By:Janice Malone
Full of surprises and amazing acrobatic feats, Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam is headed to Music City USA this week! Quidam is a beautiful and emotional show for the whole family to enjoy – a great outing for everyone. The beautiful and magical Quidam will perform seven shows June 26-30 at Bridgestone Arena.
Quidam pays tribute to individuality, to the uniqueness of each human being. It relates the story of a young girl who feels ignored by her parents. To escape her reality, she slides into an imaginary world where she meets characters who help her discover her true personality. The international cast of Quidam features 50 world-class acrobats, musicians, singers and characters from 20 different countries.
In pre-promotion for the Nashville show, Cirque performer Adrienn Banhegy i recently spent a day chatting with the local media about her role as a “skip rope” girl in the Quidam show. Adrienn also gave the press a first-hand, high energy demonstration, right in the middle of downtown Nashville, of her razor-sharp skills in the sport of skip roping. After skipping rope in the blazing hot sun in front of the cameras, complete with her stage makeup, she doesn’t even break a sweat!
Adrienn, who’s originally from Hungary, has been part of the Cirque du Soleil show for the last three years. She’s been a competitive jump rope champion for over 15 years, holding 2 world records and winning World and European Jump Rope Championships several times. But Adrienn didn’t learn jump roping from the neighborhood kids nor her siblings. “My dad first taught me how to jump rope,” recalls Adrienn. “He saw a film about Double Dutch jump roping techniques. My dad is a teacher, so he thought jumping rope would be a great sport to teach his students. A short time later, my sister and I joined the class and we learned to Double Dutch too.” Adrienn’s sister is also a part of the Quidam show as well.
Adrienn says she heard about Cirque’s auditions for skip rope artists from the Hungarian Jump Rope Federation. “I sent my video to the Cirque offices in Montreal and a few weeks later I was invited to audition for them in France, and so that is how I’m now with Cirque…” Over the last three years Adrienn has been featured on top American TV shows such as Good Morning America and Home and Family.
Behind the scenes the Cirque performers stay on top of their performance and fitness game in peak condition with a traveling gym, complete with the latest state-of-the-art fitness equipment. Ms. Banhegyi keeps her craft sharp by skip roping an hour and half a day but also loves to do pilates. When she’s not on the road performing, especially in North America, Adrienn makes her home in Prague. Somehow, she still finds time to conduct workshops about her sport.
She says, “Besides, my promotional engagements with Cirque du Soleil, I also work for German based companies on a regular basis, my solo act often appears on the stages of Variete Theatres and Special Events. But I always leave space for shorter engagements, such as Sport and Corporate Events however, being a Physical Education teacher, I am also passionate about sharing my jump rope knowledge in form of workshops, both for children and adults.”