The festival was opened by the acrobats from the Marseille circus studios, Les Studios de Cirque de Marseille. They showed Kyivans and the guests of our capital their aerial show, Angel Square. The performance, unprecedented in the complexity of the stunts done without the use of any safety gear, was staged right in the air above Sofiiska Square.
The angels made a natural appearance in the sky right after the Kyivans were presented their patron saint, embodied in the sculpture of the Archangel Michael by Mykola Bilyk. The heavenly patron of the capital rose in a reddish-pink fiery nimbus on the second story of Saint Sophia’s belfry. Like the invincible heavenly hosts, which the Archangel leads, he stood there grand and motionless, a sword and shield in his hands, ready to fight off the forces of the shadows.
By the way, in September the sculpture is going to be returned to its pervious location: on the steeple of the Southern Tower of Saint Sophia’s architectural ensemble. (The statue was restored owing to the support of Oleksandr Hlus’, head of the Board of trustees of the International Charitable Fund Ukrainska Rodyna).
Under the effect created by the Archangel’s commanding presence, all further miracles which took place in the sky above Sofiiska Square seemed nothing unnatural. First, a white-winged angel slowly descended the top of the belfry and then... walked in the sky upside down unfettered! The sight was truly breathtaking as, 50 meters above the ground and against the night sky, the acrobat gave the impression of a free flight. In doing this, the stunt man also managed to open his case and leave a white trace behind, handfuls of white feathers (which the artists had brought with them from France).
Next, another charming angel in a full skirt, with an umbrella in her hands, crossed the sky above the square, also leaving a white luminescent trail.
The lighting design solution deserves a special praise. Amidst the pitch dark of the square (all other lights were off), the powerful white spotlights directed at the acrobats added a mystic radiance to the show, which could be seen from the furthermost corners of the square.
Later, two white angels with fluffy wings and long golden locks flew off St. Sophia’s bell tower and swept above the people’s heads towards Saint Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral. Screams of delight and applause rose from the crowded square. Suddenly, a huge figure of a white angel soared above the audience, like a helium-filled balloon, and drifted over the square freely. Meanwhile, on both sides of the square, the angels made a “heavenly carousel” – in groups of three they spun around the same axis simultaneously, scattering feathers around. Reaching the center of the square, they descended right into the crowd of spectators who met the heavenly guests with an ovation.
16 artists rose into the sky above Kyiv, and each showed a particular kind of skill, both acrobatic and acting. The show culminated in unexpected real feather “fireworks.” Fountains of snow-white feathers shot up high from the four corners of the square. The feathers soared up and then slowly came down in circles to smother the crowd in the angels’ embrace.
Angel Square, which has toured half the world already, is one of the brightest shows presented by Les Studios de Cirque de Marseille. The studios were founded in 2001 by the artists Pierrot Bidon, Stephane Girard, and Ana Rache. During time that the show has existed, the artists have chosen round central city spots, which would enable them to most appropriately assemble the aerial “arena,” fixing it to the surrounding buildings.
The unique construction on which the Kyiv show was performed rested on four air tracks of new generation solid nylon cords – for the first time in Ukraine. The longest air corridor was 250 meters long. Another one measured 170 meters, and the rest, 180 meters each.
The brilliance of the show’s inventors is in the exact and accurate calculations which enable the cords to resist a considerable weight stress. Domestic experts on mountaineering gear are convinced that over the next decade, Ukraine is highly unlikely to see such technologies and such professional air stunts performed in the open air. Adapting industrial climbing to a circus performance is a true innovation.
