Cirque du Soleil returns to the Northwest with “Volta” — and we have a sneak peek
By: Chris Burlingame
Tags: Theater, Music, Cirque Du Soleil, Interviews, Redmond

I really love Cirque du Soleil shows. The combination of acrobatics and music and storytelling has gripped my imagination for as long as I can remember. Every one of the small handful of shows I’ve seen has been dazzling, so I was quite excited when I got an invite to watch the raising of the big top in Marymoor Park for the latest travelling Cirque show to hit the Pacific Northwest, “Volta.”

“Volta” runs from September 7 through November 4 at Marymoor Park in Redmond. In Cirque’s own words:

VOLTA is a captivating voyage of discovery. It’s about finding yourself, and unveiling your personal powers. Inspired in part by the adventurous spirit that fuels the culture of street sports, the show weaves acrobatics in a visually striking world driven by a stirring melodic score. VOLTA is a story of transformation. It is about being true to oneself, fulfilling one’s true potential, and recognizing one’s own power to make it possible. Ultimate freedom comes with self-acceptance, and with the liberation of the judgement of others. Waz, a gameshow contestant, that has lost touch with himself. He’s ashamed of who he is because of his difference. Follow him as he enters the show in search of fame, thinking that this will bring him love and acceptance from others. What he will find is something else. That fame is not the answer. If fame doesn’t provide freedom and acceptance, then what does? Will WAZ reconnect with his true self — and stand up for all that makes him truly unique? Will he realize that his difference is what makes him extraordinary?

While in Redmond, I had a few minutes to ask Cirque du Soleil’s publicist Steven Ross some questions about “Volta.”

Can you tell me what goes into a Cirque du Soleil production? I know you go from city to city, and now you’re gonna be in Redmond starting in another week, week and a half. Maybe about two weeks or a week and a half. I think you said that this is day two of six for the set up.

So, today we’re doing the big top raising. It takes about six days for the whole Cirque du Soleil village to come to life. The tent itself takes up to ten hours … which is the process we’re going to be witnessing today.

The whole day is dedicated to one thing. It’s raising the canvas and raising the big top. The iconic moment, obviously, is when the canvas lifts and it’s our way to say to the people of Seattle, “We’ve arrived. We’re in your backyard now.”

What have you found that’s been the impact on the local communities and economies when you go from city to city?

We always try to have a very positive impact, notably by hiring local people. “Volta” hires 126 employees, and on top of this, we hire anywhere between 150 and 200 people from the local community to do security, to do maintenance, to help us with the setup and tear down, the food and beverage, to help us cooking in the kitchen as well, so we have a very positive impact in the community by the people we hire, but also by the people that we bring to the community of Redmond for two months. So, obviously, it will help the restaurants and the hotels and the bars. We’ve been pretty impactful economically back in the cities we’ve visited before.

I wouldn’t be able to give you an amount right up, but still, we try to have a local economical impact, but also an impact in terms of entertainment. If we have an option, we will be the local artists as well, and we really try to have a positive effect to leave behind.

What can you talk about the show “Volta” in particular? I don’t think anyone around here has seen it yet, so without giving away too much, can you say what people can expect?

So, “Volta” is the newest big top creation of Cirque du Soleil. It was created last year in 2017 in March. It’s breath of fresh air. It’s something we’ve never seen before. For the first time ever, Cirque du Soleil has street sports in a show. We are creating a complete BMX park in front of the eyes of the people on stage.

We have roller skaters, we have double dutch. We have a lot of new disciplines that I’ve never seen before. Trampoline … so, that’s a very new aspect. To support that, we realized when we created we wanted to have action sports. All of these videos and all of the creators of action sports online, they were all presenting their numbers and their discipline to electronic music. So we said, “We need to have electronic music in that show.” That’s why we’re very happy to have the music of Anthony Gonzales, the composer of M83. So, the music aspect of the show is extremely different, very new … and obviously, the strong narrative as well.

We have a very defined narrative. It’s a story of self-acceptance. The character throughout the show, when he starts off he’s not happy with himself, he’s different and he doesn’t like his difference. Throughout the show, he’s gonna find out it’s okay to be yourself, because whatever difference you have makes you more unique. That’s a message that speaks to a lot of people. Whatever community you’re from, whatever sexual orientation or gender, whatever culture you’re from … everyone has something they might not be as happy with and that they would like to be accepted for. That’s the message we’re sharing.

Cirque du Soleil’s Steven Ross answering some questions for KCPQ before answering my questions.

I wanna just ask one more thing, but what would you say to someone who’s never seen a Cirque show before if they’re curious? What would you say to them why the would want to come in and see “Volta” or see something else you’re doing?

The experience we present under the big top is a very intimate, with a lot of emotions; what we try is to blow away the imagination and mesmerize people, and we’d like to think that we’re able to do it in a very intimate surrounding with a very classical circus experience under the big top. So, it’s a mix with something very classical and something very new: sports and electronic music, but in a very classical environment. So, we’re a very good marriage, and “Volta” is a definitely big crowd pleaser, so we hope the people of Seattle will come and see us.