What exactly is a hand to hand base? “You throw and catch people,” Charlton explains. He reckons his favourite moment in the Cirkopolis happens towards the end of the show. “It’s a big group acrobatic number, it’s high energy; it’s where we have the most freedom to improvise and do whatever we want.” But how can improvisation be possible, when acrobats rely on other acrobats to catch them? You need to know what someone else is doing, surely? “There is a structure and order to the piece,” Charlton assures us. “Everything works around that so it’s not a total free for all.” The trick is in knowing your fellow performers well. “We have fun communicating in the way we do, we are really playing off the other performers. That’s what I love about circus. It’s never the same thing twice, it’s never perfect. There’s no way to make it constant.” Is there a narrative to the Cirkopolis performance? “There’s no fixed narrative from start to finish so the story’s not completely clear, but there’s a main character that brings everything together throughout,” explains Charlton. “He liberates the other characters as well, and everybody ends up having a big party.” Sounds good. “It starts off as a kind of totalitarian dictatorship, a grey world, and as the show goes on we all escape from that and become human.”
What makes Cirque Éloize stand out? Charlton says the company is unique in that there’s an especially high level of technical expertise involved. “We have a high level of technical skill,” he notes. Established in 1993 by Creative Director Jeannot Painchaud, Cirque Éloize also distinguishes itself by ensuring that all elements of any production are original: the music, the sets, the costumes, the video projections and the choreography, are all created specifically for each show and Cirkopolis is no exception. Painchaud describes Cirkopolis as ‘a crossroads between imagination and reality, between individuality and community, between limits and possibilities.’ “It’s about letting go and allowing yourself to be borne aloft by hope.” Rather than creating giant spectacles or becoming as huge as possible, Cirque Éloize concentrates on more intimate performances that are better suited to a theatre environment than a monster big top.
Charlton describes Cirkopolis as ‘a highly choreographed “dancey” sort of show.’ Does Charlton perform as a character? “We all kind of have a character,” the acrobat answers. Was there any special preparation he needed to undertake for Cirkopolis? “We all had to learn some dance parts; it was a lot of work, I also had to learn club passing (juggling), and how to use the German wheel.” A German wheel is that giant hamster wheel apparatus. “I’d never touched the German wheel before,” he adds. Given the responsibility Charlton carries for protecting his fellow acrobats from injury, does he need to do any extra weight training to stay strong? Rueben (Rueben Hosler, Charlton’s partner) is my weight training! We do quite a lot of extra stuff outside the show, but it all involves using similar techniques to what we do in our performance. Just lots of repetition.” Charlton has been working with Hosler for 10 years now and says they can read each other’s actions. “It’s a strong connection,” he says. A background in judo and early training in the UK gave Charlton a sense of his own discipline as a performer; he trained at the UK’s Circomedia’s Centre, graduating with honours and he also trained in Paris before joining the National Circus School of Montreal. “One of my coaches was the founder of the circus Seven Fingers of One Hand.” Another coach was a member of Cirque de Soleil. Charlton graduated from the National Circus School in 2012 and then joined Circus Éloize.
Charlton is still only 27. He reckons he’s happy to keep doing what he’s doing for the moment. “I definitely would like to keep doing hand to hand acrobatics.” When performing might prove too much (acrobats have a similar ‘shelf life’ to that of dancers), he will move into coaching. Charlton’s done a lot of travelling with Cirque Éloize over the last two and a half years. Does he have a favourite city? “Budapest,” he answers. “It’s so diverse,” he says. “There is so much happening and there are so many interesting and happy people there, doing all these different things. We performed in a small theatre, to only 500 people so we were very close to the audience. They were really responsive.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
