THE BALLOON MAN

'Cirque Dreams Holidaze' a seasonal spectacular
The touring show will be presented Wednesday night at the Embassy Theatre.

The Embassy Theatre is the venue for one performance of "Cirque Dreams Holidaze" on Wednesday. The show features aerial acts, acrobatics and more, with performers dressed as ornaments.
(Courtesy photo)
The touring show will be presented Wednesday night at the Embassy Theatre.
By Cindy Larson of The News-Sentinel
from: news-sentinel.com
Monday, December 3, 2012
Fort Wayne, IN---There's so much going on in “Cirque Dreams Holidaze” it should hold even a preschooler's attention.
That's what the show's creator and director, Neil Goldberg, believes. Goldberg has created a dazzling theatrical production with acrobats, aerialists and elaborate costumes — a “landscape of holiday wonderment,” according to a news release. The show will be in town for one performance Wednesday at the Embassy Theatre.
Asked if the show was a Christmas show or a holiday show, Goldberg, speaking by phone from Florida, said it was both.
“This is a theatrical experience that celebrates Christmas and the winter season,” he said.

Every performer plays the role of several different ornaments, such as this toy soldier marching on a wire, in the "Cirque Dreams Holidaze" show being performed Wednesday night at the Embassy Theatre.
(Courtesy photo)
That didn't stop him from developing a fascination with Christmas ornaments as a kid. He started a collection at a young age while walking home from Hebrew day school. He would collect discarded ornaments and tinsel from Christmas trees that had been put out to the trash.
“My mother wasn't thrilled,” he said. She let him keep the ornaments while throwing out the tinsel.
That initial interest turned into his own personal collection of more than 10,000 ornaments.
“It was just a fascination with the art form, not a religious thing,” he said of his fondess for “colorful, sparkly” ornaments.

 

Neil Goldberg, front, created the "Cirque Dreams Holidaze" show.
 (Courtesy photo)
That fascination inspired his whole vision of “Cirque Dreams Holidaze,” he said. The 32 performers play the role of several different ornaments throughout the show.
When the curtain comes up, the performers are surrounding and suspended over a 30-foot tall steel tree in a landscape of gift boxes. “The 'oohs' and 'aahs' continue for the next two hours,” Goldberg said.
The show is a combination of acrobatics, live singing, choreographed dancing, contortionists and more.
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