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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 2003)
October 17.2003 • Just THEATER For now he’s living his dream. “O ne of my goals in my life was to be in Cirque du Soleil,” he says. “It changed the concept of the circus completely. It's more than a circus because it gives you a chance to express more of yourself. To he in the show you have to he a dancer, an actor. You play with your emotions, you play with your feelings.” Parisien concurs but adds that the perform ers are not the only ones whose imaginations are captured by Cirque du Soleil. “We’re help ing people to have dreams,” he says. “ 1 believe our world could be a better world, and what I do— it’s my tiny, tiny collaboration toward that better world." |H T he circus is in town! And with it, the totally hot gay gymnast Gaston Elie, who opens the show high above the big top on the synchronized trapeze. Gracefully moving in perfect tandem with his female partner, the 29- year-old Argentinean is the high point of Cirque du Soleil’s latest offering in Portland, Alegría, which mas through Oct. 26 at the Grand Chapiteau on Southwest Moody Avenue. For anyone who hasn’t seen a Cirque extravaganza, it’s an amazing blend of circus acts, music and spectacle. While nominally each show has a basic storyline and theme (alegría is Spanish for elation and joy), accord ing to artistic director Pierre Parisién (who is also gay), it is “not important.” Instead, just let the splendor of the production and the artistry of the performers wash over you. Sit back and gaze in wonder at the strength, elegance and agility of these magnificent performers. Especially Gaston Elie. A sixth generation of a circus family, Elie has been perfonning since he was 8 years old. His father, who owns a traveling circus in Buenos Aires, is a trapeze artist, his mother a tightrope walker and his sister a contortionist. When Elie was growing up, his father used to let him perform a very simple trapeze routine during the matinee shows (“because my number wasn’t good enough to perform at night"). Liv ing out of three suitcases, he has been on the road his entire life and traveling with Cirque du Soleil since 1999. “It is my passion,” he says. For the past year, Elie has been joined by his equally yummy boyfriend, Keith Stiles, a fomier competitive bodybuilder. The couple met two years ago when Alt’gnii was per fonning in Denver. Elie was riding the Cirque float in the Gay Pride parade, and Stiles, a licensed massage therapist, was on another float in front of him. After a series of mix-ups worthy of a roman tic comedy, they hi xiked up and tried to sustain a long-distance rela tionship for six months. When Alegria was hxiking for a masseur to join the company, Stiles gave up his business in Denver and ran away with the circus. performs Alegria through Oct. ¿6 under the Grand Chapiteau on Sou duces r Mixxiy Avenue south of the Murquum Budge. Tickets are $3/ .50-$65 from 800-678-5440 or icuxc. cirquedusi >leil. com. C IR Q U E DU SOLEIL FLOYD Ski AVER is a Portland free-lance uriter who just may note run away and join the circus. HIV unfriendly? Discrimination suit filed against Cirque du Soleil n July, Lambda Legal filed a federal discrimi nation complaint agaiast Cirque du Soleil when a performer claimed he was fired from the Mystere show in Las Vegas because he is HIV-positive. Matthew Cusick, who has been living with HIV for 10 years and whose viral load is un detectable, was hired to perform as a catcher on the Russian high bar and as a gymnast on the Chinese poles. He claims that after four months of training with the show (and exten sive medical exams with Cirque du Soleil’s physicians) he was let go before his first perfonnance because he has HIV. Although dangerous acts, neither would have put him at risk of exchanging IxxJy fluids with another performer. Yet, in a letter to Lambda Legal, Cirque’s attorneys said the com pany was acting as a “socially responsible employer” and had an obligation to avoid “known safety hazards." Federal and state laws prohibit discrimina tion agaiast people with disabilities if they pose no real risk to themselves or to others and if the illness doesn’t interfere with their ability to do the job. Cirque du Soleil officials didn’t respond to Just Out's requests for comment. — FS I Gaston Elie’s jaw-dropping irque du Soleil the pinnacle of A legria is “very open about homosexuality,” says Elie. “A lot of gay people work for the company, and it’s not a problem.” In fact, Stiles receives all the benefits that any other spouse receives. "When my boyfriend is inside the circus, we kiss and hug each other,” Elie says. “We hold hands. Everybody knows he’s my boyfriend, and I’m gay.” Artistic director Parisien says that when Alegria was in Vancouver, British Columbia, recently, one of its gay publicists was having dinner at an outdiHir cafe Artistic director Pierre Parisien says not to worry tixi much about when he recognized the first gay couple to legally marry the storyline and just concentrate on the pomp and circumstance synchronized act with his trapeze partner is in Canada. He introduced himself and offered them tickets as a wedding gift. While there are only two other openly gay performers besides Elie in the 56-member cast of Alegrui, many of the crew and behind-the- scenes people are queer. Elie says he lixiks forward to “the chance to have more of a normal life” and possibly set tling in Las Vegas with Stiles. "I want to have a dog,” he smiles. Cirque nins three shows in Vegas: the long- mnning My.stere; O, which takes place in and above a 1.5 million-gallon pixil; and the recently opened “erotic” show, Zumanity. But Elie is still nervous about the future. “I’m a lit tle afraid because 1 like to travel,” he explains. “I’ve never been more than a year in one place my whole life. I spent a year in Mississippi with the circus, but after that I was ready to get back on the road." JI6HI8PJISJIIGHISPJI06HTSPJISJII6HI8PJJ0BHI£PJIGJII6HISPJIS.JIGHISPJIS.JIGHISPf)JSJII6HBPi)JS. I’ m iy Casual Dining Piano Lounge Game Room Open 4:00 Daily tu VSM I 1 Halloween Party / at Hobo's Costume Contest 1 opm ^ vi a ì ? w ¡ ¡ ìp ià eos ZZ4-4WÒ s fphii or p? hifSilviriodo.com P i \* Friday Oct. 31 120 N W Third Avenue, Portland, OR 9 7 209 • (503) 224-3285 • www.hobospdx.com P a rk in g V a lid a te d S m a rt P a rk D a v is & Front 39
