So if you’ve never seen a “Cirque” show in person and somebody tries to describe what it is using—well—words, you’re more than likely to spend the conversation smiling and nodding so as not to look like an idiot without REALLY understanding what they’re talking about.  Sure, you can describe what a Cirque-style show is all about, but it’s one of those few things in life you really do need to see to fully understand.

Cirque shows are, at their heart, circuses.  I don’t want to say they’re slightly pretentious circuses, but when you leave a word in your title untranslated (Cirque is French for Circus) simply for the sake of implying that it’s “high art”—well, that’s a bit pretentious.

But let’s face it, when you’re that good, you earn the right to be a bit pretentious.  And every Cirque show I’ve ever seen is extraordinary—magical, gorgeous, engrossing.

Olympic-quality acrobatics, extraordinary Broadway-style lighting, and costumes so creative (and, well, weird) that they put Lady Gaga to shame—these are the trademarks of a Cirque show.  (Although I’ve never seen an exploding bra OR a flaming piano in a Cirque show.. so.. props to Gaga for being just a slight bit more psychotic.)

Now Cirque Dreams is the company responsible for bringing Cirque-style shows to Broadway.  NOT the company that does the giant arena Cirque shows where you buy popcorn, beer, and those annoying fiber-optic light thingies that cost 15 bucks a pop.

This time around, they’ve done something a bit different—brought an “urban flare” to Cirque.  Reinvention of a drab, dirty urban core as something “beautiful and wondrous” is nothing new—Stomp, Rent, Bring in Da Noise/Bring in Da Funk—they’ve all attempted to answered the question, “Why do I live in this crappy town?” to people paying $1200 a month for a shoebox studio apartment.  But Cirque’s certainly got its own style—and I’m personally looking forward to seeing what they do with the concept.  Their promotional material tells us that “city dwellers reinvent familiar objects, balance, on wires, leap tall buildings and redefine the risks of flight in a story filled with astounding occurrences”.  Certainly sounds exciting—especially the bits about “redefining the risks of flight”… whatever that means.

And they’ve enlisted the help of So You Think You Can Dance popper Robert Muraine to up their street cred.  You may know Muraine—or “Mr. Fantastic” as he’s so modestly referred to on his web site—as the super-promising guy who DROPPED OUT of So You Think You Can Dance.  As it turns out, the name “Mr. Fantastic” is something of an understatement.  Nigel Lythgoe (token reality show judge-with-a-British-accent-who-is-obviously-smarter-than-you) called him the very best dancer of ’08.  But Muraine was worried he couldn’t handle the choreography.

Seriously, this guy couldn’t handle the choreography?

I asked Binghamton bboy scene-maker Mike Sherwood exactly how good Muraine is—being that I have no point of reference and he’s the only one of my friends cool enough to actually know who the guy is.  “Yeah, he’s pretty dope.”  From what I know about Mike, I interpret that to mean that Muraine is f*king fantastic.  Err, hence, the name.

Muraine made such a splash on SYTYCD that furniture giant IKEA hired him in a desperate attempt to make furniture look even remotely interesting.  He does such a great job in this spot that I ALMOST forgot that author Chuck Palahnuik used IKEA in his 1996 novel Fight Club to represent the ultimate emasculation of the modern man.

But hey, they really do have great light fixtures.

I hope and pray that the Binghamton comes out in force on Sunday to see this extraordinary talent—this is definitely the sort of major visitation that could fly under the radar.

The kind folks at Broadway Theater League hooked me up with a chance to chat with Muraine.

You went from popping and locking to Cirque Dreams—not exactly an obvious choice; did they approach you?  Did you go and audition?  How’d that come about?
I RECEIVED AN EMAIL FROM ONE OF THEIR SCOUTS INQUIRING IN MY INTEREST IN PARTICIPATING IN THEIR NEW URBAN INFLUENCED PRODUCTION TITLED CIRQUE DREAMS ILLUMINATION. WHEN THEY EXPLAINED TO ME THE CONCEPT OF THE NEW PRODUCTION IT SOUNDED COOL AND STREET SMART AND SOMETHING THAT I FELT WOULD ENABLE ME TO EXPLORE MY TALENT AND IMAGINATION IN POPPING TO A NEW LEVEL

So why exactly did you quit “So You Think You Can Dance?” after Nigel called you his favorite dancer of ’08?
I WENT ON THE SHOW LAST MINUTE AND NEVER REALLY THOUGHT OF EVER MAKING IT TO VEGAS, OR EVEN TO THE CHOREOGRAPHY PART OF THE SHOW.  SO WHEN I GOT THAT TICKET TO VEGAS THE FIRST THING I THOUGHT WAS, “WHAT DID I GET MYSELF INTO?” FIRST OFF, AT THE TIME I WAS ONLY POPPING FOR 4 YEARS, WHICH ISNT MUCH TIME FOR A POPPER TO BE CONSIDERED THAT GOOD. (THE BEST POPPERS ARE 10+ YEARS OF EXPEREIENCE)  I NEVER TOOK DANCE CLASSES TO BEGIN WITH. DANCE JUST NEVER INTERESTED ME MUCH, JUST BREAKING AND POPPING. JUST THE THOUGHT OF DOING HIPHOP CHOREOGRAPHY ALWAYS SICKENED ME. SO WHEN THEY ASKED ME TO, I SIMPLY JUST ASKED TO LEAVE.  THAT WAS THE END OF THE COMPETITION FOR ME :]

I know you were worried about the choreography in “…Dance?” but you must have gotten over that to do a show like Cirque; what changed your mind?
STYLE OF CHOREOGRAPHY IN CIRQUE DREAMS IS COMPLETELY INTEREPRETIVE AND DEVELOPED COLLECTIVELY AROUND EACH INDIVUALS SKILLLS. THEREFORE, I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO BLEND MY OWN STYLE WITH WHAT THE CHOREOGRAPHERS VISION IS FOR EACH SCENE I AM INVOLVED IN.

Cirque Dreams is pretty unique as a show.  When people ask you what it is, how do you explain it?
SINCE IM A POPPER, I REFER TO THE URBAN INFLUENCE AND STREET SYLE BACKGROUND THAT I COME FROM. THE CONCEPT OF CIRQUE DREAMS ILLUMINATION IS THAT OF AN ORDINARY GROUP OF EVERY DAY PEOPLE GATHERING IN A VERY COMMON EVERY DAY SETTING FINDING WAYS TO TAKE ORDINARY THINGS AND DO SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY WITH THEM. FOR ME, ITS MY BODY THAT IS ORDINARY JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, BUT I AM BLESSED WITHT HE ABILIY TO MOVE IT IN AN EXTRAORDINARY WAY. OTHER PERFORMERS IN THE SHOW DO AMAZING THINGS WITH TRASH CANS, BATH TUBS, CHAIRS, FIRE HYDRENTS, ROPES, PAINT CANS, AND A VARIET Y OTHER COMMONLY RECOGNIZED ELEMENTS FROM EVERY DAY LIFE.

How’d you get into dancing?
I STARTED GETTING INTO “BREAKDANCING” OR BBOYING, WHEN I WAS REALLY YOUNG (6TH GRADE), JUST TRYING STUPID TRICKS AND HEADSTANDS AND STUFF WITH MY BEST FRIEND ALEX, NOTHING REALLY SERIOUS. I STARTED LISTENING TO ELECTRONIC MUSIC AND GOING TO RAVES IN EARLY HIGHSCHOOL AND KINDA GOT ME INTO SOMETHING CALLED “LIQUID” (A VERY WATERED DOWN RAVER VERSION OF WAVING) WHICH IS A TECHNIQUE & STYLE IN POPPING.
IN HIGH SCHOOL ME, ALEX AND MY FRIEND KRYS MADE A CREW CALLED TANGKLANG IN 2003. WE WENT AROUND BATTLING OTHER CREWS AT OTHER SCHOOLS AND DOING PERFORMANCES AT RANDOM PLACES. EVEN THOUGH WE WERNT GOOD AT THE TIME, WE GOT MASSIVE STREET DANCING EXPERIENCE AT A YOUNG AGE.
LATER ON I MET A COUPLE OF THE ORGINAL POPPERS FROM THE LATE 70’S EARLY 80’S: HECKLE & JECKLE, WAVEOMATIC, TABO, PLAYBOY EDDIE, REVERSOUL MANY MANY MORE (THERE HAPPENS TO BE A LOT OF “OG” POPPERS IN LOS ANGELES) AND THEY TAUGHT ME WHAT POPPING IS & WAS ABOUT, AND WHY THEY DO IT. SINCE THEN IVE BEEN A POPPER.

You do stuff on stage that makes people say “I have never seen a person do that in my life.”  Is there anything you can do with your body that you literally haven’t seen anybody else do?  And if you can, how do you approach doing something “that’s never been done”?
CREATIVITY COMES IN A VARIETIES WAYS AND I LOVE TO STIMULATE & EXPLORE THE VASTNESS OF THE BRAIN. I DO MANY THINGS TO ACHIEVE CREATIVITY ;] AND IF YOU WOULD LIKE SOME EXAMPLES OF HOW I GET SOME IDEAS: WATCHING ANIMALS, PLANTS, & MACHINES MOVE THE WAY THEY DO. WATCHING OTHER TYPES OF DANCE AND INCORPORATING IT INTO THE POPPING TECHNIQUE. THE SAME GOES WITH CIRCUS ARTS, I LOVE TO USE CONTORTION, AND BALANCING. SO THERE ARE JUST SOME OF THE THINGS I WOULD DO OR PRACTICE TO GET SOME IDEAS SOMETIMES.

You’ve got the effect, both through Cirque and “…Dance” of introducing people to a style of dance they may not have seen before.  If somebody wanted to pop over to YouTube and check out some of your heroes, who would they search for?
IF YOU COULD FIND THEM: BOOGIE FRANTICK, OG JECKLE, OG HECKLE, M&M, PLAYBOY EDDIE, WAVEOMATIC, ELSEWHERE, SKYWALKER, BOPPIN ANDRE, TETRIS (THERE IS PROBABLY MANY MORE). ALL MENTORS TO ME IN THEIR OWN WAY, YOU CAN SEE A LITTLE TECHNIQUE FROM EACH OF THEM IN ME.

I checked out your IKEA commercial on YouTube; I’m always wondering how that stuff gets choreographed when you’re working with “non-traditional dancers”; did you just listen to the track and work something out, or did you work with somebody else who had an idea of how the spot would play out?
WELL BASICALLY THEY SAID, “HERES THE ITEMS AND WE NEED IT TO GET FROM THERE TO HERE.” I KIND OF JUST FREESTLYED WITH EVERY ITEM, AND IF THE DIRECTOR LIKED IT, IT WAS IN.

It goes without saying that you’re phenomenally talented.  But I always have this feeling when I see people do things with their body that are totally unexpected—contortionist type stuff; I ALMOST find it disturbing; do you ever get that reaction from people?
I’D LIKE TO THINK BEAUTY IS IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER. PERFORMANCE ART AND THEATRE TODAY HAS A MUCH WIDER RANGE OF ACCEPTANCE AND APPRECIATION FOR THE UNIQUE THAN MAYBE 25 YEARS AGO . I BELIEVE PEOPLE APPRECIATE WHAT ANYONE CAN DO WITH THEIR IMAGINATION AND STRETCHING MY BODY WHILE POPPING AND DANCING IS MY INTERPRETATION. I HAVE BEEN FORTUNATE TO RECEIVE ONLY POSITIVE COMMENTS AND SUPPORT.

Ever been to Binghamton before?  Tell me one thing you actually know about it (no cheating and using Wikipedia).
THAT IT IS WAY COLDER THAN LA