High above the audience, two luminous figures appear swinging on a trapeze. They perform
a breathtaking aerial ballet - a display of harmony and beauty. It is an exercise of trust. When the
first dives from her perch, her identical twin catches her gracefully with her feet. Their movements are
a celebration of oneness - they are two halves of a whole. At times the pair moves slowly, sensually,
as though mermaids in a deep-sea realm. At other times, they are full of passion and fire as they light
up the darkest corners of the Big Top.
Graceful. Harmonious. Breathtaking. Swinging in tandem, the two hanging from one trapeze bar, move
slowly... sensually until the fire within them breaks loose. Trust is the word here and when you see
how they catch one another, you'll know what I mean. For when one dives from her perch, the other
catches her with her feet!
The Double Trapeze is performed to "Amazonia," and while accompanying the dual trapeze act, this
piece goes through a multitude of time signatures and dynamics. The beginning includes Taïko drums
beating to synthesizer sequences behind the vocalist's spoken-word in the famous Cirque du Soleil
imaginary language. A bass guitar interrupts the intro and begins a steady pattern of full-band
classical-like chord progressions. The climax of the song occurs when the one of the trapeze twins
slides down the other twin's legs to be caught by her feet. Like the amazing routine, the high note
hit by the vocalist is spine-tingling. And as the trapeze twins take their bow, the band plays a
reprise of this wonderful song.
The Duo Trapeze act has been performed by a number of fabulous twins, including: the first duo,
the Steban Sisters, ruled the skies with their wonderful aerial ballet. The Steben Sisters did not
partake in the 1994 Japanese tour and thus were replaced with another sister duo: Natasha and Nicolle
Liquorish. The Steben Sisters came back for the 1995-1996 tour in Europe and later the show at the end
of that leg to perform in Cirque du Soleil's «O». For Saltimbanco's Asia/Pacific (1999-2001) Tour, the
Duo Trapeze was handled by Elsie and Serenity Smith.
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