Circus acrobats are at the core of every Cirque du Soleil performance. They’re the lifeblood that brings our imaginations and ideas to life, using intricate and fearless movements to tell stories that captivate audiences. Gliding across the sky, contorting their bodies every which way, our circus acrobats make everything they do seem so…effortless.
It isn’t, of course. Far from it, in fact. Our roster of skilled performers would be the first to tell you that, although they make it look easy, acrobatics require years of hard work, studying up on technical skills, discipline, and dedication.
If you’ve ever been curious about what it takes to become a circus acrobat, keep reading. This article takes you on a journey of discovering the exciting world of – and all the effort that goes into – the art of circus acrobats.
A Brief Primer on Circus Acrobatics
What are circus acrobatics? Before we get into the craft of circus acrobatics – and what skill it takes to become a professional – let’s take a look at its origins.
Graceful as it looks to the untrained eye, performing any circus acrobatic trick can be daring, even risky. But when the performer successfully sticks the landing, the result is downright astonishing.
The History of Acrobatic Performances
Back in those days, circus acrobatics were much more than just a form of entertainment. A performance was considered a gift to the gods, a platform for showcasing strength, or even a high-stakes competition among those vying for honor and glory. Today, however, acrobatics have taken on a new meaning, one better suited to our modern times. Its main purpose is most assuredly entertainment, both for the performer and the audience.
As circus acrobatics began to evolve in meaning and become more widespread, training schools began to open their doors in the 19th century, helping to enhance the technical skills of hopeful acrobatics. This transformed the craft into the sophisticated performance art form it’s celebrated as today, earning it a position as a staple act in the modern circus.
The Life and Times of a Circus Acrobat
The Journey to Becoming a Pro
Early Preparation and Training
Like anything, becoming a circus acrobat doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes years and years of practice, along with extreme mental and physical preparation. Not to mention enough passion and dedication to fill up an entire Big Top.
Similar to any athlete, hopeful circus acrobats need to live and breathe the discipline. That means starting from ground zero. Most performers looking to break into circus acrobatics must master a few key foundational acrobatic techniques before they can start performing the spellbinding aerial moves circus goers are in awe of.
The three core requirements are as follows: balance, flexibility, and strength. For instance, they often begin with exercises focused on enhancing muscular strength, cardio fitness, and endurance. All these elements are critical to aerial circus skill performance.
Developing Skills, Practicing Drills
Skill development drills are yet another building block in every circus acrobat’s journey to becoming a pro. During drills, trainees are taught more technical skills, including trapeze skills and other acrobatic maneuvers. Regular practice helps an acrobat-in-training refine their technique and develop a more precise practice and elegant movements. At the same time, they gain an understanding of timing, which happens to be a critical element in achieving breathtaking performances.
Daily Life and Performance Roles
A peek behind the curtain
No, it isn’t all gravity-defying acts. Behind the scenes, there’s a lot that goes into making every acrobatic performance seem easy-breezy.
In a circus acrobat’s life, practice and rehearsal are everything. Hours upon hours of training are par for the course. Practicing their acrobatic performances day in and day out, honing routines, and keeping their bodies in peak physical condition are part of the job description. Rehearsals often involve running through performance sequences, testing and perfecting the execution of sideshow performances, and fabricating captivating narratives to engage audiences.
The Art of Performance
The performance, a.k.a. where the magic happens, is the ultimate goal of this rigorous training. Spectators witness mind-blowing feats of strength, agility, and aerial acrobatics. Choreographing these awe-inspiring acrobatic performances involves a deep understanding of one's performance style and reflexes, as well as knowing what the human body is truly capable of achieving. The routine also considers the narrative elements of the production, using the human form to tell the story.
Over time, these contribute to the artist's unique form and aid in their evolution from a hopeful acrobat to an accomplished performance artist.
Acrobatic Skills and Techniques
Acrobatic skills and techniques push the limits of what’s possible and showcase the remarkable feats the human body can achieve with dedication, perseverance, and mental and physical strength. Let’s go over the skills and techniques every acrobat needs to pull off these awe-inspiring performances.
Core Acrobatic Skills
An acrobat has to have many skills in their toolkit. First up, a mastery of body control. Body control includes balance, agility, and coordination. Beyond that, physical strength – articularly core and upper body strength – is the foundation for any successful career in acrobatics.
Secondly, acrobats should possess an in-depth understanding and execution of spatial awareness. This helps performers maintain orientation and position even in the middle of completing dizzying midair stunts.
Lastly, flexibility, often an overlooked element of acrobatics, is another essential, helping these body-bending performers execute complex poses while minimizing injury risk and increasing overall performance.
Specialized Acrobatic Forms
Acrobatics are composed of a variety of specialized forms, each requiring a unique set of skills.
Aerial Arts
Aerial arts is a form of performance art that usually requires equipment like trapezes, silk ribbons, or hoops. Aerial acrobats generally train hard and have exceptional upper body strength, grip endurance, and motor coordination.
Take trapeze artists, for example. Trapeze artists perform flips and somersaults and can almost seamlessly glide from one bar to another – or even from the hands of one acrobat to another – all the while captivating audiences with high-altitude theatrics.
Some forms of aerial circus acrobatics you might see at a Cirque du Soleil show may include:
- Corde lisse: This is an aerial circus skill in which a performer dangles or holds postures from a rope suspended vertically from the ceiling. It’s quite a sight to see! These ropes are normally crafted from a gentle fabric like silk or soft cotton.
- Cloud swing: Remember when you were a little kid, and swinging on the swings felt like you could touch the sky? Well, cloud swings are like the adult version of that, only instead of your local park, our performers are suspended in a swing made of ropes. Oh yeah, and they’re doing these tricks from way, way up.
- Cradle: Like the trapeze, the cradle finds our daring aerialists dangling from a plank on their knees. As if that weren’t enough, they swing, toss, and catch other performers, an enthralling spectacle unfolding in the sky.
- Rope and wire walking: A mainstay of the modern circus performance, rope and wire walking involves our courageous performers walking across a very thin wire at a very perilous height (don’t worry; we take every precaution to ensure their safety during both practices and performances).
- Silks and hoops: Ground-based movement is about more than just using your body. Some performances mesmerize through the use of objects like hoops or silk bands.
Ground-Based Acrobatics
Contrasting the sky-bound exploits of aerial arts, next you’ve got ground-based acrobatics. Ground performances typically involve intricate maneuvers. Contortionists, or flexibility specialists, are performers who push the boundaries of bodily flexibility, delivering mind-bending performances. Handstand acrobats, similarly, almost seem to transform their arms into legs, enabling them to perform complex tricks that require endless balance and strength.
In exploring these forms, acrobats showcase their athleticism. In a sense, they’re ultra-athletic. Their performances take precision and artistry to complete. But when they do… audiences are in for quite the treat.
Ground-based acrobatics exist in many forms, including:
- Acro dance: The art of acro dance bears a striking resemblance to gymnastics. While many of the movements and poses resemble one another in acrobatic dance, that’s about where the similarities end.
- Tumbling: Anytime you see a circus performer rolling, twisting, or performing somersaults on floor mats, that’s not a gymnastics medalist – that’s the highly athletic discipline known as tumbling.
What is the Cultural Impact and Evolution of Acrobatics?
Acrobatic performances have long had an impact on society, spanning generations and cultures around the world. Let’s look at a few examples.
Acrobatics in Different Cultures
Circus acrobatics has no known roots but has long existed across cultures. In Ancient Greece, acrobats showcased their strength and agility in public arenas, showcasing their superior strength. Research shows that China too has a long history with acrobatics, dating back to the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC), a period when performers astounded audiences with their aerial stunts. Even in Africa, it’s said that ancient Zulu tribes often incorporated acrobatic tricks into their traditional dances.
Fast-forward to modern times, and the breathtaking skill drills of trapeze artists and acrobats are one of the main draws of the circus. Our own history may not be as long-standing as the discipline itself, but it’s a rich one nonetheless.
Contemporary Acrobatics
Though we can trace its roots back centuries, modern acrobatics bears little resemblance to its forebears. While it was once considered to be an offering or sacrifice to Gods, nowadays, circus acrobatics is its own thing, a performance combining strength, agility, flexibility, and balance with athleticism.
Over time, the techniques required have also evolved significantly. Modern circus acrobatic performances reflect the world we’re living in today – fast-paced, eye-grabbing, mesmerizing. In a way, they need to be to keep up with our attention spans. Even within the discipline, niches exist. Partner acrobatics, for example, is the delicate art of requiring two people to perform intricate maneuvers – a performance that relies on trust and coordination, an intimate performance shared between two acrobats that the world is invited to witness.
Not to toot our own horn, but without Cirque du Soleil, circus acrobatics may not be the phenomenon it is today. Performers like Nicholas Fontaine, a renowned Cirque du Soleil performer, have helped evolve the art of trapeze to, ahem, new heights. Fontaine and others have helped turn trapeze into something suited for modern audiences. More than just jumping from one bar to another, there’s depth to the performance.
What does it take to get to the top? Contemporary acrobatics have spent years training in specialized circus schools, honing their skills for both ground-based acrobatics and aerial circus skills. The evolution of acrobatics reflects not just the incredible mastery of artists but also the changing perceptions towards this renowned performance art.
From early circus sideshows to grand theatrical performances, acrobatics continues its upward trajectory, dazzling audiences with each evolution.
Challenges and Triumphs of Circus Acrobats
Conditioning, Training, and Rehearsals
By now, you’ve learned that becoming an acrobat takes skill, discipline, and a great deal of resilience. On the physical side, acrobats must maintain a peak level of fitness – a level compared to top-tier athletes such as, you guessed it, Olympians.
That means a workout routine that incorporates a healthy mix of cardio, strength training, and flexibility exercises like daily stretching. All of these are needed to help the performer execute aerial skills or trapeze skills flawlessly.
For many acrobats, strength isn’t just physical. Mental strength is a major part of the equation. When performing, every artist wants to give it their all – that’s an added layer of pressure, especially under the watchful eyes of the audience, who want to see mesmerizing acrobatics. That can be daunting for performers.
Acrobats face a constant mental battle, juggling the need for perfection in their performance while managing their fear, particularly during aerial circus acts. It’s just part and parcel of the demanding career of a circus performer.
High risk, high reward
“How do they do it?” you might wonder, as you take in a Cirque du Soleil performance.
It’s a fair question. Much like any type of similarly demanding performance, acrobatics is a profession with its own set of safety risks. Performers need to be fully locked in and in the present moment. Otherwise, they may risk serious injury trying to pull off a move.
While risky business is just a part of their line of work, make no mistake: acrobatics can be incredibly rewarding. In fact, many of our performers say that the part that excites them the most ahead of performance is the absolute stillness and silence before embarking on a daring midair leap. That’s usually followed by thunderous applause. It’s a high like none other.
Also, the sense of accomplishment every acrobat experiences when they master a new skill or complete a challenging performance only ignites their passion for performing. There’s also a sense of self and a feeling of resilience that comes from overcoming physical and mental hurdles night after night. Acrobats may be limber and lithe, but don’t let their rubbery flexibility fool you: These are very many strong-willed individuals, able to face any challenge.
Eventually, the world of acrobatics provides a unique blend of risks and rewards that shapes the journey of every performer. Even with the challenges and occasional setbacks, acrobats never lose sight of their passion for this captivating form of performance art, striving relentlessly to engage their audience with each new performance.
Age and Longevity in Circus Acrobatics
How long is a career in circus acrobatics?
Career longevity relies on a few factors, namely experience, talent, fitness, and, most importantly, injury prevention. Many acrobats start their journeys in their late teens. As they plan for long-term sustainability, they incorporate rigorous practices, including aerial and trapeze skills, into their daily routines.
Circus acrobats ideally maintain peak physical condition throughout their twenties and into their early thirties. Their aerial skills continue to amaze audiences even beyond these peak years. It's not uncommon to see performance artists older than 35 still going strong.
But the exact span of an acrobat's career varies across circus troupes. Our acrobats have fruitful careers that can last for decades.
What does life after the circus look like?
Leaving the spotlight after years of daily practices and performances can be challenging. But much like Olympic athletes, just because an individual may no longer wish to perform the daring tricks they once did, doesn’t mean that they must give up on the discipline altogether.
Many retired acrobats often pursue mentoring and coaching roles, passing on their invaluable expertise to a new generation of performers. Some take up duties behind the scenes, either engaging in production aspects like costume design, scriptwriting or managing the technical aspects of the shows.
Outside the circus, these folks might choose to leverage their unique background and skills to different platforms. They could project their versatility into physical fitness programs, stunts coordination for TV, theater or films, or even organizing sideshow performances. The life after a circus performer can be plenty rewarding, too.
Not surprisingly, ex-acrobats put their skills to entrepreneurial use. Some have opened fitness studios or created performance-wear fashion lines. Others have even designed specialized circus equipment. The possibilities post-circus are truly limitless.
Circus acrobats: A rewarding experience
Circus acrobats possess skill, grace, discipline, and let’s say it: a bit of courage. Throughout history, these performers have enthralled audiences – from ancient times to present day. Decade-long careers see acrobats evolve, adapt, and enhance their aerial and ground-based skills. Without them, the circus just wouldn’t be.
Cirque du Soleil is proud to put our talented individuals in the spotlight, giving them ample tools and resources to flex their skills, whether that’s trapeze skills, body balancing, or beyond. Acrobats, like gemstones in a mosaic, defy gravity, and expectations. They pivot on poles, whirl on wires, and tumble through hoops, each a testament to their technical skills and fearless spirit.
Want to see our circus acrobats in action in your part of the world? Buy tickets here.