There's a lot that I love about life on tour,
traveling being one of them,
and exploring new cities like here in Vancouver.
I seek out small businesses.
They are the ones that have the taste of that specific city.
I'm really happy that Mastercard is giving us the opportunity tonight
to go out on the town and support a local restaurant.
It's very important to me and very important to Cirque du Soleil.
So tonight, we're going to dinner with Nicolai.
He's the duo trapeze artist.
I like to go out with him cause I know I'm in for a good time.
And joining us there's Oyuna, the contortion hand balancer,
and she's also down for good food
and always down to laugh.
And our last guest for tonight is Joanne, our hula hoop artist on Alegría,
and she just makes me giggle.
Like, there's something that clicked and it's always a good laugh.
-See, that's me. -Yeah, oh my God.
When we were looking for a restaurant for tonight, like we do every city,
we go online, we search what's the places that people enjoy the most?
We usually try to find something that's local.
And Pidgin was part of that list.
Hello, everybody. Welcome to Pidgin!
You know, it hasn't been an easy couple years for anybody.
It's great to see the big tent over there.
The art and the culture and the music
and the dancing and the acrobats, it's returning.
And I think that's... it's huge.
-Oh! -Cocktails!
And... cheers!
Cheers!
A lot of people try to say, "What kind of restaurant is Pidgin?"
And I always say, "It's very Vancouver."
It's very, very multicultural.
It's a smorgasbord of whatever's good.
So... enjoy!
I think creativity is similar
across all sorts of disciplines in many ways.
You never know where an inspiration will come from.
Somebody could see something architectural,
and it will inform their dish, their plating style.
This kind of small business
really is the heart of the city.
Only someone that lives in Vancouver
can come up with this idea for the food and this menu.
Wow!
Thank you.
Let's call that...
My gosh, so crunchy.
I feel like I understand the work that comes behind it,
-cause it's so similar... -Yeah.
-To what we do. -To what we do.
Food is such an art
that you have to study and train for.
-Every dish is an act? -Yeah.
So which dish are you? That's the question.
How did you start at Cirque?
So I was a gymnast.
-Yeah? -I did power tumbling.
I was ready to retire from competing,
and then there I could meet with Cirque scouts.
I was 10 years old when I was in the audition,
cause in Mongolia it's part of... almost part of our traditional art.
I grew up in circus.
For me it took like six years
after my Cirque audition to get the call from Cirque.
How about you, Joanne?
I did the audition in Las Vegas, 2015.
And last year, I finally joined Alegría!
Yes, finally.
So it just feels like a dream come true, you know.
Yeah.
On behalf of Mastercard
and Cirque du Soleil, we have a priceless surprise for you.
Oh, OK.
We'd like to recognize the effort
that small businesses put back into their communities
and give you Mastercard VIP Experience tickets
to come see Alegría.
That's amazing. That's so kind of you.
-Thank you so much. -There you go.
Thank you for sharing your artistry with us.
We hope to do the same.
-It was a pleasure. Thank you. -Thank you.
Being in Cirque, it is a lot of fun mixed with a lot of hard work.
I get to meet the most incredible people that I can think of.
And to share the stage with them
is what makes me so proud to be part of a show like Alegría.
To be able to work with Mastercard and shine a light on small businesses
brings joy to me because we are able to share Cirque's platform
and hopefully get people to experience Pidgin like we did tonight.