A big moment in Cirque Alfonse’s latest show comes when a 78-year-old man climbs a 5m pole balanced on a younger man’s shoulders.
The older man, Alain Carabinier, in farmer’s golden dungarees and bushy white beard, is in fact the real-life septuagenarian father of the man holding the pole, Antoine Carabinier-Lepine.
"The audience is stunned," Carabinier-Lepine, 43, co-founder of Cirque Alfonse, says.
"There are gasps and they hold their breath as my father climbs the pole. And then they react loudly, clapping, when he stands at the top."
Lepine is bringing Quebec-based Cirque Alfonse, and its latest show Animal, to the Dunedin Arts Festival, in March.
The small-troupe circus, which has been touring the world for 18 years, has been described as "blazing a creative path that no-one has yet dared to explore".
The uniqueness, Lepine says, comes from its distinctive Quebec flavour and its strong family make-up.
"A lot of our shows are about traditional Quebec folk and have a lot of music with roots in this region," Carabinier-Lepine says.
"Also, we are a real family that has been touring together for almost 20 years.
"Audiences respond to this really well. They like that we have kept a sense of our roots."
Cirque Alfonse is indeed a family affair. Members include Carabinier-Lepine, his girlfriend, his sister, his brother-in-law — all of whom have extensive experience with the world’s big cirque troupes or the world of professional dance — and, of course, his father.
"My parents were farmers. My dad started his circus career when he was 60."
Other members of the talented 11-person troupe are an acrobat, three musicians and two technicians.
Carabinier Lepin was born in Montreal, Canada, and raised on the farm where his parents still live.
"It’s where we create our shows, in a little barn on the farm."
His circus career began at the age of 14. A year later, he was accepted into the National Circus School of Montreal and never looked back. He has worked with "all the big new circuses", including Cirque du Soleil, Cirque
Eloize and Cirkus Cirkor, but at the age of 25 decided, with the help of family, to set up his own circus.
"We created Cirque Alfonse for my dad’s 60th birthday."
They did not expect Cirque Alfonse to have a long shelf life, but audience reactions encouraged them to keep going.
The first show, La Brunante, laid the foundation for a show called Timber!
"After Timber!, it went ‘boom’ all over the world. We didn’t expect that at all."
Running their own circus has allowed them to tour and still keep family close.
"We always try to keep it simple. It’s just us and that’s what we like."
The key ingredients — family and a Quebec flavour — have been an enduring formula for success.
Highlights of the past 18 years have included a three-month stint on London’s South Bank where they performed 100 shows, a month at Sydney’s Opera House and performing with Dolly Parton.
She joined us on stage and sang a song with Dad."
Cirque Alfonse has been touring Animal since Covid-19 global travel restrictions lifted. That’s more than 250 shows in three and a-half years.
The theme of Animal is life on a Quebec farm.
"Dad is the farmer and we are the animals."
To that theme is added circus skills — "jaw-dropping acrobatics with agricultural antics" — producing a surreal circus experience, Alain Carabinier says.
Large cow bells are juggled, a miniature tractor balances on its back wheels, huge tractor tyres somersault circus members through the air, acrobatics are performed on a mechanical bull ... all to the accompaniment of live music and song.
“Everyone leaves our show feeling like they witnessed something magical — something authentic that can only come from family, lots of love and of course talent,” Carabinier says.
The Cirque Alfonse family has recently returned to Montreal after performing in Australia.
The Animal stage sets and equipment, including the tractor, are on their way across the Tasman Sea to Otago, where the performers will catch up with them in late March for shows in Dunedin and Wānaka.
"We are really looking forward to bringing Cirque Alfonse to New Zealand for the first time," Carabinier-Lepin says.
The show
• Cirque Alfonse, Animal, is on at the Regent Theatre, Dunedin, Thursday, March 27, as part of the Dunedin Arts Festival, and at the Lake Wānaka Centre, Wānaka, Saturday, March 29 and Sunday, March 30, as part of the Wānaka Festival of Colour.
