Behind the Scenes of “Quidam”

The producers offered to give us a behind the scenes look at Cirque du Soleil’s “Quidam.” ABC-7 Reporter Ashlie Rodriguez introduces us to one of the show’s solo performers.

When young Zoe slides into her imaginary land, one of the characters she meets is a Quidam” skipper played by acrobat Kata Benhagyi.

“Skipping is one of my favorite numbers because it’s mine and it’s one of the liveliest numbers as well,” Benhagyi said. “I have been doing skipping since I was six, so I’ve been doing it since I was a little child.”

But this is no ordinary jumping rope but coordinated, choreographed acrobatics performed at swift speed.

“Lots of Double Dutch and single rope parts and high quality tricks, sometimes it looks easy but it’s a really complicated number to coordinate all the people who are participating in it with lots of rope tangled into each other and then six or eight people jumping at the same time over them,” Benhagyi said.

Kata’s complicated moves are among many others that take place on a revolving stage under a 120-foot-long arch

“Behind me is the teleparique, it’s French for cable car and it’s a main feature of the show,” said Reporter Ashlie Rodriguez. “What it does is it brings the characters in and out of the story and is also used for aerial apparatus.”

Those not carried in, roll in, a feat that requires hours of practice under the expert eye of Artistic Director Luc Dullette.

“You know it’s a circus, it’s acrobatic act, but I need for them to feel that they’re part of a story,” Duellette said. “They’re not just technically performing, their act is all a part of Quidam.”

“Quidam” meaning an anonymous passerby, has been touring as an arena show since 2010 and the imaginary world of young Zoe will float into El Paso Wednesday. until then, Kata tells me she’s looking forwarding to skipping in El Paso.