Hi everyone – my name is Matte Hart and I’m the Operations Executive at Prime Acrobatics. I assist Director Chris Bowler in the daily running of Prime’s two facilities in Woking and Camberley. I work closely with our managers and senior staff to lead many of our processes and projects.
Prime Acrobatics has a very special tie with Cirque du Soleil – both Chris and myself are former Head Coaches of Cirque du Soleil shows. The show that I worked on was Corteo and as this show is currently playing at the Royal Albert Hall in London (through to March 2nd), I thought I would share some of my story and memories with our members.
In the Summer of 2017 I moved to Montreal, Canada to begin my job with Cirque du Soleil. My first assignment was to support the acrobatic coaching team at their international headquarters. I stayed in an apartment downtown and got to enjoy a wonderful Summer in Montreal. During the week I would travel uptown to the headquarter studios and supported artists returning to shows from time off, transitioning into a new role and also individuals who were fresh to the company, hoping to being a career in performing after retiring from competitive gymnastics. That Summer, I worked on acts for various shows; Toruk – The First Flight, Volta, Amaluna, Totem and more. It provided me with a whole new perspective on acrobatic training and a chance to build an understanding of how artists prepare an act and how that act then fits into a show.
By the time the Autumn arrived, it was time for the Corteo project to begin. Corteo had premiered as a big top show in 2005 and toured around the world for ten years. I was part of the huge team who were going to undertake an arena remount – relaunching the show for an arena tour. Each week the show and the team of performers and crew would travel to a different city and put on several performances over a few days.
Six months were spent putting the show together. Artists and crew members arrived in stages and over time I got to meet all of my new colleagues and travelling family; former gymnasts, acrobats and jugglers from over 15 different countries, stage managers, physiotherapists, directors, riggers and more. One of the first acts for Corteo I worked on was the duo straps act, a powerful and romantic mixture of athleticism and artistry which is the penultimate act of the show. I really enjoyed collaborating with the artistic coach and the vary talented artists on this act and developing it over many months.
As the weeks and months went by, we eventually had a show that was almost complete. Over 30 artists were mastering their acts; trampoline beds, suspended pole, juggling, high bar, Russian cradle, teeterboard, acro ladder, straps and high bar. The work was hard, the days were long, but every moment was worth it. We pushed through a cold Canadian Winter and at the top of 2018 the entire production moved to Quebec City and into an old arena. This is where we made final preparations, made tweaks and held dress rehearsals over a four week period.
To kick off the North American tour we traveled to New Orleans for the premiere. It was wonderful to see the first audiences enjoy the show – almost a year since I left England for my circus adventure. Everyone was in a celebratory mood as we begun our first leg of the tour.
We travelled and toured, putting on amazing performances in cities across America and Canada. Shows would take place on Thursday and Friday evenings, at weekends there would be multiple shows each day and then the show would be re-rigged, all taken down and loaded into countless trucks. The rigging team would spend hours tearing down the huge stage and grid that held everything together and get it all loaded up, ready to travel to the next city. Artists, coaches, physios and many other crew members would typically travel to the next city via tour buses on the Sunday night, though if the next city was very far, we would travel by charted flight on the Monday.
As part of the artistic team, Mondays and Tuesdays were typically ‘down days’ for me and I had the chance to rest or explore the city we had just arrived in while the rigging crew had the mammoth task of setting everything up from scratch again in a new arena. On Wednesdays we would validate the equipment and get some rehearsal time, which then continued into Thursdays.
I spent six months on tour with Corteo. While I greatly enjoyed the chance to tour and see thousands of people enjoy the result of our hard work, ultimately I missed home and the fast paced nature of an arena tour was difficult. I decided to step down as Head Coach at the end of our Summer 2018 tour leg, feeling proud of the artists now that the show had settled and incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be a small part of it.
I moved back to England and within months I had reconnected with my good friend Chris and was hearing about all the wonderful things that were happening at Prime Acrobatics, which was now two years into providing classes for the Woking community. I began supporting Prime’s staff development, got more involved over time, created a Coach Education team and eventually moved to Camberley to support Prime’s expansion and introduction of a second facility.
In August 2024, Prime hosted a NexGen training workshop for Cirque du Soleil. Chris and I were very happy to welcome Manu Jacquinot, Director of Coaching at Cirque du Soleil, into Prime’s new Camberley facility. Manu is a technical expert who has worked across many shows over the years. Chris and I have both worked a great deal with Manu and it was a full circle moment to see Cirque du Soleil and Prime Acrobatics come together.
That’s a little bit about my time with Cirque du Soleil and how I came to Prime Acrobatics. I hope you found it interesting. If you see me around our Woking or Camberley centres and you want to have a chat or ask any questions, feel free to stop me and say hello! In the near future, I’ll sit down with Chris and ask him to share some stories of his time with Cirque du Soleil so you can hear all about his experiences – he has worked on more shows than I did and toured around the world!
Corteo is a beautiful show with wonderful acrobatic acts. The show features several pieces of equipment that we offer at Prime; acro ladder, Russian cradle, straps, teeterboard, suspended pole as well as high bar and juggling. Chris and I recently attended the premiere in London. This was my first time seeing the show since I left over six years ago and it brought back many happy memories. Discover tickets for Corteo at the Royal Albert Hall here (available through to 2nd March 2025).