Every Cirque Du Soleil show I’ve had the pleasure of attending has involved me shaking my head in both wonder and amazement. Wonder at trying to interpret exactly what on earth the show was trying to tell me; Amazement at the outstanding talents of the performers. This show was no different.

The show’s name, Dralion, is a combination of the East’s dragon and the West’s lion. According to the website the show derives much of its inspiration from Eastern philosophy with its perpetual quest for harmony between humankind and nature … Okaaaaaaay.

Most travelling Cirque Du Soleil shows are housed in the traditional big top so to our surprise (and extreme comfort) we found ourselves making our way to the Royal Albert Hall. To my amusement I found that my seat swiveled to allow a more comfortable view of the sage.

In typical Cirque formula “clowns” mingle with the crowd prior to the show, pick out a “victim” and proceed to open the show. Typical also to Cirque formula these clowns, and their acts, are amazingly bizarre. Its just a shame that their jokes failed to appeal to me. Though their often frequent appearances were slight dampeners on the show, they did redeem themselves slightly with an extremely entertaining segment which was a send-up of all the acts in the show – definitely worth a laugh or two!

But on to the acts which are the main reason for the show. These were simply stunning. The acts were based on four elements: air, water, fire and earth. My favourite was the very first act – a small young girl balancing on one hand for an unbelievably long time whilst contorting her body into impossible postures. Following closely behind were the Skipping Ropes, the Teeterboard, the Hoop Diving and of course the Ballet on Lights (seven young women, wearing pointe shoes, perform amazing acrobatics on light bulbs.) My sentimental favourite was the Juggler – probably an underrated segment when compared with the acrobatics of the other acts but entertaining nevertheless.

The music was fantastic and choreographed well with the performers. Considering there were apparently only seven members in the band and three singers, the power of the music was extremely passionate and moving.

I could go on about everyone’s incredible skill (with many performers doubling up for certain acts) but words really fail to capture how astonishing their performances are. You must see it for yourself!