Body language with Cirque du Soleil

It's not quite the mix of languages that you hear at the United Nations, but it's close.

The tumblers, high-wire bike-riders and contortionists in "Kooza" -- the Cirque du Soleil show that opens Friday on the St. Paul riverfront -- come from 16 countries. The backstage crew members hail from 22, all of which makes for interesting communication challenges onstage and off in a show with death-defying high-wire and trapeze acts.

"Sometimes, during the creation process, you can have [an artist] who's saying something and five translators working at the same time," said Luc Tremblay, who has served as a coach and Cirque artistic director for the past decade. "It can be very funny sometimes, but we find a way to communicate skill and joy."

As one of the pioneers of the modern circus, Cirque jettisoned animal acts (and the risks associated with animals behaving like animals). The move has paid off handsomely for the company, which now has resident companies in Las Vegas and in Orlando at Disney World.

"Innovation in arts normally comes about after you remove one important component," said Tremblay. "After we got rid of the animals, it forced the imagination to rely on developing human performance, on human stories."

That is not to say that it does not use animal themes. "Dralion," the first show that it brought to Minnesota in 2000, was about a mythic half-dragon, half-lion creature.

"Kooza" -- whose title comes from a Sanskrit word for "treasure" or "box" -- was created by clown master David Shiner. In the show, an innocent experiences the characters of a crazy world, including a pickpocket and various goofy clowns.

While Cirque has replaced animals with artistry, it has also introduced something entirely new to the circus. The song lyrics in its shows may sound vaguely familiar, but they are a sleight-of-ear. They are delivered in a completely made-up language.

"The invented language makes it more universal," Tremblay said. "And it makes the audience link to the performance in a less trivial way. The main interpretation comes from the performance -- you put meaning to the words. The music is there to support the poetry of it."

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390