(Photo by Mark LoMoglio)
Cirque du Soleil has captivated audiences since 1984, presenting circus spectacles as only the entertainment juggernaut can. Their celebrated shows have been held on six continents and include the touring “BAZZAR.”
The show premiered in 2018 and toured India and the Middle East before a South American stretch in 2022. Its North American tour plays under the Big Top at St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field through March 24, promising “a high-energy spectacle of intrepid acrobatics, dynamic stunts and exhilarating performances that pays homage to the entertainment company’s legacy.”
The show features “an eclectic lab of infinite creativity where a joyful troupe of acrobats, dancers and musicians craft an awe-inspiring spectacle,” Cirque du Soleil explains. “Led by their maestro, they band together to invent a whimsical one-of-a-kind universe … where the unexpected is expected [and] the colorful group imagines, builds and invents vibrant scenes in an artistic and acrobatic game.”
The tour features an international cast of 35. Among other talents, they display their expertise in teeterboard, acrobatic bike, contortion, duo roller skate, aerial rope, hair suspension, fire manipulation, slackline and duo trapeze.
LGBTQ+ circus performer Xander Taylor is one half of the show’s trapeze act — along with his partner Mélanie Dupuis — as well as a backup clown. He discussed his craft and the circus with Watermark before dropping into St. Petersburg last month.
WATERMARK: What drew you to circus work?
Xander Taylor: I was someone that was really into sports — I was a diver growing up — but I was also into a lot of theatrical elements. So basically, growing up there was a lot of acrobatics and theater training going into a lot of what I was doing.
How does one train for your role?
A lot of different ways actually, that’s kind of the beauty of circus. For me, I happened to go to a circus school in Montreal; there are a few institutions like this around the world where you can go. It’s like circus university, basically. I went to a four-year training program and since the capacities I already had really oriented towards circus and trapeze, specifically, that was my path.
For some, you have traditional circus families in this industry as well; people that really have been born and raised under a Big Top. You also have some people that came directly from sport, like gymnasts or divers; sports that have a little bit more of an acrobatic edge, or dancers. Sometimes they will come from a childhood of competing in dance or going to some kind of conservatory before coming into the circus world through that.
Were you always interested in working for Cirque du Soleil?
Yeah, it was kind of the end goal, and then you get into Cirque and you’re like, “Well, I guess I’ll make another dream now.” (Laughs.) But growing up, it was very much that. When I was in elementary school, I actually remember very clearly making a PowerPoint presentation about wanting to be an acrobat. So it wasn’t something that was a direct line … but I did know that acrobat was where I wanted to go.
I ended up in a little bit more of an academic route and kind of dabbled in theater, thinking that going into the acting field was more something I wanted to do. But then because I competed so much as a diver, once I retired from that, I went to a Cirque du Soleil audition which they hold specifically for people that come from sports. I didn’t actually get a position with the show but they did refer me to another company that was putting together something just on the other side of Florida with the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. They were doing an aqua theater concept and so as a diver that was my first contract in this field.
What came next for you?
I did that for a couple years but I met some circus artists and found that there’s really something about being a circus acrobat that I want to do. I went to circus school back in Canada and then because the school is right across from Cirque du Soleil headquarters, we have a lot of natural back and forth communications with them before we even graduate. I was pretty lucky that at our graduation show — the day of graduation, my partner and I Mélanie — we basically got our first contract offer for [Cirque’s] “Paramour” on Broadway that same day. It was very much a stars aligned type of situation and that’s how we ended up with Cirque du Soleil. There’s a very vast world in circus, but Cirque du Soleil was definitely one of the big ones that we wanted to check off the list.
Do the two of you also work independently?
Within Cirque du Soleil we’ve always worked together, but we have. With trapeze, it’s a very particular thing. It’s been almost 13 years now that we’ve been working together and while there are some disciplines where you can kind of swap back and forth with partners relatively easily, with trapeze and the danger elements involved and the degree of confidence that you have to have with each other — not just physically, but almost this kind of psychic mental connection — it can make it really hard to just hop over to another partnership like that.
So for us, we’ve established something that’s pretty ingrained in our bodies and our minds, so we tend to just rely on that. It also bears fruit in terms of the contracts we get, because it makes us very consistent and I think appealing to potential employers, because they see we are well seasoned and there’s less of a chance that we’re going to fall off their trapeze every second show, let’s say.
There must also be a trust element.
A massive one! You notice it the moment that you’re up there with someone else. First of all, it’s the simple things like, “oh, your forearms are double the size of the person that I normally have hanging there,” or even if there’s a different emotional status for a day. With us we can tell immediately by feeling each other’s hands — we know, okay, this is gonna take a little bit of adaptation today to make sure that we’re together and that we kind of anticipate how it is we’ll react. It’s very particular.
How did your time with “BAZZAR” come about?
We were looking to come back into the Cirque du Soleil fold as it were and had been working with another company prior to the pandemic, and it was just good timing. We had contacted the company saying we would like to come back and it so happened that the duo trapeze [artists] for this show had decided that they weren’t going to come back [post-pandemic.] So the position opened up and we were really, really lucky in that sense. So in 2022 we were able to get a contract offer and come join the team.
How do you explain the show?
From a story point of view, the show is essentially about a maestro who has this powerful hat that ends up breaking apart. He comes into the show wanting to put on a giant orchestral masterpiece for the public, only to have his source of power destroyed right at the beginning. So we basically see the maestro going along with all of these pieces of his orchestra — the acrobats, dancers and musicians in the show — trying to figure out how it is that we can still help him put out this orchestral symphony.
Within that there are mini stories as well, and I think you’ll like it if you’re looking at the show as a whole. It’s a bit more of a return to what the roots of Cirque du Soleil are … I would say it’s a little bit less of an abstract show. There’s a simpler storyline to be able to follow, and the beauty about that is that you can kind of see these characters from A to Z.
How is it different?
With a lot of Cirque du Soleil shows, they can be so massive with people doing six different costume changes throughout the show, and you may not be able to really follow one character from the beginning to the end. With us that’s not really the case — you have these really clear and defined individuals that are going through it with their unique style and method of movement. So you’re able to really kind of latch on to certain people from the beginning of the show to the end and see how it’s all developing.
How do you and your partner fit into the storyline?
I’m sure we would have very different ideas on this, but I see myself as a musical note on a page basically. One that’s also been blasted apart with this disaster that occurs at the beginning of the show. We’re kind of finding each other on the trapeze at a certain point and figuring out how these two musical notes bind together. At least conceptually, that’s what I tell myself in terms of what it is that people take from the show and see. I’m sure there are very different interpretations, but for me at least we’re musical notes trying to find their way and trying to find their link within this orchestra that’s rebuilding itself.
Why do you think the show can appeal to LGBTQ+ audiences?
Within Cirque du Soleil and within this show, in terms of who is in the show, we have people that are gay, we have people that are trans, and so we have this array of color and variety in the show. We’re trying to show that every instrument, every person, every flavor has its place on this stage and has its importance on this stage.
Also with the maestro who has this performance completely taken away from him, there are certain parallels I think in terms of the story. As LGBTQ+ people we can feel like we have the world working against us, but through working together and finding a sense of community we can really build everything back up. It creates the foundation for you to be able to succeed and reach your full potential.
What else do you want audiences to know?
We are really, really happy to come and perform a show like this, especially in Florida where I know things aren’t necessarily very easy right now. We try to offer a place that has a light-hearted nature and also a place of absolute acceptance. So come and have a good time where you can enjoy a feeling we think everyone should have out there in the real world.
Cirque du Soleil’s “BAZZAR” plays Wednesdays-Sundays through March 24 under the Big Top at Tropicana Field, located at 1 Tropicana Dr. in St. Petersburg. Times and ticket prices vary. For more information and to purchase yours, visit CirqueDuSoleil.com.
