The stage, and tent, are set for Cirque du Soleil’s ‘VOLTA’
UPPER PROVIDENCE » The heart of the Cirque du Soleil’s acrobatic form of fantasy is its multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art tent.
Raising the Big Top in a new town is an art and a production in itself, and that momentous occasion took place on the grounds of the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center at Oaks on Friday afternoon, in preparation for the staging of the troupe’s first ever show at the venue, “VOLTA,” which debuts July 12 for a minimum of a six-week run.
“The push of the Big Top is a milestone for us because it’s the way we say, ‘hey, we have arrived in your city,’ ”noted the affable company manager Yannick Spierkel, who oversees every last detail of unloading and reloading the trucks hauling 2,000 tons of equipment.
“It’s a whole village you see coming to life,” he said. “Both the loading and the unloading are equally important so that they are done efficiently, because if we don’t load the trucks properly the equipment won’t come out in the certain order that it needs to come out,” Spierkel allowed.
“Every step has its challenge but obviously with the heat we’d had in the past few days it hasn’t been easy. We just arrived from Uniondale in New York state and nature looks like it’s on our side today,” Spierkel allowed as the predicted rain appeared to be holding off.
“This is a big operation, for sure. We have about 60 technicians that follow the tour, and today we’re supported by about 100 people locally for specialized or general labor that help us to build our village.”
A crew of 60 workers manually lifted the poles that raised the Big Top, which is visible from Route 422.
In addition to the main tent where the performances take place, the touring VOLTA village includes a front-of-the-house tent, a customer service tent, artistic tents to support the cast and crew, plus an office trailer and mobile kitchen.
“It takes around five days to build all the infrastructure. During that week the artists are off.,” Spierkel said. “They’re resting right now and will be back next week to make sure the adjustments are done properly, and then we open on July 12.”
With the help of the Adecco Group temporary staffing agency, an additional 100 people will come on board soon “to help us with hosting and sales to make sure our guests are treated properly,” Spierkel added.
Spierkel is confident that audiences will warm up to Cirque du Soleil’s Oaks debut in a big way.
“The reaction of the public has been very good and there are still some very good tickets available,” he said. “This is our first time in the Valley Forge area. In the past we were in downtown Philly so we’re very pleased to be here in Oaks. From what I’ve seen I personally like the area. Access to nature seems very easy so I think I’m going to really like it here.”
Tour publicist Steven Ross noted, “The people of the Oaks area have been extremely welcoming. We feel the warmth here around the Valley Forge area and get the feeling that the people are extremely happy to see us. And we’re very happy to see them as well ... and hope that they all will come out and see us at Cirque du Soleil.”
After its final East Coast performance for the year this summer, the show is headed to Seattle and then California, Spierkel said.