Cirque du Soleil pushes boundaries of human body at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia
Some special bugs visited the Franklin Institute Wednesday, focusing on BODY WORLDS. This is a unique look at the body from the outside, featuring some gifted performers, and from the inside, offering a view of what goes on beneath the skin.
Strike a pose, fixed or fluid, these are performers from Cirque du Soleil at The Franklin Institute's BODY WORLDS exhibit.
"Pushing the boundaries of the human body," said Janie Mallet, publicist of Cirque du Soleil.
Cirque's show OVO is about bugs. The spider is a contortionist from Mongolia.
"These are real human people who donated their bodies to educate people about health and wellness," said Dr. Jayatri Das, chief bioscientist at The Franklin Institute.
Das said the 150 real human specimens are preserved through a plastination process. They're displayed, heading a soccer ball or skateboarding, showing different layers inside the body.
"You can see the skeleton that gives us our shape, you can see muscles that give us control over how we move, you can see blood vessels that carry nutrients," Das said.
This inside look at bodies also shows what happens when you don't take care of yourself and things go wrong.
The smoker has damaged lungs. Obesity is linked to circulatory problems and coronary disease, and with aging, the body starts breaking down.
"We all see ourselves from the outside; we never get a chance to see ourselves from the inside," Das said.
For these creatures, who depend on their bodies, it's a new view seeing these specimens.
"It's super cool," said Jesse Harris.
Harris, a flea in the show, is also the strength and conditioning coach.
"It's really interesting because a lot of the time when I'm training our artists, we talk about not just growing the muscle, but also how we need to have ligament and tendon strength so that we're able to keep our joints safe," said Harris.
The wonders of the human body inside and out.
"This really helps us appreciate what we should take care of," said Das.
The OVO show will be at the Wells Fargo Center this weekend.
The BODY WORLDS exhibit at the Franklin Institute ends Sept. 1.
