Here, in this heady crucible of fantasy and reality, of exotic performers and metropolitan spectators, of race and femininity, something caught fire within Gautier: he became infatuated with the 18-year-old devadasi dancer Amany, visiting her often, though they could scarcely say a word to each other, and writing about her in both lyrical flights of fancy and probing physical detail.
The Corvette reaches showrooms late this summer, with the company hinting at a base price of around $56,000 – about $5,000 more than a current base-model coupe, but still a relative bargain for a near-exotic performer with a top speed above 190 m.p.h.
In a world made smaller each day by electronic miracles, the circus remains a reminder of an era when the exotic -- people, performers, animals -- retained the power to evoke innocent awe and childish wonder.
More dishearteningly, the show's directors seem content to present their performers as exotic objects, never offering an especially nuanced take on any one individual.
As the old wood-and-mirrors tent crosses continents, floating festival to festival, so it attracts a revolving collective of burlesque and cabaret performers as exotic and out-of-time as the venue itself.
The work is scored for chorus, here the estimable New York Choral Artists (Joseph Flummerfelt, director) and a modest orchestra of roughly 60 players, including performers of exotic instruments from Russian folk traditions like the balalaika and the gusli, a Russian zither.
The anxious middle-age women, larger-than-life matrons and exotic-looking circus performers that she was shooting in 35 millimeter in the '50s would reappear in her medium-format work.
Mascots posed with tourists for pictures; performers wearing elaborate historical costumes acted as statues; there were street buskers, toy hawkers, traditional travelling performers, men carrying exotic snakes, reggae bands, pickpockets and a Dutch-style bicycle rental service.
The performers were an exotic assembly: Coro Della Radio Svizzera, Lugano — a choir from the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland — supported by I Barocchisti, a Swiss period string ensemble, and Les Sacqueboutiers, a French period brass group.
Until recently only a handful of classical performers specialized in this exotic underdog instrument, but now there are virtuosos, festivals and international competitions dedicated to bringing it out from the shadows of its more established orchestral colleagues.
