What’s What With … Cirque’s Acrobatic Coach
If you’ve seen (heck, if you’ve even heard about) Cirque du Soleil, you can’t deny those stunts are pretty damn superhuman. And this Thursday, the Big Top pops up in South Philly for Cirque’s KOOZA show. Acrobatic performance and coaching director Boris Verkhovsky — picture an affable version of the Rocky and Bullwinkle guy, not a looming Karloff — shared a bit about the show and the menacing Wheel of Death. — Cheryl McEvoy
You started off coaching acrobatics and gymnastics. Was Cirque du Soleil a big jump for you?
It was a very big jump, on many different levels. For me, to be able to perform acrobatics has always been an interesting, very involved, curious challenge. But it was in a sports environment, so [there was] a lot of preparation and then a “peak performance.” So that was one aspect of the challenge, because the [show] is done nine to 10 times a week.
Cirque isn’t the typical three-ring gig most Americans are used to. Why do you think it caught on?
It’s very surprising … they say it’s an example of where there is no market and then the market is created. It’s an honest performance. If we do a performance where the risk is too high, we don’t hide the safety elements. We make them visible. So there is no pretending that it’s flying without any aid. I think it’s a healthy attitude.
What’s the story behind KOOZA?
KOOZA, when the initial mandate was given, was to go in the direction of returning to the roots of what circus is. Very physical, risk taking, on the edge, in your face. That was for the acrobatics, and that was also for clowning, because that’s the original clowning in traditional circus, where it’s in your face. The name [KOOZA] stems from the reference to a treasure box. And if you think of the notion of a Jack-in-the-box, the show actually begins with a story of an innocent in this marvelous world, and then Jack literally pops out of the box. It’s a trickster who will run the show, who will play and tease an innocent without malice. So the type of emotions, all those behaviors or relationships that are being established there, are something that we face every day.
One of the acts uses a 1,600-pound Wheel of Death. Who comes up with these death-defying acts?
Well, in this particular case, it’s a discipline that has existed for a while now in traditional circus. We did not invent it. We present it differently than it’s usually done. It’s a lot closer to the public than usual. It actually, to some extent, feels like it’s over the public and, boy, if you’re in the first row, you will feel it. You’ll feel the wind of it … What’s very unique about it is its name and the way it’s performed, there’s an insinuation of an unbelievable level of risk. I’m not gonna say that it’s not risky, but I will say that, from an acrobatic perspective, it’s a fairly simple act. But even though you’re not doing phenomenal tricks, the room for mistake is very, very, very real. And the punishment for the mistake is grave.
Are the performers cliquey — like, contortionists versus clowns — or is it a big happy family?
Of course, you want it to always be a big happy family. You deal with a fairly great ethnic diversity. It’s multiculturalism from every aspect of it … If you and I came from the same country, that does not make us the same culture, because you may come from the South and I may come from the North. That’s already a different culture. If we are 15 years apart in terms of age, that’s already a different culture, even if everything else is the same. If you are male, female — that’s a different culture. If you come from the circus world and I come from gymnastics, that’s a different culture. So in that sense, multiculturalism has so many facets and so many colors that it makes it easier, because everybody is different.