Cirque du Soleil returns to RR with ‘Crystal’

RIO RANCHO — Wait; what? Cirque du Soleil’s production of “Crystal” has its artistic director named Crystal?

“I always tell people it was named after me,” Crystal Manich said, giggling, knowing it’s merely a coincidence.

Praised by fellow artists and several publications for her “lively” and “imaginative staging,” Emmy award nominee Manich is a Latinx creative leader and manager in the performing and filmic arts, dedicated to making vibrant entertainment and cultural experiences as a director, writer and producer.

Her film work includes the critically acclaimed world premiere opera feature film “The Copper Queen,” for which she won Best First Time Female Filmmaker from the 2021 Toronto International Women Film Festival.

She has directed several music videos and was also a finalist as a writer in the 2019 Oaxaca Film Festival Global Script Challenge for her Spanish language script “Desconocer.”

Over the last two decades, she has directed over 85 stage productions of opera, musical theater and plays with various companies worldwide. She served as artistic director of Mill City Summer Opera in Minneapolis, and previously served as founding co-artistic director for Opera Omnia in New York.

Her first experience with Cirque du Soleil was as assistant artistic director for “Quidam” in Brazil in 2009; “Quidam” was featured at what was then Santa Ana Star Center in January 2013.

She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama and her Master’s in Arts Management degrees from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, after graduating from Mt. Lebanon High School. Born to Puerto Rican parents, she lives in Puerto Rico when she’s not on the road.

It seems she was born into this role with Cirque.

“I was very creative as a kid; the first thing I wanted to be was a dancer,” she said. In high school in Pittsburgh, she was content to be on stage until a drama teacher “thought I was a leader,” and the next thing she knew, she was directing some scenes in “Fiddler on the Roof.”

“It clicked,” she said.

To continue clicking, “I think my life is full of being in the right place at the right time. From the way I chose to study and the way I chose where to go to school and the opportunities that were available to me only because I asked, you know, I was constantly asking people about opportunities – and the doors would open. And I think not being shy about stepping through those doors and asking those questions and finding mentors.

“Honestly, I’ve had so many mentors in my life, and I’m very grateful to them, because I think that everyone needs a mentor – or 10 – in their lives, because it’s a hard business, and when you have people who care about you as a person and an artist, it’s very important you have that connection.”

Inasmuch as the touring group performs the same show five or so times in a city, then moves to another city for five more, Manich says, “It’s never the same show twice, and there’s always something to work on – something new to discover that the artist needs to work on or explore.

“I’m constantly giving notes to our performers … encouraging them to experiment with some things, and I change things in the show all the time,” she added.

As for her “namesake,” Manich said the best part about “Crystal” is “the uniqueness of this show is obviously the combination of acrobats and skaters together in a show on ice, and Cirque du Soliel doesn’t have another show like that, and I think that is reason enough either to see it for the first time or see it again … these things are very rare, when you see these highly skilled performers coming together to tell this beautiful story.”

Manich says she’s looking forward to this visit to New Mexico, as she spent a few summers working with Santa Fe Opera.

“I love the West – we have two days off at the beginning on each week in each city,” she said. “I have spent a lot of time in New Mexico. New Mexico for me is one of my favorite places in the world. … I love the desert. I find it so peaceful there.”

“I wish we were staying for three weeks (in New Mexico), because there’s so much to do. I love the food and the people are great,” she said. “I just feel it’s a real place.”

Five chances to see CRYSTAL on ice here

Five performances of Cirque du Soleil’s first show on ice take place at the Rio Rancho Events Center March 7-10.

It’s an all-ages show, with Cirque du Soleil’s circus arts being performed on ice for the very first time – five jaw-dropping traditional circus acts all thrillingly adapted for Cirque du Soleil’s first foray into a brand-new creative territory – the ice.

It’s billed as “an unforgettable journey into the vivid and whimsical world of imagination,” and it has already been seen by more than 1.9 million people in over 135 cities worldwide.

The plot: Crystal learns to see things differently and becomes who she was always destined to be: herself.

Using larger-than-life visual projections on ice — a Cirque du Soleil first — and a soundtrack that blends popular music with the signature sound of Cirque du Soleil, CRYSTAL will take the audience on an unforgettable visual and auditory experience full of magic and wonder.

Show times at the Events Center are Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m.; Saturday at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday at 1 p.m.

“CRYSTAL really pushes the boundaries of possibility within the circus arts. The show highlights Cirque du Soleil’s creativity in a new way and encourages audiences to find the magic of the everyday,” said Robert Tannion, artistic director, “Every time you watch, there’s something new to see and experience. We’re thrilled to bring the show back to Rio Rancho.”

Tickets are available for purchase online at cirquedusoleil.com/crystal.

CRYSTAL fun facts:

• Seven traditional circus acts — trapeze, hand-to-hand, Banquine, aerial straps, hand-to-trapeze, juggling and hand balancing — are featured.
• CRYSTAL is the first Cirque du Soleil production that uses real snow, as its team makes approximately 300 snowballs each week.
• CRYSTAL is Cirque du Soleil’s 42nd creation and the company’s very first acrobatic experience on ice.
• Since Cirque du Soleil’s creation in 1984, more than 378 million people have been inspired on six continents and 86 countries. The Canadian company now employs more than 4000 employees, including 1,200 artists of 80 nationalities.

Cirque du Soleil’s all-time shows in Rio Rancho

“Saltimbanco” May 2008

“Alegria” June 2010

“Dralion” March 2012

“Quidam” January 2013

“Varekai” February 2015

“Ovo” March 2017

“Crystal” February 2018

“Corteo” April 2019

“Ovo” March 2022