Cirque Du Soleil Totem Interview – Jonathan Buese
Welcome to Impulse Gamer and how have you been enjoying Australia?
It’s been great!! We have been in Sydney since October: great scenery, beautiful beaches and good restaurants!!
Is this your first trip here and what would you like to see?
Yes it is my first time visiting Australia. I really want to go to the Great Barrier Reef and I would like to go visit Byron Bay as well.
Once the show is finished, will you have any time to explore Australia?
Well the tour never stops, so we will be visiting other countries after Australia. I have time to visit Australia during the tour actually. In between cities, we have time to visit wherever we want. While our technical team take the tent down and move it to another city to set everything up, the artists are allowed to go where we please as long as we show up on the first day of rehearsals in the next city.
Can you tell us a little about your experience before joining Cirque Du Soleil?
I did gymnastics from the age of 5 and continued competing until I joined Cirque du Soleil when I was 22 years old. I had no experience with circus nor live entertainment whatsoever before I joined.
How did you come to Cirque Du Soleil?
I met Cirque du Soleil talent scouts at my last gymnastics competition in 2010. It was at USA Collegiate Championships and they met with anybody who was interested. I was actually convinced to go to the meeting by my teammate! We stayed in touch and I guess I fit the profile they were looking for. A few months later, I flew to Montreal to start training at Cirque du Soleil Headquarters and joined my first show Mystere in Las Vegas later that year.
Can you tell us a little about Totem?
TOTEM is a show about life – its origins, its evolution and the relationships between human beings. TOTEM has a light and happy energy expressed through really diverse and difficult acrobatic acts performed with ethnically-diverse music and very ornate costumes depicting various eras and cultures.
What is your role in Totem?
I play a Green Frog in the Opening Scene of TOTEM, which entails me getting into make-up and costume to perform a mix of gymnastics (High Bars) and trampoline inside an impressive structure shaped like the skeleton of a turtle. The scene represents the amphibian origins of mankind in the primordial ooze. I also do an act where I am a monkey for the entirety of the scene; it’s very fun to play, but a little bit challenging for the knees haha!
In terms of preparation, how long did it take to master your role in this production?
This is my 3rd production with Cirque du Soleil, but the act I am part of in TOTEM is quite unique; there is no other apparatus like it out there as it is mixing two forms of gymnastics- High Bars (when male gymnasts usually only perform on one) with a trampoline underneath them. I would say I still haven’t mastered the skill set completely because there are still things I can add to the act, but before I could cover all of my responsibilities it took about ten months of specific training and stage integration. Let’s not forget also 17 years of competing in gymnastics that prepared me somehow for what I am doing today.
As a performer, what is the hardest part in being involved in such a spectacular production?
Keeping your body and mind ready and focussed is a challenge. We perform seven to ten times a week and really have to pace ourselves and stay in tune with what our bodies need at any given time to perform so often keeping the standards as high as we can.
What about most rewarding?
The applause and the reaction of the crowd at the end of our act and at the end of the show. I know how much time I have dedicated to my performance, so to have a positive reaction makes the hard wok worth doing. I also love being able to travel around so much and see places I might not see without a job like this.
Can you tell us a little about your daily training regime for Totem?
I stretch every day about an hour before show time for about 30 minutes. After that we warm up what is necessary for our act, which is the first act of the show. After performing the act, I might do a little of core strength training and stretch again for a few minutes after the show. We also have training on stage once or twice a week on top of the show schedule to work on maintaining the acrobatic elements of the act and develop new tricks to keep us alive as performers.
When you’re not performing, what does your training involve?
We have non mandatory core strength class and a shoulder strength class that we can attend that I try to do as often as possible. If there is a break between cities I do more cardio but I like to take it easy when I don’t have shows to do.
What is your favourite part of Totem and why?
I love the Roller Skates act – you can really see the love and passion in the act. I like the act that I do a lot (it is called Carapace/High Bars) because there is so much going on and so many people on stage at the same time that we really feel a lot of energy. The Russian Bars act is fantastic too with how hard the act is, its danger and the artists’ consistency.
Lastly, why should Melbournians and Australians see Totem?
People should see TOTEM because it has the whole package! All of the huge acrobatics that people expect from a Cirque du Soleil show and incredible live music, lights and costumes are all here and we love to do it! It is an experience that makes the audience travel without leaving their seat. A high-energy, positive and soul-touching show!!
Thanks again and all the best for the Melbourne tour of Cirque Du Soleil Totem!
Photos: OSA Images / Costumes: Kym Barrett © 2010 Cirque du Soleil Inc.
For more information on Totem, please visit http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/totem/tickets/melbourne.aspx
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