2012 World bronze medalist Akiko Suzuki took the silver medal at NHK Trophy and perfectly performed her free skate program to the music from “O” of Cirque du Soleil . I am continually amazed at the creativity and the art of interpretation of this beautiful skater and very nice lady. Her musical theme is very difficult but she performs it with a deep understanding of all its aspects.
Akiko shows us that story on the ice from the beginning to the end. Her program doesn’t have any “free space” and it is very important. In addition, she performs it with great desire. In this article I want to tell you more about her “O” program. I'm sure this will help to more fully appreciate the talent of this skater. Also, I want to show you photos with Akiko, which were made last summer by a very professional and talented photographer Jacque Tiegs. I hope you will enjoy it.
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この記事の日本語版 >>>"You cannot move water, water moves you."-Gilles Ste-Croix, Creative Vice President of Cirque du Soleil

"O" is a water-themed stage production by Cirque du Soleil, a Canadian circus and entertainment company. The show has been in permanent residence at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, since October 1998. O, whose name is pronounced the same way as eau, the French word for "water", takes place in, around and above a 1.5-million-US-gallon (5,700 m3) pool of water, featuring water acts such as synchronized swimming as well as aerial and ground acts. The O theatre, which is designed to look similar to a 14th century European opera house, has 1,800 seats, thus allowing the performance to be watched by 3,600 people a night since the performance usually plays twice in a given day.
Starting in late October 2010,Cirque du Soleil starting offering backstage tours of the O theatre. The experience allows visitors to see the backstage wings, training rooms, costume workshop, break area, underwater lighting area, and go up to a catwalk into the sound and lighting booths. Not every experience will be the same as the tour is conducted around a "regular day", so performers may or may not be training, rehearsing, or even working out.

The show has a cast of 85 acrobats, synchronized swimmers and divers performing in and above a 1.5 million-gallon pool. When maintenance needs to be performed, the pool is drained in about 12 hours to the Bellagio Lake, causing the lake's water level to rise 1 inch (25 mm). The pool is kept at 88 °F (31 °C) and has an underwater communication system and regulators that allow performers to breathe underwater. Every member of the cast is scuba-certified.
The cast of O includes many unique characters. O has eleven acts in total, which are performed both in, out, and above of the water.
The music of O was composed by Benoit Jutras and features a mix of classical Western and world instrumentation, including Chinese violin (erhu), bagpipes, African guitar and harp (kora), Colombian guitar, cello, ancient woodwinds and a wide variety of percussion instruments. During the show, the score is performed by a live band situated behind glass walls above and to the side of the stage.

In 2007 Cirque du Soleil released the film Flow (A Tribute to the Artists of "O"). This documentary is filmed both in the O theatre as well as out around the Colorado River. The premise of the film shows certain artists performing both out around the river as well as on stage and provides further information into the necessary technical equipment used to produce the performance. Bonus features of Flow include: performance clips, Russian swing act, technical information and film below the surface of the O pool, and about the creation of O itself.
All photos courtesy of Jacque Tiegs, Freelance National News Producer, Freelance Photographer/ Magazine/ Special Occasion and event. You can also find Jacque on Twitter: @jtiegs