Every night in Las Vegas for over 17 years, an act called “Two Men” was performed live onstage. Two shirtless dancers, one of pale skin and one of ebony, fought against their urges in an acrobatic dance. They softly gravitated toward the other’s intimacy, only to violently push themselves away. The fighting continued until neither man had the strength to resist anymore. They finally kissed. When they exited stage left, they left while holding hands.
While the sight of men embracing each other had occurred onstage for decades, it was never commercially successful. Past works were either off-off-Broadway performances or they were forced to redefine themselves as gentleman’s clubs and strip acts, rather than actual theater. “Two Men,” however, was introduced to the masses through Cirque du Soleil: the world's largest and most successful circus troupe in history.
While Barnum & Bailey was still shackling elephants, Cirque du Soleil chose to take a more human approach. Its shows were all about the performers, highlighting the art of creating spectacle through the human body, an effort that had been refined and perfected by European performing schools for centuries. With enough time, success, and persistence, Cirque du Soleil outlived the animal acts. It now brings in $1 billion in revenue every year, across a dozen international shows.
“Two Men” was a product of the early 2000s, as part of the new, adults-only Zumanity show. LGBTQIA+ representation in its shows has been sparse since (with the exception of a clown proposal in the revamped Alegria), but that’s mostly gone without critique. Cirque du Soleil, after all, following in the footsteps of other troupes, works as a form of abstract, interpretative art.
Stories are shown through body language rather than dialogue. Every moment is meant to be seen differently, yet strongly felt, by each guest under the big top. Pair this with recurring themes of discovery, self-acceptance, and rebirth, and critics have repeatedly seen a profound queerness in the performances.
“While the show [Volta] has no particular focus on sex, there was no doubt to anyone in the crowd,” wrote journalist Joseph Fenity for the Los Angeles Blade. “Gay or straight, male or female, the big top was bursting at the seams with the most purely (and more appropriate) natural sense of sexuality they had likely ever seen on a live stage.”
Does Cirque du Soleil’s newest spectacle, the kaleidoscopic ECHO in Redmond’s Marymoor Park, share that same sense?
To start, ECHO doesn’t share the crazy makeup and maximalism of your local drag show. Costumes exist only in monochrome. The set is mostly barren, excluding the monolithic, 30-foot cube, which draws a large shadow over the audience. It’s a no-frills space for the performers, who emerge as various animals from the cube’s secret world to highlight their talents in their most raw, unfiltered forms.
Fabrice Lemire, a longtime artistic director for Cirque du Soleil, works directly with the performers to ensure that everyone feels comfortable enough to give their all onstage. If someone’s feeling ill or anxious, or is just having an off day, Lemire will prioritize their safety. Given the dangerous nature of some of ECHO’s stunts, he might even cut that performer’s act for the night.
“When you’re taking risk by defying gravity, there’s a fine line regarding how much I can push,” said Lemire. “In my work, you have to feel the room. You have to listen to your staff… We adapt the show every single day, based on the news of the day.”
When asked about Zumanity and LGBTQIA+ representation, Lumiere acknowledges that Cirque du Soleil has gone away from the direct messaging of acts like “Two Men,” but the intimacy remains. He noted two dueling aerialists, called “The Fireflies,” who share a chemistry that could be read as a Sapphic relationship.
“We should have the talent to allow for interpretation,” said Lemire. “You may see these characters as genderless, this entire community of humans in colorful outfits. Males and females are in pants and jackets, they’re uniform. That’s not to cut sexuality or gender, but it allows you to grasp whatever you’d want.”
If you’d like to see ECHO yourself, the troupe’s North American tour continues into 2026, with stops in Dallas and Montreal, after the Seattle run ends on March 22.
More information can be found at https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/echo.
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