Cirque villain actor requires 90 minutes of daily fitness
Photo | Cirque du Soleil
Jeremy Ten as Vi, the villain in Cirque du Soleil's new show, "Axel."
Cirque Du Soleil is back in Worcester, but this time it's on ice.
The DCU Center is hosting the Cirque show “Axel” through Sunday. The title character is an artist-musician finding his place in the world through his art and music.
His journey comes to life in an adventure where he falls for Lei, the female lead, in a high-speed chase for love and self-realization.
If you’ve seen a Cirque show, you may be familiar with the extravagant stage set up and elaborate costumes. But the Canadian company’s spokeswoman Julie Desmarais said “Axel” was created to take it up a notch.
There’s live music and the lighting and real-time videography the show’s produces say draws the audience into Axel’s world of color and sound.
Jeremy Ten should know.
The 30-year-old Vancouver, Canada resident plays Vi, the show’s villain.
“I’m Lei's worst nightmare,” he told the WBJ with a smile between a break in rehearsal at the 3,000-seat arena.
Ten retired from figure skating in 2015 after more than a decade of competing for Canada. He won three medals at the Canadian National Championships in 2009, and finished 17th at the World Championships that year.
But he acknowledged his training is a little harder now that he’s beyond his 20s.
“Keeping my body in shape for my work is important,” he said. “Even if I am not preparing for the show, I’m still eating healthy and going to the gym.”
To stay fit, his regimen on performance days consists of 90 minutes of warm-ups. At all the other times, he spends another 90 minutes in the gym daily doing weights and flexibility training.
“Figure skaters don’t want to get too big or too muscley because if you do, it’s hard to rotate or do an aerial lift,” he said.
While in competition in 2011, he underwent surgery to repair a bone impingement problem and was off the ice for three months. That same year, he sustained a spiral fracture of the left fibula. As a result, he’s relieved there are two performance medicine therapists and physiotherapist that travel with the 41-person troupe of artists, skaters and acrobats.
But even more than having healthcare providers within shouting distance, Ten said he gets much of his inspiration from the audience.
“I always dreamt of being a performer,” he said. “So to have an audience and hear them cheering, gives us energy and love. For us to share our love with them is something you can’t replicate in practice.”
Desmarais, the Cirque spokeswoman, declined to reveal ticket sales for the six performances through Sunday at the DCU Center but said none of the shows are sold out. Ticket prices range from $25 to $110, according to Ticketmaster.
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