The twists, turns and death-defying feats of the Cirque Du Soleil cast are currently wowing audiences over at The Trafford Centre. And today I’m joining them. Gulp. As my lumpen form is winched into the air from the ground like a sack of spuds, suspended by just two thin straps of leather, I get a sense of how much those spectacular circus performers suffer for their art.
It’s tricky – and terrifying – just to stretch my arms out once I’m lifted 5ft off the floor.
It doesn’t help that the stars of this particular act, Wigan-born twins Andrew and Kevin Atherton, are able to swoop around the big top like graceful swans.
Not only does Andrew bear his own weight on those slender straps, in one of the show’s most dramatic scenes he holds aloft his brother Kevin in a remarkable upside-down mid-air handstand.
I just can’t believe how his arms – or rather his arm pits – can possibly cope.
“You get used to the pain – but I don’t really have any sensation under my arms anymore,” Andrew admits.
So no point me trying to tickle you then, I quip. And they do this night after night.
They take pity on me when the pain gets too much and lower me back towards terra firma, where Kevin seems amused that this manoeuvre once made another journalist very sick.
“But we did spin him around quite a bit,” he laughs.
I slip out of the harness in double quick time in case they decide to take me for a second spin.
Despite the punishing nature of their act, the 34-year-old brothers haven’t missed a performance during eight years in the Varekai show.
“We look after ourselves really well in terms of training and nutrition to make sure we steer clear of injuries,” Andrew adds.
And there's another incentive to make sure they stay in trim.
“Our costumes are really tight,” Kevin explains, “so if we put weight on, we’d get really out of breath.”
Of course it’s taken years of training to get all of the performers in the Cirque show into such eye-popping form.
Andrew and Kevin both represented their country at national level as gymnasts and it was only towards the end of that career that they were persuaded to join Cirque. They’ve been with Cirque’s Varekai show for eight years – as have celebrated circus performers, and fellow brothers, Italians Roni and Stiv Bello, who perform as the show’s amazing foot-juggling Icarian Games.
On the night of a live show, there are plenty of “oohs and ahs” from the audience as one brother “juggles” the other with his feet.
It’s soon me “oohing” and “ahing” when the lads slide me down into the performance chair.
It’s like some sort of medieval torture device.
The pain of supporting my own body weight against the two leather ledges is unbelievable – I cannot begin to imagine how the lads are able to so effortlessly juggle each other with just their feet. And while I may share Roni’s “sturdy” thighs, the jelly-like consistency of mine compared to the rock solid muscle of his mean I’m spared the indignity of attempting to plonk Stiv’s pert buttocks on my quivering feet.
They release me from the chair to instead work on my flexibility with a series of stretches.
They have a rigorous training schedule of cardio and weight workouts in the gym, plus a warm up of at least 45 minutes before each show.
Roni says: “We always say the hardest job is not on the stage – it’s all the preparation beforehand. Once we are on that stage we are fine.”
Acrobatics is in the blood for the Bellos – their father was an acclaimed juggler who now trains them, and they are the sixth generation in a family line of circus performers before them.
They hold world records for the number of spins they’ve achieved in one go. They are, quite simply, athletes.
Alas, it seems it’s too late for me to run away with the circus – as Roni tells me most acrobats have been training since childhood.
So instead I bid a hasty retreat to the seats of the Trafford Centre Big Top to watch those incredible acrobatic feats instead of attempt to try any more of them!
- Cirque Du Soleil is at the Grand Chapiteau at The Trafford Centre until March 21.
Tweet
