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Since its first show in Columbus 20 years ago, Cirque Du Soleil has excited audiences young and old with daring aerial acrobatics, tumbling, theatrics, unique costumes and dancing. This year’s performance, Corteo, is no different.
Dreaming of the Circus
Corteo, which translates to “a joyous procession,” transports the crowd into the mind of a dying clown named Mauro, as he imagines the celebration of his life. The show’s characters include dreamy angels, comical clowns and bold acrobats.
The setting on stage is carnival-inspired with colored spotlights and eccentric characters, clothing, and makeup. In typical carnival fashion, there are humans with extraordinary feats including two little people and one supersized person entertaining audiences with their comical theatrics. Another performer bounces around the crowd, held up only by three giant balloons as members of the crowd push her feet to keep her floating above the audience.
The show features 10 different acts ranging from juggling to aerial stunts. Often there are 20 people or more on stage, all playing a role in the scene which makes it almost impossible for audience members to look away.
On one side of the stage there is a drummer, utilizing dramatic pauses in his playing to add to the thrill of aerial artists’ breathtaking stunts. On the other side of the stage is a full band featuring a singer and brass ensemble.
Cultivating Courage
Before they go on tour, performers are trained in acting, singing, gymnastics and other skills at the Cirque Du Solei headquarters in Montreal. This is all to ensure that a show will not only run smoothly and safely, but will impress anyone who attends.
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Erin Cervantes (pictured, right), an aerialist, has been touring with Cirque Du Solei since 2017. Cervantes says performing in a show like Corteo takes a lot of courage, not just physically but mentally as well.
“I know a lot of people say you feel naked when you're on stage and it's very true, she says. “You feel like you're very hyper-aware of everything because you’re nervous.”
Cervantes says she got her start in the industry after stumbling into a circus school in Los Angeles at 31 years old. Now at 43, she travels the world doing what she loves.
“It was just something fun to do to work out and be artistic and creative and then I realized I was kind of good at it,” she says. “I just kept pushing and had a lot of passion and perseverance and patience with it and had a really good coach that helped me guide me and somehow ended up here.”
Casted Across Continents
Cervantes says she finds comfort in knowing her “big international family” has her back, as the show’s staff hail from 27 different countries.
While many of them don’t speak the same language, Alexandra Gaillard, Cirque Du Soleil’s senior publicist on tour, says the performers don’t rely on spoken words to communicate. They use constant eye contact when performing stunts and rely on physical cues to direct messages to each other on stage.
“Communication isn’t through language it’s through trust,” she says.
Originally from Iowa, Cervantes says even with their differences in culture, she and the other performers find they are not that different.
“It's nice to hear stories of the way they grew up and a lot of times you're like, ‘oh, same,’ she says. “…it's like opposite sides of the earth but we grew up in the same kind of way and the same kind of hopes and dreams and that is really interesting.”
The show will run at the Schottenstein Center from June 22-June 25. The show on Friday, June 23 will begin at 7:30 p.m. There will be two shows Saturday, June 24, one at 3:30 p.m. and another at 7:30. Sunday’s show starts at 1 p.m. All shows are approximately two hours long which includes a 20-minute intermission.
Maisie Fitzmaurice is an assistant editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.
