Big-top secrets - hidden world of Cirque du Soleil

Single-hand balancing artist Wang Junru entertains during a dress rehearsal for Dralion. The show is on at Alexandra Park in Auckland until August 23. Photo / Dean Purcell

Eight million people around the world have seen Cirque du Soleil's Dralion show since it started touring 10 years ago.

Created and directed by Guy Caron, the show is a fusion of ancient Chinese circus traditions and Cirque du Soleil's avant-garde style.

Its name, Dralion, is drawn from its two main symbols - the dragon, representing the east, and the lion, representing the west.

The cast features 65 performers from 14 countries - including a house troupe of 36 Chinese performers.

This is the fourth time a Cirque du Soleil show has been to Auckland. It shattered attendance records in 2007 with Varekai.

Canadian artistic director Bruce Mather has a background in acting and dancing. He worked on cruise ships for nine years before joining Cirque du Soleil at the start of this year.

"It turned out those nine years in ships were just the kind of thing they were looking for to take care of this multi-cultural team.

"They work all the time and train all the time, and they need someone who understands and listens and encourages them," he said.

Mather clearly loves his role as part of a vast operation.

Cirque du Soleil has eight touring shows and seven resident shows around the world, and will soon be adding new shows in Los Angeles, Japan, Macao and Dubai.

This year, Cirque du Soleil is presenting 20 shows simultaneously throughout the world.

Mather's role as artistic director of Dralion involves taking care of rehearsals.

"Basically, I'm the eyes and ears of the show for the whole team."

"My job is to keep it evolving, but keep it fresh. Performers change all the time, so they have to be integrated.

"I sit there every night and watch it, then I come back and give them notes. I'll say things like 'you need to be a little bit more left here', or 'we need to work on your presentation at the end'."

The performers are hungry for work to hone their acts - using an artistic tent, behind the big top, to rehearse.

It is like a gym, with blue mats, trampolines and aerial equipment, as well as dressing rooms and a little green room with sofas and a TV.

When the performers come off the stage they will watch their act on TV to see what they can do better.

Mather said they started training around noon each day.

"They train every single day.

"I'll see them with their iPods on the running machines or the bicycles or they're lifting weights.

"Or they'll be working on their performance, whether it's balancing, juggling, or dancing. The dancers will be on the ballet bar stretching or doing pilates or they're helping each other. They train with each other to learn each other's disciplines.

"They do their own thing when it comes to training. They are really self-motivated. If they don't get the time to rehearse, they're not happy." The youngest performer in the show is 15 and the performers vary in age up to early 30s.

"From early 30s we move them on into coaching if they're interested. They've invested so much of their life since their childhood into this and we've invested as well so it's logical to keep that knowledge in the company."

A team of 50 talent scouts in Montreal look for new recruits, and the Cirque du Soleil website advertises all kinds of jobs for the show, from acrobats to technicians to chefs.

All 150 people involved in Dralion, including the performers, can use a kitchen on site at the big-top set-up in Auckland's Alexandra Park.

It is staffed with five chefs and is open from about 8am until the end of the show at night.

"When you're dealing with fine-tuned athletes, you don't want to be feeding them egg and chips and spaghetti all the time," says Mather.

"It's really nice food. We're very lucky. We have a Chinese chef as well, who cooks exclusively for the Chinese artists."

It takes seven days to put up the big top, and three days to take it down.

A team flies in and out to do that job at different Cirque du Soleil shows around the world.

"Because our tents are all the same, they fly in and set up the tent for us," Mather said.

"Next, they'll be flying to Brazil to set up another show and then they'll be coming back here at the end of August to take our tent down."

Dralion goes to Mexico next, in September, for shows in Monterray, Guadalajara and Mexico City.

Mather said that because Cirque du Soleil plays to so many different audiences around the world, each show is different.

"We had really good reactions in Australia. But I have to say, New Zealand broke the decibel record for the whole year we were touring in Australia.

"There was a moment with the clowns when it reached 107 decibels of sound last Friday.

"Auckland beat Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne and now holds the record for audience sound," he said.

Now that's something to shout about.

WORLDWIDE ENTERTAINMENT

* Cirque du Soleil is based in Montreal, Canada. The company has almost 4000 employees from more than 40 different countries, including 1000 artists.
* Since its creation in 1984, Cirque du Soleil has been seen by 80 million spectators in more than 200 different cities on five continents.
* Cirque du Soleil began when a group of street performers in Quebec decided to create a circus show to celebrate the 450th anniversary of Canada's discovery. It was the brainchild of founder and performer Guy Laliberte, who is now the company's CEO.
* Costume workshop staff worked for more than three months and used 5000m of fabric to make Dralion's costumes, hats, wigs and footwear.
* Dralion premiered in Montreal in April 1999, and in January this year had visited 57 cities in 11 countries.

- NZPA