As Cirque du Soleil swings into the Bay Area with its U.S. premiere of “Ovo,” the French Canadian troupe is celebrating not only its 25th anniversary of popping eyeballs and dropping jaws around the globe but also a historic breakthrough.

It’s the first time in the company’s history, from its start as a ragtag band of street performers to its current status as a global entertainment juggernaut, that one of its high-flying spectacles has been directed by a woman. Sacre bleu.

Enter dancer/choreographer Deborah Colker, who freely admits it was daunting to be the first woman to be in charge of a Cirque du Soleil production. She’s also the first dance maven to take the helm. “Ovo” has pitched its tent at San Francisco’s AT&T Park before vaulting into a tent near San Jose’s Taylor Street Bridge on Feb. 4.

“Yes, there is pressure, as a woman within the male power structure,” says the director, her lilting Portuguese accent coming across the phone lines from her native Brazil. “Also, there is pressure to do something special for the anniversary, to do a great show.”

After all, the once avant-garde circus, which began in 1984 in Montreal, is now one of the most recognizable entertainment brands in the world. From “O” and “Ka” to the upcoming “Viva Elvis,” Cirque’s homage to the king, this franchise has a reputation for out-glitzing everything in its path. This year Cirque has no fewer than 20 shows up and running from Las Vegas to Macao, thankyaverymuch.

This groundbreaking woman chose to tell the story about the circle of life — a bug’s life, that is. “Ovo” (which comes from the Latin for egg) plunges us into the creepy, crawly universe of insects, from ladybugs to butterflies, who one day encounter a strange new object (an egg) in their midst. The realm of the minute is writ large through a menagerie of world-class contortionists, acrobats and gymnasts who seem to defy the laws of physics.

“The egg is a metaphor for the cycle of life,” Colker, 49, says. “It is food, it is fertility, it is the natural world. What began it all? It’s about transformation.”

Colker credits her homeland with the boisterous tone of her work, which has been described by dance aesthetes as edgy and gymnastic, even punk. The director has little patience for the traditional boundaries between genres like dance, theater and circus.

“This is my energy, this is how I work, this is how I breathe,” she says. “We are a new country, like America. We like to mix things up.”

She says that cultural aesthetic propels her to leap into the unknown artistically, shaking up convention whenever possible. As the New York Times once noted, “Perhaps the most salient characteristic of Ms. Colker’s work since she founded the company that bears her name 15 years ago has been her desire to toy with perceptions of dimension, direction and distance.”

She muses: “People from Europe with its long traditions have rules and concepts that come down through the ages. We do not. I respect tradition, of course, but I live in the contemporary world and my focus is different. I like to take chances, to do something new and different.”

That’s why being the first choreographer to take a whirl under the big top held such appeal. Cirque has long been famous for mashing up high art and pop culture. Remember the headless men in bowlers (shades of Magritte) juxtaposed with skateboards in “Quidam”? Consider the Chinese dragon puppets of “Dralion” and the erotica of “Zumanity.” Cirque may not use animals, but that is the only taboo in this tent.

“I love to find new ways to use the body to subvert the space,” Colker says. “How do you make a narrative out of dance? How do you take all the best acrobats in the world and maintain absolutely perfect execution and yet tell a simple story? It’s almost impossible.”

Indeed, after all these years of cranking out shows, it is harder and harder to raise the bar. Once you have conquered water (“O”), sex (“Zumanity”), the Beatles (“Love”) and Elvis (“Viva Elvis”), how do you keep finding new worlds to explore?

“The expectations are high,” she says. “Cirque has shows all over the world; it has to make them all different. It’s hard, no? It’s like a factory making shows everywhere from China and Japan to Las Vegas. There is pressure to delight audiences this year, which is a special year, but also to open new doors.”

Indeed, detractors of Cirque feel that the factory’s goods are beginning to look a bit shopworn.

The last time actor/comedian Geoff Hoyle went to Cirque (“Kooza”) he found the show formulaic at best. In fact, he was so bored he left at the intermission.

“Cirque du Soleil is now as interesting, as loud and as oppressive as a demolition derby for me,” says Hoyle, a master clown in his own right. “I was impressed by the first show “… but it has been downhill from there for me. No edge, no bite, no wit. It’s difficult because of their hegemonic success with audiences and incredible business acumen, but, honestly, where’s the child pointing out the emperor’s new clothes?”

Fans of the Cirque oeuvre, on the other hand, hail the troupe for pushing toward reinvention every time out. They say the company harnesses the unique talents of artists as diverse as Robert Lepage and Elvis with as much imagination as marketing muscle.

“Cirque is still pulsing and vibrant after all these years because they pull from artistic developments around the world. They don’t have a static definition of themselves or circus in general,” notes Patty Gallagher, a theater professor at UC-Santa Cruz with a special affinity for the circus arts. “They don’t say ‘This is what Cirque is: If you want to work with us, adapt to us.’ Instead they look around the globe for compelling and visionary artists and say, ‘How might they change Cirque?’ I’m always impressed and amazed by the creative teams they assemble.”

For its part, Cirque seems fearless about walking the tightrope between art and commerce to expand its pantheon of derring-do. There are even rumors of a new Michael Jackson-themed Cirque show. Talk about a thriller.

“You have to evolve,” as Colker puts it. “Life is change, that is what it is to be alive.”

Contact Karen D’Souza at kdsouza@mercurynews.com or 408-271-3772. Check out her theater reviews, features and blog at www.mercurynews.com/karen-dsouza.