Prospera Place is crawling with insects as Cirque du Soleil does final preparation for the opening performance of OVO in Kelowna.
Janie Mallet with tour management says it takes 36 loads of laundry just to be ready for opening night.
“For performers to get ready, they’ve been training since they were three, four, five years old, so it’s a lifetime and they’re always training,” Mallet said.
READ MORE: OVO by Cirque du Soleil crawling into Kelowna
“For today specifically, it’s their first time coming into the Prospera Place. So, we absolutely want to make sure that they know where the lights are, where the draft is if you’re a juggler that can affect you, and where the entrances are. We have a series of validations, they’re all going to be on stage for a moment making sure the cues are ready. And it’s been training from 10 a.m. this morning going on until sound check which will happen at 6 p.m. before we open the doors.”
The show follows a blue fly as he enters a new colony and has an ovo – or egg – in his possession.
Capital News got a backstage tour and spoke with strap artist Alixis Druel who plays a butterfly.
“Each artist is a different insect. For us (Druel and his partner) it’s the butterfly, so in order to inspire movement, we watched a lot of videos of butterflies and how they move and how they interact. We cannot mimic exactly the same, but it helps give us something on how to assimilate it in our bodies and also how to transmit it to the audience. We’re more than just two humans on stage, we’re really trying to portray that insect.”
Tickets are available for purchase on the Prospera Place website.
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