Aerial artists will fly through an enchanted forest and act out full-fledged fantastical fights in the Sitka Cirque show this weekend.
Local performers of all ages will be playing characters from a mixed bag of classic fairy tales in performances Saturday and Sunday at the Sitka Cirque Studio on Smith Street.
The “Magic, Morals and Movement” show weaves together elements of familiar stories from around the world with 20 acts of trapeze, silks and pole work that swing from the deep sea to the cosmos.
Franni Donohoe, director of Sitka Cirque, said the show is meant to appeal to a wide range of people, and be "interesting to our local audiences, and give freedom to the performers and the choreographers."
"We never quite know what kind of show we have until we put it together, but it always comes together really well," Donohoe said.
Cirque artists put their magic on display in two shows by "Cast A" last weekend. "Cast B" performs this weekend, with different artists featured in pieces as fairy tale characters.
In all, about 110 artists are performing in the two weekends of shows, with backstage help from many more people working on makeup, rigging, hair and costumes.
The performers and choreographers are part of Sitka Cirque, which offers classes from toddler age to adults. The shows are a production of Friends of Sitka Circus Arts in collaboration with the Cirque studio.
Friends of Sitka Circus Arts, a nonprofit, raised funds in recent years to build risers for the studio space. Donohoe said it's been a "goal for a decade" for Cirque to offer better seating for their audiences.
Her mom, Donna Donohoe, designed the risers and worked diligently to build them in the month leading up to the show.
FSCA and the Cirque team put on one giant show a year in the spring, and a smaller showcase in the winter, with many performers choreographing their own acts.
All of the solo acts in this spring's performance are choreographed by the students performing them, Donohoe said.
Nine-year-old performer Venus Ford chose to emulate Snow White in a solo piece she performed last weekend.
Ford told the Sentinel that Snow White felt like a “perfect match” because of her personality and her fluffy black hair. Her costume, made by volunteers, is “fantastic,” she said.
In another scene, nine-year-old Katherine Williams gave a solo as Aurora, the star of "Sleeping Beauty."
She was “in a dream, dancing and walking with animals a bit,” Williams said Tuesday. Then the character "gets angry and falls back asleep at the end of it,” she said.
Eight-year-old Murphie Haseltine joined Aurora later in the same scene last weekend, acting the part of a dragon fending off fairies in a “fight over sleeping beauty and the spinning wheel.”
“It starts fine but then we get in a fake fight and fall asleep at the end,” Murphie said Tuesday.
Throughout the performances, Iona Ferrency is the narrator "Sliminy Cricket," who is reading from his “scrapbook of stories. "
Charles Hart, a choreographer and Cirque co-founder, said that the narrator is recalling memories as a talking cricket, and that the cricket's yarn “goes from scene to scene so that we’re able to introduce and connect a bunch of different stories without retelling them.”
Audiences this weekend, Donohoe and Hart said, can expect to see artists emulating such characters as Hansel and Gretel, Maleficent, Red Riding Hood and the wolves, Ursula, selkies and mermaids, genies and Cinderella’s wicked stepsisters and fairy godmothers, the ice queen, and Medusa.
An advanced adult group will play villain characters both nights.
A group of kindergarteners will take part in a “Three Little Pigs” act with Nancy Neel as the “Big Bad Wolf.”
Framing the Cirque yarn is a rainforest backdrop that local artists, including Donna Donohoe and Pat Kehoe, painted for the theater performance of "The Jungle Book” at the Performing Arts Center some years ago, Hart said.
Franni Donohoe, Hart, Neel and Jackie Carlosach were teachers and choreographers for the show, and Gina Lusher choreographed a number of pole pieces.
"Magic, Morals and Movement" will be presented at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 3, and 5:30 p.m. Sunday, May 4. Each performance is about two hours long, including the intermission.
Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, and free for kids under 5. Different casts perform each weekend. Tickets are available at sitkacirque.com.
