Cirque du Soleil whirls in Russia with Varekai

CBC News goes backstage during the opening week of Cirque du Soleil'sVarekaiin Moscow.

And Sunday, April 24,on The National, Susan Ormistonreports on Cirque in Russia.

AndreyKislitsyn is a character, not a clown.

Russian Cirque du Soleil performer Andrey Kislitsyn saw his first Cirque show on a bootleg VHS tape in his home town of Novosibirsk, Siberia. Since then he dreamed of one day being part of Cirque. Kislitsyn says he's not a clown but a "character." He plays Skywatcherin Cirque's show, Varekai.

Kislitsynperformsin character as the comic actor, Skywatcher,in Varekai. "We have 20 nationalities here and Ithink if the whole world was like people who work in Cirque du Soleil, there would be no conflict." 24 members of the current show come from the former Soviet Union. Cirque began to recruit Soviet artists back in the 1980s.

But Cedric Belisle hails from the Ottawa area.

Belisle says it was his dream to one day travel and perform with Cirque de Soleil. After competing with Canada's national trampoline team, Belisle became part of the Cirque company in 2009. Belisle says he loves coming to Russia,loves the food, the people and the culture.

Canadian Cedric Belisle's act is almost entirely inside a revolving hoop. He spins wildly, moving the hoop across the stage, making it look easy. Forty percent of Cirque performers now come from an elite sports background; Belisle was a trampolinist.

Cirque du Soleil's current show Varekai features the Russian swings, a headline performance.

Two swings launch acrobats flying through the air, tumbling and landing in perfect precision. Russia has a long tradition of circuses, but most feature acrobatics and animals.

Canadian Craig Cohon is no stranger to business in Russia.

His father, George Cohon, brought McDonald's to the Soviet Union in 1990, after 14 years trying to establish a first 'golden arches 'in Moscow. In the mid 1990s, when Cirque wanted to expand into Russia, it turned to the Cohon family for advice and connections in Russia.

Here CraigCohon,Vice Chairman Cirque duSoleilRussia, hams it up backstage at the current show,Varekai.

Cohonbelieves there's a big market for more entertainment in Russia."Moscow is the largest city in Europe by far and has less entertainment coming in than London or Paris. Everything's changed and nothing's changed,"he says about the 25 years he's being doing business in Russia.

A circus has its props.

Colour costumes and masks, most made at Cirque's international headquarters in Montreal, are imported into Russia. Varekai, Cirque'slatest show touring Russia, is a show based on the Greek mythology of Icarus.

Cirque is known for it's fantastical costumes and creative makeup. Each artist learns how to apply his or her own makeup and how to don their wigs. These wait, being shaped for the next performance.

Cirque is a travelling show so when it comes to Russia, everything comes with it:sets, costumes, wigs and staff. Canadian Marie Luc Gagne is ready for wig repairs.

Here she's making a reserve wig in case one gets ripped or damaged.

The stage is set for the Moscow performance of Cirque du Soleil's show Varekai.

Gold rods represent the deep mystical forest where Icarus lands when he falls from the sky. Cirque kicked off their latest tour in Moscow with over a week of shows at the Luzhniki Arena. In 1972, Canada was also here to play the USSR in hockey's famous Summit Series.

Cirque du Soleil put NatalyiaRomanova in charge of its Russian operations.

In 8 years they've staged 12 different shows. With Russia in recession, the economic sanctions and the devalued rouble, "It's very challenging to find our way in this more complicated economic condition,"she says.

In 2012, Cirque du Soleil performed Zarkana inside the Kremlin, for 10 weeks.

It's never been repeated.

Cirque was new to Russia, and 350,000 people saw the show at the Kremlin. But economics and politics have made the business more challenging since last year.

SusanOrmistonreports on Cirque duSoleilin Russia,Sunday, April 24onThe National.