Cirque du Soleil’s OVO brings a bug’s life to Kamloops’ Sandman Centre

KAMLOOPS — For the first time in four years, Cirque du Soleil has returned to the Sandman Centre. Its show OVO takes the audience into the life of “human insects.”

Created in 2009 and launched in Montreal, OVO has travelled the world throughout its years of high-flying action.

With more than 100 staff who work, travel and perform in OVO, people from over 25 countries make up the show.

“We have 52 artists on stage. They’re all different insects. We have spiders, crickets and scarabs, and butterflies. We have lots of different acrobatics, high-level acrobatics in the air and on the ground. Contortion, hand-balancing. We have tumblers and trampolinists,” says Janie Mallet with Tour Management.

Although the stars of the show love their jobs, the life of a performer can be a demanding career.

“We are always travelling. We are always on the go. We do one week per city so it’s always go, go, go, go, go and we also have at least an hour of training on stage. It adds up — but we have a good crew and we have a lot of fun, also,” says acrobat Camille Santerre.

Santerre says, as an acrobat, the best part of the job is bringing shock and awe to fans.

“It’s really amazing. The feeling on stage and seeing the reaction of the people smiling or being in awe or surprised for the stuff that we do is really a great feeling that we get every single night.”

People taking in OVO can expect to be inspired and impressed by the performance.

“There’s a variety of emotions, lots of video projections, video mapping so there’s to see and a lot for the senses with live music. I think people can expect to have a good time and it’s a show that speaks to everyone,” adds Mallet.

People have six different opportunities to see the show that runs from Thursday (June 23) until Sunday (June 26) before it departs to Prince George.