By Melonie Magruder,

Lookout Staff January 27, 2012 -- When Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte asked Deborah Colker to direct and choreograph their latest production, “OVO,” he asked her how many dancers she wanted to hire. The acclaimed Brazilian choreographer and “movement director” replied, “I don’t want dancers. I want to create a circus show and make all the acrobats dance!” Colker sat down to talk with the LookOut News about the creation of “OVO,” a production that debuted in Quebec in 2008 and has been touring ever since. “Guy had seen my work before and liked the way I relate to space and movement,” Colker said, her tiny frame tucked into a comfortable couch under one of the pier-side Cirque tents. “He was interested in joining together to work in a way that is very different from what I am accustomed.” Colker’s company, the Companhia de Dança Deborah Colker, in Rio de Janeiro, has an international reputation as one of the world’s leading contemporary dance companies, collecting several awards in Brazil, as well as the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in London (2001). Her work is known for innovative use of space, unexpected staging and creatively moving bodies through new dimensions. Laliberte was hooked. “They asked me to create a world of biodiversity and nature,” Colker said. “So I decided to tell a story about a community of insects and where do they all come from? Eggs. Ovo! (Portuguese for egg)” Such a challenge was catnip for Colker, who immersed herself for a year of research and study of all things entomological. With six legs, insects have two more appendages to consider, along with their unique movement, colors, exoskeletons and buggy behavior. “Insects are a part of our lives all the time,” she said. “But we don’t know all their colors or shapes or life cycles. Some insects have been around a lot longer than we have. Cockroaches lived with the dinosaurs.” Cirque du Soleil’s modus operandi is acrobatic, of course, but Colker found plenty in traditional circus acts that made her think along insect lines. Watching the machinations of various contortionists, she found herself wondering about the relation of heads, bodies and legs. Colker and her team studied butterflies, caterpillars, spiders, beetles and ants to capture the sense of color, movement and fragility of the insect world. She decided that her set must be designed to reflect the scale of an insect’s habitat. So flowers blossomed hugely from above, leaves enveloped the performers, and webs were industrially sized. “We did not want to replicate nature, but evocate nature,” Colker explained (her English, though excellent, can be quixotic). “The show is supposed to be the cycle of an insect’s life – one day. "They wake up, they call to each other. They go out for food. So with the lights and the music, I tried to make the show completely organic.” These concerns included figuring out costume design that would invoke the various insects, but not interfere with the performers' movements, nor restrict the androgynous lines of the body. Colker worked for a year with costume designer Liz Vandal to strike the right balance. Colker even enlisted the help of famed Canadian entomologist Georges Brossard to understand the bug’s life. “We visited Georges, and he said that insects are just misunderstood,” Colker said, chuckling. “He pulled a scorpion out of a box to put on my hand. This is a scorpion that can kill you with one sting and my colleagues’ faces were white as eggs.” The audition process was lengthy. Colker and her team spent months studying videos and watching performers. “The creation process for ‘OVO’ was a year at the table, working on concept and look and sound,” she said. “For the performers, it was a nine-month rehearsal process to get the movement and choreography and even the language. It’s not just about their expertise and technique. They must be able to act.” Eventually, Colker adapted insect identity to traditional circus acts: ants would juggle several times their weight; spiders would balance on a slack wire; beetles would fly through the air. Gradually, the colors and textures and movement of the insect world developed into a whole piece. “OVO’ is organic and true,” Colker reflected. “The details are energetic, but delicate and miraculous. Sort of like a butterfly coming out of a cocoon.” “OVO” is scheduled to run through March 25. Tickets and more information are available at http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/ovo/default.aspx