Not clowning around Cirque’s retooled arena show creates acrobatic circus magic By: Jen Zoratti Posted: 5:51 PM CST Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023

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This article was published 07/12/2023 (1007 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The acrobats are high up on their platforms, taping and chalking their hands, the excess dust falling onto the stage like snow. Soon, they will effortlessly tumble and fly through the air, tossed back and forth as if they weigh nothing at all.

It’s just before noon on Thursday at Canada Life Centre, and Cirque du Soleil performers are working on the high-flying Paradis act from Corteo. The women are dressed in leggings and topknots, and are clipped into harnesses, which allows them to hone their technique and try new tricks under the watchful eye of their coach — as well as that of a video camera they will consult for a self-critique later.

To be a Cirque performer is to constantly improve.

The platforms might be high, but the stakes are higher. Because tonight, when Corteo opens its five-show run in Winnipeg, there will be no harnesses and no coaches. Only trust, in themselves and each other.

Since it first premièred as a big-top production in Montreal back in 2005, Corteo has been performed for 10 million people in 20 countries across four continents. Alison Crawford, the artistic director for Corteo, is excited to bring this enduring crowd-pleaser back to Canada — and to be touring again in general after a long pandemic lockdown.

“After the pandemic was really extraordinary for us — it was a really emotional time when we all got together the first day. I could cry even now,” she says backstage, surrounded by the bustle of the crew.

Corteo, which takes its name from the Italian “cortège,” or procession, tells the story of a clown named Mauro who is reflecting on his life.

“Is he dreaming of his funeral? Or is he not? It’s up to you to decide,” Crawford says. “He was in a circus, so we get to meet all the people who were in his life. It’s dreamlike. It’s magical. It takes you to another world, it takes you out of your daily life and brings you into this beautiful environment.”

It takes a lot of people to create Mauro’s dreamlike world — 120, to be exact — including 53 artists from around the world — countries such as the United States, Russia, Argentina, Ukraine, Finland, Japan and the Netherlands. Some 16 languages are spoken backstage.

In 2015, Cirque retired the big-top version of Corteo and retooled the show for performance in arenas, though audiences are still seated on both sides of the stage. The arena format requires the crew to be extra nimble; while big-top shows can move into a city for weeks, arena shows only stay for a matter of days, and must be struck down in a matter of hours.

And they aren’t packing light. In addition to the oversized set pieces — such as the 270-kilogram beds and swinging chandeliers — Cirque du Soleil travels with its own gym setup, its own medical team, its own chef and its own washer and dryer. Some 2,500 wardrobe pieces line the halls of the costume area.

Performers are responsible for doing their own makeup — an entire Sephora’s worth of cosmetics are meticulously organized in a massive filing cabinet — and their own costume changes, of which there may be as many as seven.

Because Corteo is staged in the centre of the arena, “backstage” is actually two separate areas. Obviously, performers don’t have time to run around the whole arena to the other side of the stage, so they travel between the two via little corridors underneath the stage on scooter boards, not unlike the ones you may remember from phys-ed class.

As the Paradis artists run through their act onstage, other performers are training offstage. One is at the squat rack, another holds a handstand for what seems like an hour. After their five Winnipeg shows, they will move on to Regina, then Saskatoon, then Edmonton, with 10-hour load-ins and three hour strikedowns each time.

“Sometimes the transfers can be really difficult, and you get in at three in the morning and sometimes you can get grumpy,” Crawford says with a laugh.

“But we love it.”

jen.zoratti@winnipegfreepress.com