Performers who are jugglers, contortionists and multidisciplinary artists play stunts in Cirkopolis, a show from Canada, which will tour 19 Chinese cities from June to September.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Cirkopolis, which features 12 artists from seven countries, was premiered in 2012 and won the Drama Desk Award for "unique theatrical experience" in 2014. It has been performed almost 400 times in 85 cities in 23 countries.

While the New York Times praised the show, the New York Post called it extraordinary. "There's the circus, and then there's Cirque Eloize. These guys are on a whole other level."

Thirty eight shows in 19 cities for the Chinese tour have been confirmed, including Shenzhen in Guangdong province; Shanghai; Changzhou and Nanjing in Jiangsu province; Dalian in Liaoning province; Hohhot in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region; and Beijing. The tour will run from June 24 to Sept 4.

The Chinese promoter compared Painchaud to Hollywood filmmaker Christopher Nolan because of his ingenious and surreal presentation of urban life.

Painchaud says that Cirkopolis is not just about acrobatics.

"We use acrobatics, and pay a lot of attention to the storyline, as well as to the choreography," he says at the first press conference of the China tour in Shanghai.

It's about acting, but also about finding pleasure to be on stage, according to him.

"I do circuses not only to impress people but to touch them. Sometimes, I see people crying and I like it. You come to the circus and you cry," Painchaud says.

Cirkopolis was created as a crossroads, he says, between imagination and reality, between individuality and community, between limits and possibilities.

"The show is driven by the poetic impulse of life, the physical prowess of the circus and the humor, at once serious and light-hearted."