When he's not performing, Slava Palunin looks like an off-season Santa Claus or an aging wizard from a fantasy-movie franchise. Onstage, in his yellow parka, oversized red shoes, giant strawberry nose and electrified white hair, he is no less fantastical.
A versatile performance artist who once organized a street march of 800 mimes in Soviet Russia (eastern bloc audiences must have had quite a taste for silent entertainment), Palunin later cut his teeth as Cirque du Soleil's resident clown. Later still, he created a number of stage spectacles combining his talents as choreographer, comedian, and physical actor, with Slava's Snowshow arguably the most enduring.
Read on to find out how to win a pair of tickets to Slava's Snowshow's opening night at the Arsht Center.
In this family-friendly, wordless phantasmagoria, the audience will become involved whether they like or not, from the giant spider web that envelops the seats to the streams of confetti raining upon the crowd to Slava's clown colleagues who perform in the aisles.
There is also, as the title suggests, an epic snowstorm created onstage, not to mention a battalion of enormous beach balls and some spectacular theatrics that need to be seen to be believed.
Slava's Snowshow opens at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, July 31, at the Arsht Center's Ziff Ballet Opera House -- and we're offering a pair of tickets to one lucky Cultist reader. Here's how to win:
1) Email your full name to [email protected]. Make sure the subject line says "Slava's Snowshow Giveaway."2) Cross your fingers -- we'll randomly select one emailer to receive a pair of tickets to the show's opening night on Wednesday, July 31.
3) The deadline to enter is 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, July 25. Winners will be notified via email on the morning of Friday, July 26.
Even if you don't win, you'll have plenty of chances to see it snow in Miami. Slava's Snowshow runs 8 p.m. Wednesdays to Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Aug. 25. Tickets cost $25-$65. Call 305-949-6722 or visit arshtcenter.org.
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