finale had been removed from this show.  Looking up at the large hooped structures in the roof of the tent, I had been waiting patiently for them to drop into place, but they never did.  It was one of the disappointing things that couldn't be avoided at Cirque.  Sometimes acts just couldn't go ahead for a multitude of different reasons.  It was understandable, but still a shame.

It was strange being back in Cirque.  It was even stranger that I was able to take photos.  So much of my time and effort as an usher during the show had been consumed by searching for and stopping people from taking photos and videos.  It was ingrained into all the minds of us ushers, NO PHOTOS!  It was jarring for me to see others now freely taking photos and I felt like I was breaking the law taking photos myself.  I understood the change though.  Cirque was changing with the times and I assumed they had finally realised it was probably better for business to allow people to take photos and post about their experiences.  I still couldn't help but miss the old days.  I loved the dark tent.  I loved the complete lack of distraction and the full focus that you would have on the stage.  This was gone now.  The lights of phones.  The small screens everywhere that lit up during the most wonderful of scenes.  It was a distraction.