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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 9, 2000)
■ You can thank Canada for Cirque Eloize, an untraditional circus using a live band and no animals By Sara Jarrett Oregon Daily Emerald Ameriean-style circuses are a rare breed indeed — bearded ladies, lion tamers, tight rope walkers, midgets and other oddities of the tent city. That infatuation must be saved for the backwoods county fairs, however, because a new big-top is coming to town. Cirque Eloize, a European-style circus, performs “Excentricus” at Silva Hall in the Hult Cen ter for the Performing Arts Friday at 7 p.m. While this circus doesn’t offer the tradi tional American carnival favorites, Cirque Eloize does have its own glamour and charm. Juggling, dancing, leaping, flipping, bicycle routines and wire acts set against the backdrop of a live jazz-rock band provide a night of family-oriented entertainment. “Ex centricus” is always animal-free — sorry kids, no miniature ponies or three-legged dogs. Hailing from Quebec, seven graduates of the Montreal National Circus School creat ed Cirque Eloize in 1993. The troupe’s name, Eloize, means “heat lightning” on Quebec’s Magdalen Islands. While Cirque Eloize has been compared to other Canadian circus troupes, this one stands apart from the competition. Most of Eloize’s current members have also per formed with its biggest competitor, Cirque du Soleil. But while du Soleil prides itself on a sense of surprise and wonder, Eloize has this and more, according to the Orange County (Calif.) Register. By striving for a sense of intimacy between performers and audience, its talent stands alone, the news paper comments. Within two years of Cirque Eloize’s incep tion, the troupe embarked on a 125-show American tour, which ended by opening the newly restored New Victory Theater on Broadway in New York. Cirque Eloize’s visit to Eugene is part of a world tour that began last fall at the Festival Fringe in Edinburgh, Scotland. In its promo tional literature, troupe members maintain that they are on a mission to popularize and preserve the living art of the circus, while bringing this particular style to as many peo ple as possible, in as many places as possi ble. Cirque Eloize has already toured Canada, America, Europe, Ireland and Asia during its current tour that numbers 500 venues and counting. Cirque Eloize also acts as cultural ambassador for Quebec and Canada wherev er it goes. “Cirque Eloize is a punkish anomaly that manages quite handily with no animals and precious few props, relying instead on a jumbo batch of circus craft,” writes The Courier, in Louisville, Ky. With live music, re-invention of tradition al circus acts, humor, sparkle, theater and dance, this show promises that you won’t even notice the lack of animals. Tickets priced at $15 and $20 are available at the Hult Center ticket office, the EMU Main Desk or charge-by-phone by calling 682 5000. Limber acrobats will be on display when Cirque Eloize comes to Eugene’s Hult Center. Book reviews continued from page 1 1988. Now well into his fourth decade as a professional writer, Harlan Ellison has been on a wave of literary and social praise. “Slippage” marks the 70th book Ellison has written or edited. In that time, in a career of short sto ries, screenplays, novellas and es says, Ellison has won more awards for than any other living fantasist. In 1996, Ellison underwent a quadruple-bypass heart operation that has cooled his normal, fiery and raucous persona. This change is reflected in “Slippage,” which is full of tales dealing with loss, im pending doom and regret. The collection opens with “The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore,” a work that was selected for the Best American Short Stories in 1996. The follow ing stories include titles such as “Anywhere but Here, with Any body but You,” “Crazy as a Soup Sandwich” and “Darkness Upon the Face of the Deep.” After “The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore,” the next-best story comes with “The Lingering Scent of Wood Smoke.” Ellison’s Jewish heritage is promi nent in this tale of lost souls who in habit the trees of an abandoned for est, taking vengeance upon their Nazi murderers. This collection also features “Mefisto in Onyx,” an award-win ning novella that is currently being a scripted as a major motion pic ture starring Samuel L. Jackson. Other highlights include “Key board,” a short story about a com puter with vampiric tendencies, inspired by Ellison’s good friend, actor Robin Williams. All in all, this edition of “Slip page” contains 20 original works, a lengthy introduction and some of Ellison’s best writing in over a decade. Yael Menahem Oregon Daily Emerald Decades after the second wave of feminism, when women today are Ring of Tire Restaurant & Catering 0084111 Tine Pacific Rim Cuisine Specializing in Thai and Vegetarian Dishes Now Teaturing: LAVA LOUNGE A full-service coclctail lounge serving specialty drinks and a ful menu for dine-in or carryout until midnight, seven daijs a week. 1099 Chambers (11th & Chambers) EUGENE enjoying a life they weren’t allowed to live in the past, it’s surprising and at the same time not so surprising that abook entitled “What Our Moth ers Didn’t Tell Us: Why Happiness Eludes the Modem Woman” has made its way into the mainstream. Danielle Crittenden’s book blames feminism for all of the un happiness that women over the age cf 30 are experiencing today and urges women to marry younger, have children and go back to the home. If that doesn’t sound like the solution to female college students who aren’t getting a four-year high er education simply to find a man, you’re not alone. The book has come under attack by outspoken feminists Betty Friedan and Susan Faludi, among others, for its message, and the is sues that Crittenden brings up in the book are worth writing a whole other book about. The problem with the book is not Crittenden’s views; it’s the fact that she blames feminism and the sexual revolution for the unhappiness of the women that she interviewed. She bases her study on women who at tend prestigious colleges, whose biggest fear is not being asked to the school dance by a man, and her writ ing endlessly refers to articles from fashion magazines such as Cos mopolitan, Vogue and Mademoiselle, She writes that the pursuit of a ca reer, money and independence — basically what every man has worked for over the decades—has led many women to miserable lone ly lives without a man. Two problems arise from this be lief. First of all, Crittenden general izes the term “women.” She’s ob viously referring to white, mid dle- to upper-class women in this book, a mistake that feminism made in the 1960s with the sec ond wave of feminism, which mostly dealt with white women’s problems and ignored other class es, races and sexes. Secondly, Crittenden’s urgency to send women back to the home and to play their roles as coy women in society that she believes will lead men to treat women differ Grace Lutheran Presents... Pins and Noodles: An Evening of Chinese Food and Bowling 6:45pm on Friday, March 10th at the church sponsored by s TUDY B I BLE C ampus Mini STr v Bible Studies Thursdays 6:30pm aiso, Contemporary Worship Every Second Sunday at 8:30am and 11 am Catch both at Grace Lutheran Church on the corner of 18th and Hilyard. Bring your friends! ently is ridiculous. She writes as if women in the Victorian times, who were expected to be passive and pure, never had husbands who had extramarital affairs. Another ignorant point that Crit tenden makes is assuming that all women want a husband, com pletely dismissing lesbians. She calls women who identify them selves as feminists who are les bians as “oddpersonalities.” That said, the book should be ti tled, “...Why Happiness Eludes the White, Middle-Class, Suburban/City, Heterosexual Working Woman. ” The main point that Crittenden overlooks throughout the whole book is that without feminism, she probably wouldn’t be publishing this book and wouldn’t have a suc cessful journalistic career — the whole point of feminism is to give women opportunities. “What Our Mothers Didn’t Tell Us: ...” can frustrate liberal read ers while its appeal to conservative men and women may be great. Ei ther way, it will leave many read ers provoked and thinking. ooe?io ten's open mike dusstisns? iaat to Perfarm? 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