Last week, Larry Heath of The AU Review sat down with Cirque performer Anna Ivaseva, who detailed the experience of bringing her Water Bowl act to Hawaii for the new Cirque du Soleil production ‘Auana. Today he is sitting down with the show’s Director, Neil Dorward.
Neil is no stranger to Australian shores, having directed a number of shows that not only toured Australia, but premiered here, too. The Illusionists and Circus 1903 to name but a couple. He’s also behind the latest addition to Cirque’s presence in Las Vegas, Mad Apple.
Neil and I sat down by the pool of the Waikiki Beachcomber by Outrigger, that hosts Cirque’s latest residency, to talk through his experiences in Australia, and how they blended Hawaiian culture with the magic Cirque du Soleil formula, to deliver the magnificent production that is ‘Auana.
Q. What was the catalyst that brought Cirque du Soleil to develop a residency in Hawaii?
Beachcomer and Cirque have been talking for a long time, probably a good five years, about bringing something here. And I met the team while I was creating Mad Apple. They came over to the opening of that (in 2022). Funnily enough, after Mad Apple, I came on vacation with my parents and my partner to Maui. And we have this balcony and we were looking over a L??au and I was like, “oh how interesting… if this show happens… I know nothing. I really know nothing.”
And then straight after the vacation, they asked me if I could come over to Waikiki. So I came and met some of the team. I was introduced to Aaron Salah. Aaron was brought on very early as the cultural creative juice and we became great friends. He was one of the first people working on the show I met, alongside Sean Dee, who’s the chief commercial officer at Outrigger. And off we went, to make a show about Hawaii.
So in my initial trip here, I went to go and see some different shows… we crammed a lot in a week, and Aaron just left me a load of books. Sent me home and said off you go! So I jumped in and started studying. Then a smaller team came back a few months later. We did a couple of weeks. We went to Bishop’s Museum here, which is fantastic. It like really gives you the depth of the culture and the history.
And then I met Manaola (Carrington Manaola Yap), the costume designer, and Kumu Hula Hiwa Vaughan, the choreographer. So we just started soaking it up and asking questions. And to me, straight away, I saw that this show had to be for the community. For the Hawaiian people, first and foremost. Meeting the people here, they’re all amazing. They’re beautiful people. And it was important that that was at the forefront of the creation of the show.
Q. And what was that kind of process like? Was it like almost a consultation process with the local communities?
Yeah, there was a lot of community that helped, but it was with the main designers, the cultural creative team, I’d say. We all just kept asking questions. You can call Manaola the costume designer and Hiwa Vaughn the choreographer, but everything is so intertwined here. You can’t do hula dancing without the lyrics or the music. It was all so interwoven that I would meet them separately and then ask them together because there was different opinions, you know? And I thought, well, that’s also what the community is going to be like. So how do we get the balance?
But Aaron was fantastic and went to the sacred text and shared the mo?olelo, which are stories. So he was sharing all these stories, but all the stories have ten different versions. It’s not like this is the story, because these are old, old stories that were never written down. It was communicated through hula. So then as we were listening to the stories, we were designing the theatre and what acrobatic props could fit into this small space.
Q. You’re using an existing theatre – what is its history? And what changes were made to it?
The theatre is old, Don Ho started there was Magic of the Polynesia. Bruno Mars started his career in that theater. So it’s got a lot of history. Magic of the Polynesia was there for 20 years, so I’d seen the theater but it was just nothing. It was just an empty shell. But the team at Cirque, they’re amazing and came and designed and looked into the room. And we wanted to make it feel sort of inclusive, so we brought a thrust stage out, not just a proscenium. And we wanted every seat to be really close up and connected. Because it’s a beautiful room, with 784 seats, and every seat is fantastic. And even for me now I go and sit somewhere else and I’m like, it’s a different experience. You see something different every time you see the show.
So as I was doing that jigsaw, we were working on what acts would fit, and the backstage is tiny. If they show you a tour, you’ll be like, wow, they put all this in?! I mean, we used every cupboard and every nook and cranny for props and all sorts. So as we were looking at the acts, we were looking at the stories, and seeing how we could marry the two together. So it’s like a jigsaw, really, that we slowly put together. It was a full collaboration of the Hawaiian community and our creative team alongside the Cirque creators.
Q. Was there anything that was easier than you expected, in terms of those jigsaw pieces falling into place?
Some things stood out. There’s a beautiful story “Hina, the Goddess of the Moon” and it was like, okay, well this is Cirque du Soleil, I know Cirque acts. I knew what to do there. But then there were challenges like the opening scene. We wanted capture the spirit of migration arriving here in Hawaii. And there’s often different stories, who was here first? So we sort of did the general spirit of that… mainly more Tahitian. And then it was, how do we portray that scene in this space? So we created a voyaging swing act, themed around a Russian swing… but we we changed it up and turned it into this boat. Again, challenging in a small space.
We did a month of training with the troop in Montreal, and that was more of a challenging one. And then the finale act, it used to be called The Wheel of Death, but we changed it to Wheel of Life here. And again, fitting all this stuff, all the equipment into the room. That was the biggest challenge. And then, as we learn the history and learning the mo?olelo’s and realizing these are all so different. We’re really doing the spirit of these stories. I call it a celebration of the spirit of Hawaii. It’s not a historical take, it’s just the essence of these amazing myths and tales and legends, which are our hero characters… our Cirque performers, who are from around the world. We took a long time choosing who would be the right people to tell the stories.
And then combined with the amazing hula dancers. They’re so mesmerizing. When I arrived, I used to be a dancer back in the day, when I was young. And I didn’t know that hula was sign language, and that every movement means something like rain, and sunshine, and rainbows, and fish… all the things. So when I met the choreographer, they were singing in Hawaiian but she just came up to me and whispered in English. So I completely understood and was like, oh my goodness, like the world doesn’t know this. I mean, I’m sure lots of people did, but I didn’t, and I’m like this artform needs to be shared and explained in how amazing it is.
And so I knew that the hula had to be the heartbeat of the show. And we’ve really interwoven the hula throughout. They’re like a lead character, the eight dancers. And each dancer also has their lead moment and they sort of represent the ancestors from Hawaii. So that was great.
And then the music also was amazing, Evan Duffy worked with Keao NeSmith. So Evan did all the music, and sort of had where he thought the words could go, and then Keao NeSmith made the stories make sense in Hawaiian. And for tourists that come and see the show, they won’t understand. And we didn’t do subtitles. But it’s almost like a musical instrument. It’s a beautiful language and it feels like a rhythmic drum or an enchanting flute at times. But for the community, for them to have their the whole show in Hawaiian is I think of the leading things for the community to be happy with. I met The Rock who came to see the show, and he was well.
Q. What about the timing with Moana 2 coming out? The biggest movie in the world leading into your opening!
I know it’s incredible, and I think it’s because Hawaii is ready to share. They’re ready to share their amazing stories and art forms. And that’s why there are these companies like Cirque du Soleil and Disney that are helping share those stories.
Q. Of course, you’ve got the Disney Resort, Aulani, just up the road.
Yeah. Yeah, which is beautiful. It’s really a lovely hotel. It’s fantastic, they did a great job. You’ve got to go to the bar, it has all these wooden blocks, and there will be a carving, and it says in Hawaiian words what it is. So it’s important sharing that we can keep restoring the Hawaiian language. Because it was banned in schools and everything for a long time. So having that at the forefront was important to me. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, everybody knows that for being here in Hawaii, but I knew I wanted the whole show to be in Hawaiian. So we went and got it translated and we got approved to have it sung in Hawaiian, which was great.
Q. Not only does it feel like you’re bringing in all these different elements of Hawaiian culture, but also some of the “greatest hits” of Cirque over the years as well. I’ve noted, too, that there are some performers who are bringing their skills from other Cirque shows (like Anna Ivaseva). So what is that casting process like? Are a lot of the performers found within the Cirque family, so to speak?
Yes Cirque du Soleil have a big casting team in Montreal and Vegas. They put forward all the different options and start to have a list of some of the best performers. Anna, who does the water bowl act, she’s been in other productions. She’s beautiful and amazing.
Q. And so how does an act like that adapt for a show like this?
Well, we we meet with them before we even start rehearsals and we explain the storyline. And she went to Montreal to try the costume on and she’s playing “Mamala”, who is this water vixen who’s half lizard and half woman. So it takes a long time for an act like that, because it’s a highly skilled act. She’s in the water and then she’s doing amazing hand balancing. So you’ve gotta get the costume right and the flavour. And also trying to explain the Hawaiian side of Mamala’s story. So when they all arrived here, we had a crash course in Hawaiian culture. They all went to Bishop Museum. They all made their Ipu drums that they used in the finale. And there’s many things to ground them and feel the importance in the culture. But also we’re so honored to have their amazing skills, they’re all amazing. They’ve trained their whole lives, they’re world athletes.
Q. I mean, it often astounds me that Canada doesn’t win more in the Olympics, when you look at the talent there. There’s something to be said for the residency and what that can do from a technical point of view. You’ve had the opportunity to tour productions around the world, I’m not sure if you’ve done that with Cirque specifically, but obviously with with other productions. But getting to sit and work on Mad Apple in Las Vegas. What did you learn from working on a residency in Vegas that you were able to to bring to this show?
I think creating Mad Apple was a dream. The first Cirque du Soleil show I ever saw was (its predecessor) Zumanity. So when that opportunity happened with Mad Apple, it was a pinch yourself moment that you’re taking over that theater. And I loved Zumanity. So knew I had to do it justice.
But as for what I learned from that… Mad Apple is now two and a half years old, so you learn more from an operational side. They have 10 shows a week. And the shows that I’ve done before have been six months of touring, but not something that’s got to run that many shows. So I learned a lot from that that I implemented into this show. The audience wouldn’t even know, but just keeping it going and keeping everybody supported and have back up acts. You know, cast sometimes need a day off. So just understanding that, and working backwards from that was important.
And I think every time you do a show you learn more. Mad Apple was New York culture. So it was a good dive into that, but then this was so much more, this had so much more importance for the community. So I did take some of that learning. I went to New York and I’ve got lots of friends from New York, but I didn’t know as much about Hawaii. So I took that lesson and then really dove into this project. Full time, jumped in, and I now feel Hawaiian. I’ve been accepted into the community, which is amazing and an honour. They call a hula choreographer, a hula teacher, is called a Kumu Hula, and it means that they’ve gone through their graduation and that they have then to be honored. And I was very honored when we had the big international press interview and they said “Neil is a Kumu, he’s our Kumu”, which is amazing.
Q. That has to be humbling, because that’s a tradition, it’s not something that’s just handed out to anybody.
No, no. It is a an amazing experience and wherever I go now, I meet community and they’re just so thankful of the work that we did collectively. It’s not just me. It’s a been an amazing team and the whole Cirque du Soleil crew. I mean, everybody’s just been so invested and worked a hundred percent. And the show is just being received really well. So it’s been a great journey.
Q. On that note, let’s talk about the reception so far. Obviously it’s been out for a couple of weeks now.
Tickets are selling really well. And the community are reaching out and so thankful. We were honoured to have The Rock here for the opening, and he was just so thrilled with the show as well, and having his support is great. We support Moana as well, I love that movie and of course watched that.
Hiwa Vaughan’s Kumu, her teacher, is 92 and she came to see the show. And we’ve done something very different with hula, it’s not traditional. Hula has been in its place. They they have the Merrie Monarch which is like the Olympics of hula and it’s every year and it’s all these hula schools from around the world. It’s really popular in Japan. There’s more hula dancers in Japan than anywhere. So she came to see the show and she just loved it. So that was really a lovely thing to hear because we have done something different. Hiwa Vaughn knows hula, but we tried to do something different interwoven. We changed how hula is, not the fundamentals, but just some of the movement and some of the shapes of it.
So, it was nice that we’ve taken it into an ‘Auana, which means “to journey onto a different path”, and it’s been accepted. So things like that are just so nice to hear, that we’ve been respectful, while we’ve tried to do something different.
Q. You’ve also had a long relationship with Australia. Some of your Productions have premiered there at the Sydney Opera House and and other amazing venues. And now this will be the closest Cirque residency, physically, to the Australian market. Talk me through your experiences in Australia and your connection to our market?
I love Australia so much. I mean, normally I’m there at Christmas time, whether it’s been a premiere in Melbourne, or Sydney. So then I would normally be with my parents and my partner, we’d open the show and then we’d have a little down time of Christmas. So this is different for us being here, because it’s normally Australia and we love it there. My brother lives in Perth. But I try and go as much as I can. I’ve got a lot of great friends there. It’s just got the right balance, Australia, from where I’ve been around the world.
I also equally love Hawaii now, but it’s just that vibe and it’s that the people are so nice and it’s just got a great way of life. So, every time we’ve opened a show there, I found that the Australian people are just so behind us. It’s a really great place for the arts and theater and everybody’s behind it, which I love.
Q. And our own cirque tradition is kind of carried around the world as well now. Spiegelworld being such a force in Vegas as well. And that really felt like that sort of influenced the direction that Mad Apple went as well.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, everybody is inspired by everyone. I love Bob Fosse and taking things from him. So it’s lovely that there’s these amazing shows around the world and that people are still going to the theater, it’s important. There’s a lot of great performers, great producers, great things to share with the world. And this is another example of that something different. Yes, we know Cirque du Soleil, it’s 40 years old, but with ‘Auana, we have a new story to tell of Hawaii.
{ SOURCE: Larry Heath, The AU Review }
