Christmas has come early to Caulfield with Melbourne’s Christmas Wonderland.
Walking into the Big Top, Christmas lights adorn the enclosure. There is a lot to see and do, and the first stop is the Frosty the Snowman jumping castle.
It’s then onto the Ball Pit before a ride on Rudolf’s train.
At 8:15 pm, we are invited into the Big Top for a circus show with Mrs. Claus and the Elves. We are delighted by acrobatics and aerial artists. Mrs. Claus narrates a Christmas story while we witness thrilling stunts.
Then it’s over to decorate elk antlers with festive stickers before visiting Mrs Clause’s Bakery to decorate gingerbread men’s cookies. It’s a simple yet fun activity for the whole family.
In a separate tent, we meet Santa and his Elves and pose for photos. Photo packages start at reasonable prices, and each visit comes with a surprise present from Santa.
Just outside Santa’s workshop is plaster statue painting, a fun activity for everyone. Paint a Santa, penguin or Christmas tree to take home and keep.
Every part of the experience is immersive, and Christmas has been magically brought to life under the Big Top with all your favourite Christmas characters.
The Christmas Wonderland is a fun experience for adults and children with plenty of activities. Whether it’s photo opportunities in Santa’s workshop with shiny baubles or roller skating, there is something for everyone.
Melbourne’s Christmas Wonderland is returning to Caulfield Racecourse from November 29th to December 24th, 2024. It is advised for children 10 and under.
Scandalous Cabaret is a fusion of Circus, Comedy and Cabaret all rolled into one travelling act in a tent. With a larger cast of twelve performers they advertise their show as a ‘hybrid’ adults only Circus, that delivers a sensually themed collection of acts.
The performance contained many old favourites from the Circus arts however with modern twists. We see the Unicycle, but also a miniature version, a three-wheeled version and a two-story off-centred version. Juggling is another classic, but performed with bounce, movement and up to 7 balls at once.
The absolute standout of the act was the talented Trapeze artist who also performed an aerial act with chains and neck spinning. She was mesmerising, with incredible strength and fluidity of movement. A great commendation is needed for the choreographer of the acts, as every performance had amazing flow of movement and contained many transitions.
The choreography knew when to contrast stillness and movement, and constantly used symmetry between the aerial artists. This was evident across the board, including a contortion routine that contained so much elasticity and smoothness of movement. Another standout was a fire performance containing skin transfers and fire eating. This act had great transitions and practical use of fire palms, bubbles and wands with excellent variation between these things.
The individual circus acts were to an incredibly high standard, where it seems that achieving a continuum would be within their grasp. The dance choreography had a very classic jazz style and made little interludes between acts, which was not unwelcome. There was mention of tracking ‘gossip’ surrounding relationships as a story-line for the performance, but this was quickly forgotten.
It would be nice to see this story-line develop more or play a more active role in the way things are staged. We did get a nice classic jazz number that was sung quite well, it would be nice to see more showcasing of vocal talents in their line-up in the future. The song choices and comedy included in the show feel a little crude and immature, not giving a high-class cabaret feel to the show. It would be good to see the staging and theming evolve to better showcase the fantastic talent contained within their cast.
Overall, Scandalous was not very much so, but a great showcase of fluid choreography and talent. It still proved an entertaining time with nice reinventions of older circus acts, and a large cast of professionals.
Scandalous Cabaret runs 15th November – 14th December.
Delicious is a scrumptious hybrid show mixing your favourite Burlesque and Circus acts, all themed around food and drink. The show as a whole imbues the audience with ecstatic energy, and satiates our hunger for entertainment.
It seamlessly blends comedy, acrobatics and eroticism in an extravaganza for any appetite. Our fantastic hosts, Chocolate Boxx and Clara Cupcakes bounce off each other brilliantly with quick witted remarks to introduce us to the world of ‘Delicious’ and its’ acts.
Initially we are met with Aline Chapet who performs a quirky routine with ‘Champagne’ bubbles. Her act brings the awe of a magician and the skill of a bartender to the stage, creating bubble art and playing with trapping and releasing smoke. Her act creates suspense and wonder as we wait for bubbles to pop, or not, as she skillfully crafts them. We were then rewarded with other unique acts such as Indie Berlin who performed a hilariously creative ‘Bread-lesque’ routine.
This combined the glitz and glam of burlesque with the comedic premise of feeding pigeons lots of bread; which was executed with elements of mime as well as expert choreography. Another creative act was Cello Bordello and her ‘hot-dog’ routine. This showcased a spunky burlesque number and a twist on sword swallowing except with a balloon. We were also delighted by some women’s Jelly Wrestling (Grace Law and Rachael Gibson); where you were still in the splash zone multiple rows back, causing eruptive laughter from the audience.
Our final unique act was Johnny Gash presenting a sweet ‘Candyman’ styled Drag King performance. Johnny Gash gave us the only vocal performance of the night, which was absolutely phenomenal and all but identical to Christina Augileira herself.
The circus acts included were incredible, with Andrea James Lui skillfully showcasing her amazing floorwork and Aerial Pole skills. With a quirky mad-hatter style, but incredible strength and fluidity she dazzled from the air. Elena Khaw graced us with an incredible show of contortion and flexibility, all whilst glazing herself in honey, keeping to the sweet theming.
Ambrose and Latonya brought some classic circus action with trapeze and Hula Hoop acts. Their Flow Art was smooth and polished, taking much coordination and strength. Finally, Tami Dawson presented hair suspension to close us out, which takes incredible, hair-raising skill.
With such a smorgasbord of talent, the audience was engaged and cheering from the start and this did not lull for the entire performance. The lighting and use of haze made all the performers look spectacular whether they be on the ground or in the air. The song choices were recognisable and energizing, bringing much enjoyment.
This show exudes confidence and really comes together beautifully, a perfect collection of talent, theming and taste. The cast and crew should be applauded for a delightful addition to the Melt Festival line-up.
It may have been a Thursday but according to MC Andrew Silverwood, every night is Friday the 13th at Kaleido Companies ‘Trick or Treat’. It was hard to know what to expect from in the way of ‘horror’ from the creators of ‘80’s Mix tape’ which, in all 3 iterations I have seen, has been light-hearted and filled with comedy both from Silverwood and the circus/aerialist performers (and riggers). It was hard to imagine them doing dark and creepy.
The show promised an ‘immersive circus horror show, interwoven with seductive delights that will leave you gasping in both fear and delight. Is it a trick or a treat?’ I can tell you they did not exaggerate with that promise. At one point, not even 10 minutes in, I actually said out loud ‘oh my god, I feel sick!’ as the anticipation grew as Kaleido Company director and aerialist, Sarah, prepared for an aerial skill that did not feel safe (my stomach just turned thinking about it to write this) but seconds later the whole audience was whooping and cheering with delight.
As apparatus were being changed, we were entertained by Silverwood who took it upon himself to educate us about fears, rational and irrational. If you are reading this Mr Silverwood, I didn’t know that ‘wearing an aerialist as a hat’ was a very rational fear until last night! The audience certainly couldn’t complain that the performers were too far away, they came from every which way! With wolves abseiling, mental hospital patients and clinicians prowling through the crowd, creepy clowns seeming to appear before your eyes when you attention is elsewhere, not to mention aerialists performing literally above the audience. It was a delight, or should I say a treat, for the senses.
The performance included the stomach-turning trapeze doubles act, a creepy contortion/acro performance and I have to say if Sarah was a Barbie her leg would have popped off! How strong were the people basing!!! I really don’t think human bodies are designed to do the things that these performers did! There was a duo cube performance with animal heads. Aerialist Mya played the psych ward patient a little too well in the lead up to being tossed by the psych nurses and as she was being swung and her body folded on itself the noise from the audience member behind me as her stomach flipped only added to the effect!
When the performers let go of a hand and foot and Mya flew over the audience, the squeals that came were far from voluntary. There was lyra and silks and balancing. Things you would expect from a circus show but done in a way that set the bar exceptionally high (literally and figuratively!)
Honestly, the trust that the performers have in each other as they perform these dangerous acts with out a safety net, knowing that if they fall, they are relying only on each other to catch them. There was also an act with aerial body loops but instead of using straps they used loops of chain, because aerials isn’t painful enough, lets do it on chains while holding the body weight of an, all be it petite, additional aerialist. Ohhhh and there was fire! Fire bubbles, fire eating and fire poi. Who doesn’t love fire?
The strength and skill of the performers was beyond belief. The strength to perform on the apparatus and the strength to base and toss and rig (I love watching the riggers as they work to lift and lower the apparatus during the performance and oh my goodness, they were working extra hard during the chains performance! Gents, you work did not go unnoticed). The costumes were great, the make up was more than effective and the performers who, during 80s Mix tape, previously did happy, bubbly, over the top excited so well did creepy, eerie, sinister WAY too well.
It was summed up perfectly by an audience member who said matter of factly ‘well that was one of the BEST shows I’ve seen in a LONG time!’ I whole heartedly agree!
Sadly, this was only a two night run at Rechabite but Kaleido Company hope to have a run of Trick of Treat at the 2025 Perth FRINGE WORLD Festival. Keep an eye on https://www.facebook.com/kaleidocompany for more information and updates.
