Maxime Charron: Flying High in Cirque du Soleil's 'OVO'

"OVO" begins with an egg–a giant egg that breaks open to reveal the world of insects; but this being a Cirque du Soleil expect an army of red ants juggling kiwi fruit; a dragonfly balances on what appears to be a branch of a tropical plant; a butterfly emerges from a cocoon in sea of silk; and a pair of fleas performing an astonishing duo-trapeze routine. The show is, according to its press release, "a headlong rush into a colorful ecosystem teeming with life, where insects work, eat, crawl, flutter, play, fight and look for love in a non-stop riot of energy and movement. The insects' home is a world of biodiversity and beauty filled with noisy action and moments of quiet emotion."

Created and directed by Brazilian dancer/choreographer Deborah Colker (the first woman to create a Cirque du Soleil production), OVO ('egg' in Portuguese) joins Brazilian music, imaginatively rendered costumes, giant flowers and oversized spider webs, a stage-filling wall on which acrobats seemingly defy gravity; plus clowns, tumblers, jugglers, aerialists, live musicians, a sultry singer, and gravity-defying gymnasts (some 50 in all) into one of the troupe's most successful shows since premiering in 2009.

Like most Cirque shows, the plot can be summed up in a few words: an insect, blue fly called The Foreigner, loses an egg and seeks to find it, while trying to win the heart of a seductive (and very funny) ladybug. And while they speak, it is a language of their own beyond the audience's comprehension. The numerous songs in a variety of Brazilian styles, though, are sung in Portuguese.

"OVO" was a hit when it first toured under the Cirque's blue and yellow Grand Chapiteau; then in 2016, it became a touring arena show. But when the Pandemic brought the tour to a halt, Colker and the creative team (including Cirque's Director of Creation Chantal Tremblay and artistic director Lydia Harper) saw the opportunity to rework the show. A number of acts were retired and three new ones added, which include the trapeze duo of Maxime Charron and Corentin Lemaître Auger, who appear as red-and-yellow fleas in Liz Vandal's colorful body suits.

EDGE spoke with Maxine recently after he had been in Boston a full day. "What an amazing city," he said.

Just in his early 20s, Maxime has spent more than half-of-his life in training to be a trapeze artist. At 11, he enrolled at the National Circus School in Montreal. It was there he became friends with Corentin and they developed their act over a six-year period. (Corentin, it turns out, had decided to become a circus performer after seeing "OVO" at the age of eight.)

As the pair approached graduation, they were concerned if they could get hired by a circus troupe. First, the pandemic had shut the world down; but also their act was unusual amongst circus acts. "I don't know if you're familiar with the circus world, but duo trapeze acts are usually a guy and a girl," he said.