Cirque Éloize: iD Reloaded at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff – review

Thanks to Wales Millennium Centre for providing us with review tickets for Cirque Éloize: iD Reloaded

Contemporary circus fuses with hip hop and urban dance, as Cirque Éloize make a welcome return to Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre as part of their international tour of iD Reloaded last night.

They world-renowned Canadian company are only here for one more night – tonight! – and there are a few tickets still left if you’re quick. They were the very first professional company to perform at Wales Millennium Centre when it opened way back in 2004 (I recall them making it look it was raising on stage) and were last in the capital back, and this tour is the first time the company have been in the UK since 2019.

Although it takes a little while to pick up pace, the show is breathtaking. Traditional circus skills such as juggling, acrobatics and aerial dance are given a modern edgy twist, and are interlaced with breakdance, hip hop and more. Performers shimmy their way up and down metal scaffolding poles using just their upper body strength; others spin on their heads, and two contortion artists perform a beautiful duet with the most incredible back bends and the most graceful – yet imo

Some of the most daring feats include a bike stunt routine, where the dare-devil cyclist hops up and down various sized platforms and even over a brave member of the audience. There’s also an incredible trampoline routine where performers bounce back up several feet and land on a small platform perfectly on both feet.

It’s all accompanied by a soundtrack which ranges from fast beats that build tension and have the audience clapping along, to slow atmospheric music that fits perfectly with a graceful yet mind-blowing aerial rope routine.

The scenery is simple – a metal scaffolding structure in the centre of the stage becomes everything from a West Side Story-esque block of flats with balconies and ladders, to a construction site with a night skyline, thanks to some stunning visual backdrops.

Performed in one 75 minute without an interval, iD Reloaded – so-called because it’s an updated version of their previous globally renowned show iD – will leave your jaw dropping in awe and asking ‘how is that even possible?’.

Be spontaneous and book for tonight, or catch them across the UK for the rest of their tour.

 Cirque Éloize: iD Reloaded, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff  has one more performance on Wednesday 1 October, 7.30pm. Tickets are priced from £15 and are still available here if you’re quick!

Fancy a trip to the theatre? I’ve rounded up what’s going on in and around Cardiff in October, November and December, with more than 40 shows.