As Montreal’s famed company Cirque du Soleil celebrates its 30th Anniversary, they are getting ready to bring their latest production TOTEM to Australia. To get our head around what we can expect from the new show, we are catching up with the performers and creative minds of the show. Our third and final performer for this series is Caoliang Wang, who’ll be dazzling us as part of the production’s unique take on the “High Bars”.
How did you first get involved in Cirque du Soleil and what made you want to be a part of it?
I had never heard of Cirque du Soleil when I attended an open audition in China in 2009. I just knew I was auditioning for a circus company without really knowing much more about what opportunities would be offered to me if I made the cut. A few weeks after auditioning, I flew to Montreal to start training for TOTEM. This opportunity literally changed my life.
What’s the hardest part about being a part of Cirque?
For me, the hardest part is to maintain the same quality of performance every night after doing the show more than 1,500 times. There are 2,000 people that have paid to come see us and we have to deliver a performance that looks fresh to them. Because I am passionate, I succeed at making every night different and give the best I can to the audience.
What’s the best part?
For me, the best part is the culture of Cirque du Soleil; the fact that we come from 21 countries in TOTEM but we all understand each other and work very well together. I have been with TOTEM since creation and I feel the group here is my family. I never feel I am working as I am always surrounded by people I love. I am having the best time of my life with people who I consider like my family. I also enjoy the adrenaline of performing every night and being excited to go on stage.
Do you have a favourite Cirque production?
It is difficult to pick one as they are all so different. For sure, TOTEM has to be my favourite. I also like the resident productions in Las Vegas, especially The Beatles LOVE and “O”.
What can we expect from TOTEM?
The audience should expect to be taken on a journey – they will see creative theatrical segments and amazing acrobatic feats that they would never have thought possible.
What do you think separates TOTEM from other Cirque productions?
The storyline for TOTEM is different. Because it is about evolution and the story of mankind, there are many cultures represented on stage. The cast is very passionate and the audience feels our excitement and our energy. Since each act has its own atmosphere and represents a different aspect of the evolution of the human civilization or the evolution that each human being goes through during his life, the audience goes through a wide range of emotions during TOTEM. They are constantly surprised and never know what to expect next.
Without giving too much away, tell us a little bit about what you do in TOTEM…
In TOTEM, I perform in the Opening High Bars act as a Green Frog character. We represent the amphibian state in the evolution of Man and perform high-level acrobatic tricks on a structure shaped like a turtle skeleton. I am also playing the role of an ape in other scenes of the show as well as the Crystal Man character, who represents the spark of light that brought life to Earth.
How much preparation goes into a production like TOTEM? How far in advance does everyone involved start working on it and rehearsing it before its shown to the public?
For this answer, we pass it over to Tour Publicist Francis Jalbert:
A Cirque du Soleil production takes about 3 years to create. The first two years are spent determining what the show will look like, bringing the creative team together, identifying the acrobatic disciplines to be featured, finding the artists and starting to build the elements needed to start rehearsals.
Most artists usually arrive 8 months prior to Opening Night to start rehearsing acts that are created specifically for the production. Guest acts, musicians, dancers and actors will join the rehearsals 4 months prior to Opening Night for the staging sessions with the director and choreographers.
Once the show opens, we keep tweaking it on a daily basis and explore new ways to improve its content to offer the best quality performance every night.
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TOTEM commences under the Big Top in Moore Park, Sydney on October 28th before touring around the country… For tickets and more details head to – http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/En/shows/totem/default.aspx – and stay tuned to the AU as we talk to more performers, the creative minds behind TOTEM and help celebrate the 30th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil with a series of articles in the weeks ahead…
Photo Credit: OSA Images. Costumes: Kym Barrett, Cirque du Soleil 2010.
