It seems that cords and cables of all kinds have been the driving force in the career of Fred Gerard. In 1984, after some eye-opening encounters at Zingaro Circus, Fred left a career drilling for oil to tap into circus arts. He was among the first to graduate from the National Centre for Circus Arts in Châlons-sur-Marne (France) – as a porter in flying trapeze. He was approached in 1989 by Gilles Ste-Croix to join the company of the Cirque du Soleil show New Experience as a trapeze artist, but he was forced to give up performing because of a back injury. He then became assistant to that show’s director Franco Dragone and artistic director Gilles Ste-Croix.
Acting as artistic coordinator on tour, he also took care of acrobatic rigging. Following a trip to Europe, Fred came back to Cirque to take his first steps in acrobatic equipment design for the shows Alegría and Mystère. He put in a stint as Head Rigger at Cirque’s International Headquarters in Montreal where he trained acrobatic equipment technicians before taking up duties as "Head Trainer and Itinerant Rigger" on the Alegría, Saltimbanco and Quidam tours – a position he held from 1997 to 2006.
Fred co-founded the Nickel Chrome group in Martigues in the South of France, an organization that aims to support circus projects. As a member of this group he acts as Head Rigger, Art Director, Designer or Trainer for projects and companies as diverse as Archaos (France), Cirque Baroque (France), Scott Cirkus (Sweden), Circo Etno (Peru), the École Nationale de Cirque (Canada), the National Theatre School (Canada), En Piste (Canada) and the Circa Auch or Marscéleste, which took part in the 2,600th anniversary celebrations of Marseille. Working with Nickel Chrome and Theatre Europe, he was also involved in the creation and development of the Janvier dans les Étoiles festival in La Seyne sur mer, France.
For Fred the key to success lies in establishing perfect harmony between the creator of the acrobatic performance and the designer of the equipment. "In putting together an acrobatic number,” he says, “the former deals with biomechanics – i.e. the performer’s movements – while the latter deals with biodesign – the mechanical equipment that makes those movements possible. And it all has to be done seamlessly within the context of the show’s concept.”
“Creating a show under the Big Top brings its own challenges,” he adds. "Some things are physically impossible under the big top. You can’t install equipment weighing a thousand pounds under canvas, but in a theatre you can.”
OVO features some major aerial numbers that present distinct acrobatic equipment challenges. For example, one of them combines the disciplines of the banquine, the Russian Swing and the swinging chair. "We had to put in 80 cables to make it possible for the artists to leap almost 40 feet,” Fred explains. “This is an act that might even become a standard in the circus repertoire.”
Fred Gérard was born in Paris in 1961.