I’m all in favour of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let’s start with typewriters,” is a quote attributed to Frank Lloyd Wright.
Urgently needing to claim an exemption, I appealed, not on grounds of intelligence, but by pointing out that I use a notebook (lousy, but a step up from its antiquated predecessor). Once accepted, I took my place among the gathering media reps, all as excited as children on Christmas morning, entranced by the preparations for the Cirque du Soleil OVO show, not to mention their senior touring publicist, Janie Malle, in herself quite a performer, as the outfit arrived in Almaty for the first time ever.
The issue with so-called fools and so-called typewriters (as with gatekeeper and keymaster) is that when they find each other, they can, at worst, do more harm than good – at best, fail to do something true justice, mere typing often a sadly inadequate representation of the actual truth.
What can I say about all this? was the nagging question that followed me around backstage as the extensive and thoroughly informative guided media tour revealed the intriguing extent of what goes into this performance.
In the end, it didn’t matter. Before I had seen two minutes of OVO, I had forgotten who I was and where I lived. I had forgotten my name and that I was there to somehow come up with a way of summing up the Cirque du Soleil production in actual words. I was transported into a world of magic, of surprise, poetry, delight, and humour. A world of the seemingly impossible and the reliably breathtaking. And there I lived, until all too soon, the show was over.
After the packed-out shows in Astana, the Cirque du Soleil team arrived in Almaty ahead of four nights at the Almaty Arena, a venue they could probably sell out for a far longer season.
Several thousand people last night, most witnessing something of this nature for the first time ever, saw ten acrobatic acts punctuated by peripheral entertainment in the form of clowns, music, and dancing. The show has an insect theme, and although for some the plot is secondary to the performing, there is an underlying love story for those who see past the immense spectacle. Optional.
OVO is the one time when being bugged becomes a pleasure. The various insects, ranging from a dragonfly to ants, spiders to crickets, don’t let their species down, as some of the suppleness goes beyond the human and into the insect world, a display of strength, balance, flexibility – or all of them.
Movement is what OVO is about. Its inspiration may come from insects, and the creator, Deborah Colker, confesses to a lifelong fascination with them, but what the audience gets to see is the epitome of agility, things that mere mortals just can’t do, and in some cases, can’t even relate to.
While there is (probably) a down-to-earth explanation for everything that goes on in OVO, you don’t always know what it is. There was no literal magic, but that’s what it seemed to be at times, meaning that magic swiftly became the received version of the truth.
The two and a half hours feature contortion, slackwire, feet juggling, trapeze, trampoline, climbing, a diabolos act, music, and, as rep Janie Malle explained, the show is not only years in the making, but it also takes months of careful planning to ensure that each venue is ready for Cirque du Soleil to perform at.
Janie knows about the acts from both sides and explained the origins of her career.
“I myself sat in the audience when I was 11 with my parents, and I loved it so much that it changed the trajectory of my life.”
She also told us how Kazakhstan had become such a welcome addition to their world tour, and why.
“The mission of Cirque du Soleil is to invoke the imagination, provoke the senses, and evoke the emotions of people around the world. OVO has been touring the world for 17 years, and Kazakhstan has become the 47th country in the show’s history. Over the course of my career, I have visited around 80 countries, but this was my first time in Kazakhstan. We had the opportunity to see both Astana and Almaty — two wonderful cities. But what I will remember most are the people: incredibly open, kind, and welcoming. It is encounters like these that make every trip truly special.
“I can relate to the amazement and emotions of the children who come to our shows, and this is what means more to me than anything else, what makes all the hard work that Cirque du Soleil and our partners do worthwhile.”
In the run-up to the Kazakhstan shows, Cirque cooperated with local agencies Asia Events and Freedom Events, and it clearly bore fruit, or egg (which is what OVO means in Portuguese), and in the lead-up to the action, some of the performers posed for photos with the media and made themselves available to answer questions.
Meanwhile, Victoriya Torgunakova, CEO of Freedom Events, shared some insights into the work that goes on to make it all happen.
“Preparing OVO’s tour in Kazakhstan took many months and required the coordination of a huge number of specialists, both on our side and on the Cirque du Soleil side. When audiences watch a two-hour performance, what they see is the result of the work of hundreds of people and an enormous amount of behind-the-scenes effort.”
Turning to the artists, Jorn De Laendar from Belgium is one of the crickets and only performs somersaults and tumbling during the show, but has been in training for the role, effectively, since he was 3.
“My parents were both involved with gymnastics, so I was born into it. At a young age, I competed in that sport, but when I was 24, I joined Cirque du Soleil and two years after that, I got the part in OVO.
“The crickets wear green costumes in the show, and before we perform as acrobats, we wear extra legs, but these don’t lend themselves to jumping around, so we take them off for that part.
“The costumes are custom-made for each character, which is crucial because any poor fitting of our clothing impacts our performance.”
Jorn says his role is very high energy and dynamic. Mistakes can happen, by his own admission, but they are rare and usually easy to correct. The years of preparation help keep these occasional ‘slips’ out of the show, not to mention the healthy lifestyle that is so helpful to the longevity of an acrobat, but the actors do also feel a sense of nervousness before taking to the stage.
“I am from Antwerp in Belgium, and when OVO put on a show in my home town, I was honestly more nervous then, than on opening night.
“But every night, you can feel the incredible energy coming from the crowd, and those are exactly the moments that make me want to step on stage.”
Of the 53 people on stage in OVO, some may need visas organised in advance of several shows, given that so many different nationalities are represented, Brazil being one of the more prominent. Journalists meeting the cast yesterday also put questions to Turks, Russians, Ukrainians, Mongolians, Hungarians, Canadians, an English guy, and an American; and this list is by no means complete either.
Another of the crickets, a Frenchman, told delighted reporters that he had thoroughly enjoyed the guided tour of Almaty the previous day, before the focus turned to their jobs.
“We did a tour of the city, and it is so green, really beautiful. Then we went to Shymbulak in the mountains.”
Seven-time World Champion and Cirque du Soleil artist Mikhail Kostianov told people why OVO is good for families:
“I joined Cirque du Soleil after completing my sporting career, and I have now been performing with the company for ten years. OVO is a very family-oriented show. I believe productions like this inspire children to get involved in sports, introduce them to the world of art, and give them a chance to step away from their phones and gadgets, even if only for a few hours. And that is probably one of the most important things we can offer our audience.”
As people filed out of the Almaty Arena, it was almost impossible to spot anybody who didn’t still seem to be immersed in the show. It took the rain to remind them that they weren’t living in a dream any more, as, perhaps like mine, their reality had been pushed too far away for them to just switch it back on again.
