Cirque du Soleil’s Sydney show Ovo draws on the rich diversity of the insect world.

Now is not a good time to run away with Cirque du Soleil if you don’t like creepy crawlies. Quebec’s eclectic troupe of acrobatic artistes has just rolled into Sydney with its 25th production in tow: Ovo, a journey into the secret lives of insects.

They’re still setting up shop when I speak to the tour’s artistic director, Netherlands-born choreographer Marjon van Grunsven, who has been with the show since its inception in 2009. The insistent sound of a forklift punctuates our phone conversation as the crew erects the famous yellow and blue chapiteau, Cirque du Soleil’s big top, which takes eight days to construct.

“The show has evolved and matured a lot,” she says. “The artists grow to become that character of a cricket or a flea or an ant or a spider. We work with them every day and keep them fresh and performing as if it were their first time, every day.”

As the brightly-costumed “ants” lift and toss one another in virtuosic displays of acrosport and spider contortionists weave their way through a manmade web, it’s easy to see why the insect...