Friday, August 26, 2011

Inside Cirque du Soleil: Dralion (+ FREE Tickets!)

Cirque du Soleil is bringing Dralion here to The Arena at Gwinnett Center in less than a week and I want to take a moment to bring you behind the scenes of the show and introduce you to the stars! What's even better? At the end of the blog, you will have the opportunity to win two tickets to one of the shows! Pay close attention so you can answer the trivia question and win our ticket giveaway.

So, I know some of you might be wondering what exactly a Dralion actually is and what things you need to know about the show - well, here are the basics:
  • The show premiered in 1999 and has been seen by over 7 million people worldwide
  • This is the first time it has moved from the usual big top location to arenas
  • How did they get the name? The name comes from two emblematic creatures: the dragon, symbolizing the East, and the lion, symbolizing the West
  • There are four main elements in the show that take on human form and are each represented by a certain color: air (blue), water (green), fire (red) and earth (ochre)
  • The show features 50 international acrobats, gymnasts, musicians and singers
Meet the Characters:


Remember how I mentioned that the four main natural elements come to life in human form? Well Azala is the goddess of Air and her job is the guardian of the sun and immortality. You will find her floating through space in many shades of blue.


Gaya is the goddess of Earth and possesses human warmth (represented by fire) and the cool, fresh vitality of life (represented by water). You can recognize her through her ochre, or earthlike colored, attire.

The goddess of Water is represented by the color green and is called Oceane. She is the queen of movement and through the art of dance can control the movement of the oceans.


The character you've seen in our Facebook profile picture is Yao, the guide to the fiery demons (represented by red). As you might suspect, he controls the rhythm of the show and symbolizes both good and evil.

If you noticed, those costumes are incredibly elaborate. Can you imagine being in the wardrobe department? The team includes 4 permanent touring staff and 3 local wardrobe employees in each city. Talk about a big job! Over 16,000 feet of fabric was used to create the costumes and the fabrics come from regions all over the world. The costume designers spent over three months to create the original costumes and are continuosly creating new ones.
Ok, ok...now for the moment you've really been waiting for. How do you win those tickets? Easy. Read the trivia question below and leave a comment on this blog post, a comment on our Facebook status about the contest (http://ow.ly/6dyfk), or tag us @GwinnettArena on Twitter with the answer. Every name will be entered into a random drawing on Tuesday, August 30th.

Question: Where does the name "Dralion" come from?

All entries MUST be submitted by Tuesday, August 30th at 12:00 noon EST to be entered into the drawing.  Only one entry per person.

Good luck!!