Ice capades Cirque du Soleil performers strap on the skates for frozen adventure By: Jen Zoratti Posted: 4:26 PM CST Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025

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This article was published 19/02/2025 (536 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Go to any Cirque du Soleil show, and you’ll be treated to no shortage of heart-stopping, hold-your-breath, how’d-they-do-that acrobatic feats.

Now imagine all that — on ice.

Crystal, which moves into Canada Life Centre Thursday for a six-show run, is the Montreal-based contemporary circus troupe’s first touring production to incorporate ice skating.

Synchronized, figure, extreme — name a type of skating, they’re doing it, alongside the more traditional circus arts such as swinging trapeze, aerial straps and hand to hand. Since its debut in 2017, Crystal has toured to more than 145 cities in 24 countries.

Mississauga, Ont.-born Cirque du Soleil aerial/straps artist Darren Trull has been a Cirque performer for 15 years, so he’s certainly no stranger to high-flying danger, but when he joined Crystal in 2022, there was a bit of a learning curve.

“The biggest change for me is having a partner with blades on her feet,” he says with a laugh over the phone from a tour stop in Illinois.

Trull, 38, was brought in post-pandemic to replace the original straps artist, so he wasn’t going in cold, so to speak. He was able to see footage from past performances and get a sense of what Cirque on ice might be like.

“When we restaged the show after the pandemic, we went to Montreal — we always go for a few weeks to the headquarters — and there, we worked without the skates and without the ice, and blocked out the acts and decided on the tricks. So everything felt very comfortable for me there,” he says.

“But it was when we first got into the ice rink that it kind of dawned on me — like, oh, OK. You’re learning to slide across the ice. And if you step a little bit wrong on your shoes, well, it is the ice.”

Trull partners with the title character (performed by alternating skaters), who goes on a dreamlike journey of self-discovery after she falls through the ice and into her imagination.

Figure skaters take flight all the time, but not quite like this. During a second-act pas de deux, for example, they are both suspended in the air: he is holding onto a strap with one arm while holding her up by her armpits with his feet as she dangles — again, it cannot be stressed enough — wearing skates.

“When I fly with Crystal, it’s really nice to be able to land on the ice and just let her go and she skates away. I feel like they complement each other quite well, the figure skating and the aerial,” he says.

Trull is based in Florida now, but his Mississauga upbringing has come in clutch. While the acrobats wear grippy shoes, everyone in the show has to be proficient and comfortable on the ice — including sliding, skating, stopping.

“I feel like being Canadian, we’re born with skates on our feet, but a lot of the cast didn’t know how to skate. We have a lot of acrobats from Australia and different countries where it’s not so common. It’s a pretty big experience for them,” he says.

Many kids dream of joining the circus and Trull was no exception. He started taking gymnastics at six, but it was when he saw Cirque du Soleil’s Saltimbanco on TV with his parents when he was nine or 10 that a fire was lit.

“I looked at them, and I was like, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ And they were like, ‘Oh, no,’” he says with a laugh.

Trull pursued his post-secondary education in Montreal, in part to be close to Cirque HQ. He was still competing as a gymnast, but was sending in demo reels and auditioning for Cirque.

And then, in a nice bit of symmetry, Trull was cast in the touring arena version of Saltimbanco in 2010.

“It was really always my goal to work for Cirque du Soleil, so to be able to achieve that dream and be working with them for such a long time, I feel very appreciative every time I walk into the arena or into the theatre,” he says.

At the beginning of Crystal, the stage is done up like a frozen pond. For Trull, it’s a little taste of Canada on the road.

“It feels very homey to start the show every day like that, skating around,” he says. “It’s something I never expected to do in my circus career, but it’s been very nice.”

jen.zoratti@winnipegfreepress.com