The circus is out of town: How this Montreal troupe is promoting individualism in China

Before each performance, whether at home or in China — where his Montreal troupe, Cirque Éloize, is now on an unprecedented three-month, 19-city tour — acrobat Frédéric Lemieux-Cormier always speaks soothing words to his big, double-hooped apparatus, the German Wheel.

 "I assure the wheel that we'll put on a good show," Lemieux-Cormier told CBC Arts from China's coastal city of Qingdao.

Ever since arriving in China in June, Cirque Éloize has been winning over audiences with its dance-theatre-circus production, Cirkopolis. The nimble feats by the show's jugglers, acrobats and clowns won New York's 2014 Drama Desk Award, and although the Chinese tour has a largely different cast, the level of virtuosity remains equally high. Intact, too, is Cirkopolis's message about the need for people to assert their individuality amid a skyscraper-dominated urban environment that pushes corporate conformity.

Cirkopolis's message is doubtless close to the heart of Dave St. Pierre, the iconoclastic Montreal choreographer who co-directed the original 2012 production with Jeannot Painchaud and who restaged it last year. Cirkopolis features a stylized backdrop of skyscrapers and industrial machines whose monolithic architecture contrasts with the performers' free-spirited outbursts of individual creativity — the performers literally bust out of the conformity of their business suits. St. Pierre didn't go as far as his infamously flamboyant dance productions in which dancers perform nude, but the spirit of non-conformity remains.

"Some people in Beijing talked to us about this, but they came from the theatre world," says Lemieux-Cormier, one of two remaining original cast members (the other member, clown Ashley Carr, does a sensational number in which he romances a dress hanging on a coat hanger). "They really liked the show's concept and the mix of theatre, dance and circus. Some Chinese circus people said that it showed them a new path. Chinese acrobats are great, but we demonstrated our strengths, too."

Few Western circuses have performed in China, explains Lemieux-Cormier, who was impressed by how positively Chinese audiences have received Cirque Éloize. But theatre etiquette in China, he learned, is not the same as in the West.

"In some cities, people came late and talked a lot," he says. "They liked to communicate with us, which can be distracting. They're expressive — sometimes too much so, particularly when the acrobat/clowns (Carr and Jérémy Vitupier) are on stage. The kids shout, but of course we don't understand what they're saying."

Off-stage, communication was a problem in cities off the beaten tourist track.

"There's more stress getting around, finding restaurants."

But not too stressful if you speak Mandarin, like German-born polyglot juggler and hand-to-hand acrobat Julius Bitterling, who acquired the name Ling Yin while studying for a year at a Beijing circus school along with another Cirque Éloize performer, French-born César Mispelon. The two do a hand-to-hand routine.

"It's a real advantage for us to have Julius not only as a performer but as someone who speaks Chinese," says touring director Geneviève Henri.

Arranging the Cirkopolis tour required two years of negotiations. In January, the troupe reached an agreement with Shanghai Fresh Vogur, a Chinese entertainment company specializing in foreign-company tours.

Meanwhile, Montreal's Cirque du Soleil — which is partially owned by China's Fosun group — is set to present its Avatar-inspired mega-show Toruk in China next year. Cirkopolis's China tour winds up on September 4.

"The performers feel some fatigue, which is natural during a long tour, but they're still enthusiastic," said Henri.

Doubtless, Lemieux-Cormier will keep giving words of encouragement to his German Wheel.

Cirkopolis. Until September 4. Various locations, China. www.cirque-eloize.com