Cirque Du Soleil performed in Detroit ahead of Windsor

By Matt Flood

The circus came to town to clown around.

Cirque Du Soleil stopped in Detroit to perform their show Corteo at the Little Caesars Arena from Jan. 10 – 13 ahead of the upcoming Windsor run in May. Corteo brings a variety of high-flying stunts, acrobatic feats, music and a flurry of emotion as it tells the life story of Mauro, The Dreamer Clown.  

In Corteo, Mauro is at the end of his life in a mysterious place between heaven and Earth. As angels watch over him, he imagines his own funeral and revisits memories throughout his life in the circus. Corteo, which means cortege in Italian, seeks to celebrate Mauro’s life joyously rather than mourn solemnly.

“We’ve created a vehicle to sort of explore people’s emotions around their friends, around their loved ones, and yet we’re doing that in a circus performance,” said artistic director Mark Shaub. “At Cirque we combine acrobatics with music, with choreography, with lighting, with costume to create something really new.”

Originally premiering as a Big Top show in 2005 with Shaub as artistic director, Corteo broke spectator records for Cirque premiere’s in Montreal and has moved across 19 countries to be seen by over 8 million people. The show briefly ended in 2015, but re-emerged in arena format on March 2. 2018, allowing it to reach small scale cities as well as large ones.

According to aerialist Erin Cervantes, arena format means more time on the road and can make life hectic for the Cirque Crew.

“I think with this particular show being an arena tour, I think the hardest thing for me personally would be the traveling every week and trying to time manage your training with your rest, with how tired you are from constantly moving,” said Cervantes.

Corteo is filled with highs and lows both physical and emotional as the show aims “to hit people in their emotions,” and will be performed in Windsor May 15 – 19 at the WFCU Centre.