Toruk - The First Flight
Trailer
Synopsis
When a natural catastrophe threatens to destroy the sacred Tree of Souls, Ralu and Entu, two young Omaticaya Na'vi on the brink of adulthood, decide to take matters into their own hands. Learning that only Toruk — the mighty winged predator that rules the skies of Pandora — can help them save it, they set out on an expedition to the Floating Mountains alongside their new friend Tsyal. Along the way they travel through the lands of the other four Na'vi clans (Tawakami, Anurai, Tipani and Kekunan) to gather the five sacred talismans needed to fulfil an ancient prophecy: only a pure soul can win Toruk's favor and be the first to ride him.
Context & Trivia
Written and directed by Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon (Delirium), this Cirque du Soleil arena show — set thousands of years before the film Avatar — combines the company's usual acrobatics with 16 large-scale puppets bringing the creatures of Pandora to life: Toruk itself, a creature with a roughly 40-foot (12-metre) wingspan operated onstage by six puppeteers, is built as a reverse string puppet controlled from its base, while the Austrapedes, the Turtapede and the Direhorses use lived-in puppetry (the performer is inside), and the six Viperwolves are in-view puppets, where the puppeteer's lower half remains visible as part of the puppet itself. Puppet designer Patrick Martel deliberately chose real physical puppets over animatronics, leaving both puppeteers and strings in full view as a tribute to nature; puppeteers were involved from the start of the creative process, with three months of creation and rehearsal alongside the designer. The show premiered in Montreal on December 21, 2015 (rehearsals moved to the CenturyLink Center in Bossier City, Louisiana, due to the set's size) and closed after a four-year world tour, with its final performance in London on June 30, 2019.
Puppeteers
Rob Laqui, Emilie Scherrer
Puppet design
Patrick Martel
Puppet companies
Cirque du Soleil
Puppet building
Patrick Martel
Direction
Michel Lemieux, Victor Pilon
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