Gone were the days when traveling circuses would be using individual carriages to carry props, cages of animals, performers and other items that are necessary to stage a show in a certain place. Performers living in their horse-drawn wagons throughout their sojourn and the duration of the shows are also a thing of the past.

These days, professional traveling circuses like Cirque du Soleil’s Big Top productions such as Varekai travel the world with 65 containers and 150 people.

These containers are shipped to their destinations where the artists and crew will be arriving through various airlines. While Varekai performers and crew members do not live in the tents on site, thet are comfortably booked in hotels. However, their training, as well as their medical, educational and nutritional needs, are all met onsite.

Yes, Cirque du Soleil actually is a traveling circus village that has its own kitchen and dining area, school, offices, warehouses, tool shop (which contains 100-percent Canadian nuts and bolts), toilets and washing machines, and even their own power supply, since it has five generators.

“[The logistics department] makes sure that the fences are clean, that the tents are clean. Another thing they [take care of] is that our generators are supplying enough electricity to be able to maintain the show and give safety to our artists,” Varekai publicist Cynthia Clemente explained.

“We have five units of generators and those generators are the ones that will guarantee that if there’s a power failure in the city where we are, we are still functioning. Those generators travel with us and are the first thing to go up when we’re setting up,” she said.

Life in the Cirque du Soleil village means going to work at 10 in the morning and training. It also means eating healthy foods and going to physiotherapists for injuries. For the children of artists and crew members who travel with the circus, as well as the younger performers, production period also means going to school.

Onsite, Cirque du Soleil home-schools children according to Canadian standards. They employ four teachers from Canada who instruct the children according to their grade levels. They have the usual assignments and exams to meet the requirements set by the Canadian government.

This “village” setup makes crew members and performers at home wherever they are in the world. This is why Cirque du Soleil is family-friendly. One of the most famous acts on Varekai is the Icarian games.

The act is performed by the Santos brothers, Javier and the twins Pedro Jr. and Ramon. The head coach of the act is Pedro Sr. and he said his sons are continuing a generations-old tradition of working in the circus. They are eighth-generation artists.

Javier travels with his wife and daughter, and Pedro Jr. also travels with his wife. Ramon is not married but his girlfriend also travels with the circus. Their mother is part of the circus and works in wardrobe.

“This is my normal life. I grew up in the circus, I want my kids to be in the circus,” Pedro Jr. said.

Before joining Cirque du Soleil, the brothers were performing on their own or with other small circuses that have shows all over Europe, as well as in cruise ships. When you travel on your own, it is not as convenient as when you are in a big circus like Cirque du Soleil.

One of the things that often does not get attention is their health. Pedro Jr. said that in small circuses, if you are sick or hurt yourself, you just take a pill and perform. But with the standards kept by Cirque du Soleil, they are taken care of.

Treating these injuries are not a problem since they joined Cirque du Soleil since Varekai has two physiotherapists onboard to check on the health of all performers and make sure that they are fit to do their act.

Javier even said that with Cirque du Soleil, artists like them get to enjoy some stability not only financially but also in terms of schedules. He said life in a big circus is more predictable and not as erratic. Traditional circuses, for one, only stay in cities for a week or less. But in Cirque du Soleil, they get to stay in a certain place for as long as a month or even a year.

“No, we will not leave the circus. We can just change the act. If you’re old, you try to do the clown act,” Pedro Sr. said. “We will change the act, but not the circus.”

(Cai Ordinario)