Work. Life. Balance.

Normand Boulé takes to a new art to get his physical activity message across

Exercise physiology professor Normand Boulé has found an unusual but effective way to share the physical activity for life message with seniors - and he does it as an acrobat.

Partnering with his spouse, professional circus artist Lyne Gosselin, the couple takes their engaging "Geri-a-tricks" act to seniors' residences and centres, performing a short acrobatic balancing act, and involving the seniors and their caregivers in activities that help them "join the circus" too.

And the seniors lap it up. "Our theme is that we are an elderly couple of retired circus performers who are going to follow the instructions of an exercise video. But instead of doing the traditional push-ups and stretches, we have adapted them to our acrobatic skills," says Boulé. He and Gosselin transform from decrepitude into balletic, energetic, impossibly limber acrobats, complete with dramatic lifts and feats of balance before once again transforming into a doddering, old couple.

"There's a lot of humour involved and it's a lot of fun," says Boulé, who normally plays tennis for exercise. "After we've performed we spend 30 minutes teaching seniors some circus skills, such as juggling scarves, balancing peacock feathers or spinning plates. It's a very interactive show and we get the audience to move to their own abilities. The message we try to convey is that while we may not all have the same background or abilities, what's important is to be active and to perhaps try something new once in a while."

So how does a tennis-playing, diabetes researcher become an acrobat? Rather serendipitously as it turns out. What began as an act of devotion to his spouse has evolved into an unexpected passion for Boulé.

"When Lyne became pregnant I told her I would help her in any way I could with her work," he explains. "I couldn't envision what that would mean, but she was booked to do a show when she was three or four months pregnant for the opening of the Mazankowski Heart Institute.

"Because of the (construction and other) delays, the opening happened four or five months later when Lyne was eight months pregnant and could no longer do the show."

During her pregnancy, Boulé had helped Gosselin practice with her partner often, learning and practicing the tricks with her partner first to make sure they could be executed safely.

"Lyne is the porter, the one who does all the lifting and carrying, and so I took over her role," he says. "Someone had to do it and in the spirit of 'the show must go on' and my early promise to help out in any way possible, I ended up doing the show in front of the Prime Minister and national media, the president of the university and our dean. That was my introduction to acrobatics."

Now, so popular has the various versions of the show become that Boulé and Gosselin receive requests from many different groups and they've performed at corporate functions and weddings. They've also received an Alberta Arts Council Community Investment Grant to further develop their seniors' show and to present it at 10 different seniors' centres in the next year. To Boulé, it's good news for both of them. "This marries Lyne's love of circus arts with my work interest in health promotion, healthy living and ageing. And this is a fun way to give back to the community."

Boulé's transition from tennis player to acrobat came with plenty of challenges. "Everything is new," he says. "I have had to learn to act and adapt to someone else instead of simply reacting to a yellow ball.. My teaching has helped me perform in front of crowds - I teach a large anatomy class each year."

He draws the line at traditional circus attire though. "I'm not comfortable wearing next to nothing and doing dance-type manoeuvres so we've adapted the show to suit my older age and fear of tights!"

One of the big pluses is working with his spouse - and their two-year old daughter, Marisol, who occasionally accompanies them and hands out the scarves and feathers to seniors. "Lyne and I are pretty busy and this allows us to share in an activity," he says. "You wouldn't catch me doing flips on a trampoline and Lyne doesn't find tennis scary enough, so we've found an activity we can do together."

Boulé says they'll continue to develop their seniors act. He quips, "As we get older my poor acting skills will be become less and less of a factor. This is one of the rare circus numbers that I can get better at just by getting old!"