Courtesy Cirque du Soleil
While it might be an old Hollywood trope, it does remain a sweet temptation to run off and join the circus largely thanks to the lively performances of Cirque du Soleil. And, for Texan acrobat Kyle Cragle, that’s precisely what he did at the age of 15.
Cirque du Soleil, the Canadian-based contemporary circus that will be rolling into Dickies Arena Sept. 22 – 25, is best known for its outrageous and vivid storytelling through combinations of Broadway scale music, actors, costumes, makeup, and Olympic-like acrobatic performances. The company performs 20 different shows throughout the world — which includes everything from Beatles and Michael Jackson tributes to a biography of soccer star Lionel Messi. Fort Worth will welcome “OVO,” a magnified view of insects where Houston-raised Cragle plays the dragonfly.
Cragle first saw a Cirque du Soleil performance in Las Vegas when he was 8 and recalls not feeling overwhelmingly inspired by it. But a year later, a performance he saw at Disney World inspired him to buy a DVD of the show and learn all the twists, turns, and aerial stunts.
“To be completely honest, it's something I still can’t put my finger on,” Cragle admits when asked the difference between his feelings during the first and second performances he saw. “Maybe I was sitting in the right seat that night. I just remember this overwhelming joy of discovery. I knew without a doubt, I had discovered something I had never felt before.”
Cragle packed what he could and moved from Houston to Montreal — the location of the Cirque du Soleil headquarters. Most 10th graders don’t get to take classes on aerial and contortionist styles, but this was Cragle’s curriculum for five years.
“The circus community at large has been this beautiful catalyst of growth for me over the years,” he says. “The biggest thing I've learned going from gymnastics to the circus is that it's not a competition. It's not all about the score or getting the perfect medal. My dad used to preach that concept to me when I was a young perfectionist gymnast. After hearing that lesson preached to me for so many years, I got to reap the benefits and understand the full-fledged feeling of what that concept of success truly leads to as a performer. I get to touch an audience through this beautiful art that I love, and I get to inhabit that every night.”
During his audition process, the same casting directors who were on the DVDs he devoured as a 10-year-old were sitting in front of him, waiting to score his performance. They asked Cragle to go through a pressure-filled, upbeat audition for which, thanks to his years at circus school, he was very prepared.
“Amazingly enough, through that audition, my dreams and my reality lined up,” Cragle says.
Cragle is used to balancing his hands and other objects by now, but he tested himself when he pulled the ultimate trick out of his hat — doubling as an extra makeup artist in Canada in 2019 when the makeup department needed help. The job consisted of helping new touring artists learn the makeup routines they would have to apply themselves later on. The gig resulted in a small milestone: he became the youngest person in the makeup department and the first person in the history of Cirque du Soleil to go from being a performer to being a makeup artist. Simultaneously, he would fly to different cities and continue performing on the weekends.
“I've always been motivated to look for new environments to acquire skills and meet people and move forward in my life,” Cragle says. “I saw [becoming a makeup artist] as a beautiful growth opportunity, and I knew my career as an artist wasn't over. I was capable of taking a break, and the skills that I was going to learn were going to be valuable. It made my experience unlike any other artist in Cirque.”
The Cirque du Soleil community has become a family-like connection for Cragle, who he gets bursts of pride to watch his friends on stage.
“We do these incredible things, and we seem untouchable because we don't look like we’re from this planet, but we are a lot of real people sharing real experiences, and what you feel when watching isn’t fictional. This is real. It's our Cinderella story.”
Cragle attributes his success to all the support he’s garnered in the Lone Star State. Through the journey, he’s been thankful for his previous coaches and the opportunities he’s received while in Texas.
“It feels like I'm coming back and speaking to a crowd of people and saying that it doesn't matter where you come from, you can make it,” he says. “I know there's some kid in the crowd that I get to give that little wink to, and it might change their life just like someone did to me back in the day when I was 9 years old in one of the seats.”
