A show for the kurious at Cirque du Soleil

For audience members, Cirque du Soleil’s big top is a temporary fixture that transforms an otherwise vacant Costa Mesa parking lot into a surreal world of acrobatics, music and contortionism.

But for Karl L’ecuyer, and the 109 other performers and staff associated with the Cirque installation, the traveling tent is far more than a performance space.

“Everyone is an aunt or uncle to my kids,” said the 32-year-old Canadian, whose wife and two youngsters join him on the road. “It doesn’t matter if we don’t speak the same language. My kids know the big top as home. No matter where we are in the world, if they see that tent, they feel like they’re home.”

(Though Cirque members symbolically call the big top home, they stay in corporate housing while in town.)

The tent, which currently houses “Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities,” a whimsical, steampunk-type show set in the late 1800s, is still like a small village during work hours. While the set, adorned with gymnastic equipment, such as trampolines and balancing furniture, is L’ecuyer’s work space it also doubles as his kids’ playground.

That family like bond is something that has held Cirque du Soleil together since 1984, when it performed its first show, said “Kurios” show manager Yannick Spierkel, who has worked with Cirque for more than a decade.

Today, the Montreal-based production company boasts more than two dozen — traveling and stationary —shows on its roster.

There’s a lot going under the tent at the Orange County Fairgrounds. “Kurious,” the latest tour, features more than 1,000 costume pieces to form about 150 different looks for 46 performers. There are also 63 members of the staff and crew.

“We carry more than 2,000 tons of equipment in 65 trucks for this tour of ‘Kurios,’” Spierkel said. “With the traveling shows, we can reach out to many markets. They’ve helped us expand our brand and present the shows to different markets around the world.”

He said Costa Mesa, where the show will reside through Nov. 29, is a regular – and favorite – stop.

“The people here know us and are always interested to see what we have to bring,” he said.

For “Kurios,” Cirque du Soleil brings at least two new experiences — a chance for audience members to go on stage before the show and the debut of a gymnastic method.

Before the show, audience members are invited to walk across an unstable bridge high in the air and try their hand at turning on a light with electricity conducted from riding a bicycle.

The idea is to immerse the audience in the show’s setting.

“You’re not just coming to see the show,” Spiegel said. “You’re part of the experience. It’s a positive aspect for everybody.”

Also new is a show built around the so-called Acro Net, which is inspired by a trapeze net but uses a stretched out net to become more bouncy, sending performers some 50 feet in the air.

Ryan Shinji Murray, an Acro Net artist, said he and the performers perfected their techniques on the net after nine months of training.

“This is kind of the perfect fusion for me,” said Murray, who has a background in flying trapeze and trampoline. “It’s a completely different feeling than both of those things because it’s such a long time that you spend on the net before you go up into the air, and once you’re up in the air, it’s terrifyingly high.”

L’ecuyer, who performs on the Acro Net, and as the big-belly character Mr. Microcosmos, said, “On the net, you have so much power and you don’t notice until you look down and you’re like, ‘Oh my god. I’m up 50 feet.’”

He also offered another analogy that reminds that the Cirque tent is also a playground for well-trained adults.

“Jumping on that net, I would compare it to my 4-year-old son jumping on the bed or on the trampoline in the big top,” he said. “I have that same feeling and freedom. I become a child again.”

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IF YOU GO

What: Cirque du Soleil “Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities”

Where: OC Fair and Events Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa

When: Through Nov. 29

Cost: $50 to $290, depending on seat location

Info: cirquedusoleil.com