A lot of celebrations and parties promise that "when the lights go down, things will really start to heat up." This summer, though, the Utah Arts Festival is the only place where that cliché can be taken literally. Performing every night at 10 p.m. during the festival is Cirque de Flambé, a group that entertains with a wide variety of performances using fire.
The founder of Cirque de Flambé is Maque DaVis, a man with one of the bigger alter egos this side of Bruce Wayne. By day, DaVis works as an OSHA inspector, where safety is the name of the game. But when the propane is lighted, DaVis is the ringleader of a troupe of flame artists who manipulate nature's most destructive force for show.
DaVis said during a phone interview from his home in Seattle that a safety-minded person is really the only one who could pull off something like this. "We've measured all the danger very carefully. . . . It's remarkable what goes on backstage to put on this show. We've been told that when we make our first mistake, we'll never be able to do the show again, so I'm on pins and needles every show."
Although safety is the most important thing, Cirque de Flambé pushes its show to be a never-before-seen spectacle. DaVis said the troupe is premiering a new show at the UAF titled "The Verities of Fire." "The new show has less clowns and more beauty, which is good because it has made us stretch in new ways. The Utah Arts Festival is a nationally regarded festival, and we're honored to get to premiere the show there."
For this new show, DaVis said they will be performing a variety of stunts, including three final acts that "will leave people saying, 'ooohhh.' "
The first of the final acts is a twisting cyclone of fire that shoots up in the air, making everyone feel a 20- to-30-degree increase in heat.
The second is an act DaVis refers to as "pyro chaotica." "It's a dance with pyrotechnics . . . a dynamic sculpture that people say is mesmerizing."
The finale is "Pyro Boy," where one of the performers, clad in armor and pyrotechnics, dances as fountains and sparklers go off around his body. "Once you're lit, it's a one-way trip," DaVis said.
There also might be a surprise encore some nights, DaVis said, "depending if the wind's OK," he added cryptically.
Cirque de Flambé's agent, Jules Lauve, is a veteran of big Las Vegas spectacles after having worked as the stage manager for Siegfried and Roy and producer of Treasure Island's Buccaneer Bay Sea Battle. In fact, it was by doing the Treasure Island show that Lauve became interested in fire spectacles.
"What's special about this show is that the medium for everything they do is fire, as opposed to fire just being used as a special effect," Lauve said. "Some people in show business frown on using fire, but if it's done right, with hard work, creativity and good taste, it can be done both safely and beautifully."
Lauve said that fire circuses have been popular for a long time in places such as Spain, France and Japan, but have had limited exposure in the United States.
The Cirque de Flambé has played in Nevada at the Burning Man Festival and quite a bit in Seattle, Edmonton and other areas in the Pacific Northwest. DaVis said he is excited about bringing something so different to a new area.
"We bring people closer to fire so they can see it as not just fearsome, but a thing of beauty," DaVis said. "Still, you always have to realize that no matter how much we have harnessed fire, it still is an untamed beast."
E-MAIL: pthunell@desnews.com