Cirque du Soleil Dralion UK Dates Announced

Cirque du Soleil has announced that its signature production of Dralion will play four dates at the London O2 Arena from the 4th to the 8th of June. Dralion, which celebrates its 15th Anniversary, next year, last played to London audiences in 2005. The show will also visit Glasgow, Sheffield, Birmingham and Manchester as it undertakes its first ever UK arena tour.

The 2014 UK tour dates for Dralion are as follows:
•    The SSE Hydro in Glasgow from Friday May 8 to Sunday May 11;
•    The Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield from Wednesday May 14 to Sunday May 18;
•    The LG Arena in Birmingham from Thursday May 22 to Sunday May 25;
•    The O2 Arena in London from Wednesday June 4 to Sunday June 8; and
•    The Phones 4U Arena in Manchester from Wednesday June 11 to Sunday June 15.
This will be the fourth time that a Cirque Du Soleil production has played at the London O2 Arena. London audiences have not seen Dralion since its last run of shows at the Royal Albert Hall in 2005, and now nearly 10 years on, it will return to delight fans in a new and bigger venue.
Says Dralion Company Manager Niki Kemeny about coming to London:
We are so thrilled as a tour to be coming to London, so that we can feel inspired by the vibrant blend of so many cultures, sounds, and styles in this great city.  Similarly, this vibrant blend within Dralion, along with breathtaking performances, will definitely thrill Londoners too.   Dralion is exhilarating and crowd-pleasing, and reaches across cultures with its inspirational music and exciting acts.  We can’t wait to share it with you!

Since its Montreal premier in 1999, Dralion has wowed more than eight million people across the globe. The show features an international cast of 50 performers, clowns, singers and musicians from 15 different countries and offers audiences a two-hour production featuring gravity-defying acrobatics and spectacular feats. Dralion fuses the age old traditions of Chinese acrobatic arts with the multidisciplinary approach of Cirque du Soleil, drawing inspiration from Eastern philosophy and its never-ending quest for harmony between humans and nature. The show’s name is derived from its two emblematic creatures: the dragon, symbolizing the East, and the lion, symbolizing the West.
Tickets are now on sale at livenation.com and priced between £45 and £55 (roughly $75 to $90). Find out more at cirquedusoleil.com.

Photograph by Daniel Desmarais Costumes: François Barbeau © 2010 Cirque du Soleil