Latest Cirque Du Soleil a high-flying wonder

Andrew and Kevin Atherton are powerful and precise.

The first remarkable sight you encounter backstage at Cirque Du Soleil's Varekai is the flying Atherton brothers.

Twins Kevin and Andrew are still hours away from putting on their makeup then lifting off the stage in their double aerial straps act, a thrilling high-flying display of muscle and mirrored movement.

On the ground and out of costume, their matching blond, blue-eyed, chiselled-cheekbone features and gymnast physiques defy you to tell them apart.

Together and glowing with handsomeness, they are surely the makings of quite a few fantasies other than the spectacularly choreographed one they have been part of in 1500-plus Varekai performances since its 2002 debut.

They were born and bred in Wigan, and their accents sound like they would be more at home in the Rover's Return than the French-Canadian-based, cosmopolitan world of a Cirque production.

But the two, British gymnastic team regulars since the age of 12, were quick to sign up and start training when Cirque came calling in their mid-20s.

Their path to becoming star Varekai performers was captured on The Fire Within, a reality series following the new recruits. Adapting to being part of Varekai often meant going against much that had been ground into them in 20 years of gymnastics.

Kevin: "In gymnastics there are a lot of rules and a lot of things you need to stick to. With Cirque there are no rules. When we came to join Cirque we experimented with so many different things - what we liked and what they liked. You get to express yourself in so many different ways."

Andrew: "It was difficult at first because we were used to gymnastics, which has its strict rules and [you] perform in a certain way. You do certain tricks and the way you do them is always the same. But with Cirque Du Soleil there are no boundaries. So it was difficult - we had to break everything we were brought up with."

Kevin: "It was hard having to perform with your toes flexed and your knees bent."

In weeks off between cities they go their separate ways. But they say the Varekai company - which has a few sets of brothers and another set of twins - is very much a travelling family.

"Some people love that and some people have a hard time with it," says Andrew.

And no, they don't miss having those judges' scorecards at the end. They'll take that nightly applause instead.

"That's why you do it," says Kevin. "Some days you are so tired and so exhausted, but at the end of the day when you get that applause it's like 2600 people have appreciated what you have just given to them, it's such a pleasure."

The pair head off to an afternoon training session before dinner, makeup, costume and that evening's show.

Vancouver, where Vakerai has its tent pitched on a nondescript stretch of downtown waterfront concrete near the city's casino and sports stadiums, is the last stop on a four-year tour of North America.

The venue is already showing signs of packing up. Technicians and crew hover over freshly painted road cases pondering how the equipment will get back into its very big box of tricks.

Next stop is Sydney for a season which opens today, then Brisbane, then to Auckland to open a few days after New Year.

Varekai, which means "wherever" in the Romany gypsy language, is based on the legend of Icarus. It imagines what if he had survived the fall to earth and landed in a psychedelic underworld. There, he falls in love and learns to fly with lessons from the gravity-defying locals.

Which means a lot of time in Varekai is spent looking up at its many aerial wonders flying from a set which resembles a towering forest.

The third of the company's six internationally touring shows to reach New Zealand, Varekai is more colourful, mythic and acrobatic than previous visiting productions Alegría (2001) and Quidam (2004). While there's the usual Cirque cosmic pronouncements in the programme ("The moon rises on our fears, the sun sets on our hopes"), the show takes itself less seriously than its predecessors.

Preparations for that night's performance are under way. At her al fresco work table, assistant head of wardrobe Stacy Teague is making sure the Georgian Dancers' boots stay a vivid shade of red.

"It's nine hours of painting and gluing and getting a little happy off the toxic fumes," she laughs about her typical day as cobbler and milliner to the stars. Teague's shelves and the outfits racks backstage are a riot of colour. The costumes were designed by Eiki Ishioka, whose distinctive, serpentine work has been seen in films Bram Stoker's Dracula and The Cell.

"Whereas Quidam is very dark, ours is a very bright show, a lot of colour, which makes it a lot harder for us to keep the costumes looking that good," says Teague.

Inside the artistic tent, which adjoins the blue and yellow grand chapiteau, the Chinese kids - Zhang Yudong, Kuai Wenxiang and Chen Haiyan - who perform the show's "Water Meteors" act are practising.

Repeatedly, they spin a weighted rope resembling a South American bolo above their heads, launch it to the ceiling and somersault across a gym mat to catch it. They don't always arrive in time.

But as they wait their turn under the gaze of a quietly spoken coach they seem as happy as kids in a playground.

They are, of course, employees on an 18-month stint with the circus after which they will return to their performing arts school in China and Cirque will recruit replacements.

If anyone knows what it's like to have your childhood and everything after wrapped up in a circus, it's Italian acrobats Roni and Stiv Bello. They're the product of six generations in the circus business and started performing when they were 5 or 6.

As the Steven Brothers, they form part of the Icarian games quintet, possibly the riskiest of the show's acts, with one brother using the other's upraised feet as his pivot for a dizzying array of somersaults. Roni once flipped the smaller, lighter Stiv a record 45 consecutive times.

They say they couldn't do it unless they had grown up together. "It has to be him. You have to trust each other."

Stiv says his kids miss one aspect of touring with a non-traditional circus - there are no animals. Roni says Cirque's seasons of up to six weeks or more in one city can make him miss the more nomadic lifestyle of his family's circus touring Europe.

But they say Cirque allows them to concentrate on their act and take it further. Stiv: "They want from us the best but they give us the best conditions."

Later, inside the big top, Nicolette Naum, artistic director of both Varekai and Quidam, has arrived to observe a new act being developed by Australian clown Steven Bishop - a former dentist who figured there was a more satisfying way to give people a smile - and Stiv Bello.

It raises some giggles but it's clearly not ready for the spotlight. But, says Naum, a former juggler from Quebec who has been with Cirque since the early 90s, Varekai is always a work in progress.

"The show has changed a lot since the premiere. We have new acts and new artists. In all the other aspects the evolution is coming very strongly from those artists working together."

Part of Naum's role is to keep an eye on the show from an audience perspective, not that the punters can always tell a great show from a good one.

"Sometimes there are shows I consider not being the best one and the public is very good. Sometimes the show was beautiful from my perspective and the reaction of the public was less than expected."

Part of that ongoing development has been finding the right pace for the show, figuring out the right order for the acts.

"When we were still in the development process we turned the show upside down many times to find the right rhythm. It's really like a musical piece."

Well, if it was it would be one psychedelic symphony.

"It's funny that you say that - psychedelic - because when we were in Montreal getting close to the premiere I was with [Varekai creator] Dominic Champagne and I went to him and said to him, 'Dominic tell me something - you were taking LSD?' It was very interesting with Dominic Champagne because he has this very open and free mind."

And by the looks of Varekai and its performers, he obviously has very little respect for the laws of gravity too.

* Varekai by Cirque Du Soleil, Auckland Showgrounds Jan 5 to 21. Tickets on sale Aug 14 at Ticketek & www.cirquedusoileil.com, adults $70 to $110; children $50 to $90; VIP tickets from $170.