Raphaëlle Plante | The Olympian who dreams of Cirque du Soleil

“My dream, as soon as I started artistic swimming, was this,” says Raphaëlle Plante, pointing to the building that rises in front of us. The head office of Cirque du Soleil.

There are many amateur athletes whose ultimate goal can be summed up in two words: Olympic Games. Raphaëlle Plante participated in the Games last summer, but her real dream, the one she has cherished since she was 7, is quite different. She aspires, sooner rather than later, to be an artistic swimming athlete with Cirque du Soleil.

In this sense, the young woman had a perfect morning on Thursday: she was one of eight student-athletes active in a discipline related to circus arts to receive a $4,000 scholarship as part of the partnership between the Aléo Foundation and the Cirque du Soleil.

“When I received the email [de la Fondation Aléo]I said to myself: oh, a scholarship! After that, I saw: CIRQUE DU SOLEIL! she exclaims. Plus, I had just applied. [pour un emploi]. I was like: what a life! »

The ceremony took place in room 7^e sky from the global entertainment company’s headquarters in Montreal. Let’s just say that the name of the room matched perfectly with the state in which the swimmer found herself. While she was there, she took the opportunity to chat with some of the Circus representatives present. He was then offered a tour of the premises; She wasn’t the one who was going to say no!

You will therefore understand that it was very difficult to blame Raphaëlle Plante for making us wait more than two hours before joining us for this interview. You had to see his smile, after the private visit…

“We started with the costumes, then we went where [les athlètes] are training. Right now, they’re practicing for the holiday show. They were in rehearsal. After that, they showed us the makeup studio. Afterwards, they showed my father’s office! », she exclaims, more excited than Patrice Bélanger when he describes a challenge to Survivor Quebec.

The show that changed his life

You will have understood, the love that Raphaëlle Plante has for Cirque du Soleil does not come out of nowhere. His father, Éric Plante, has worked there for nearly 30 years.

Raphaëlle was 7 years old when the family had to move to Las Vegas to allow her father to carry out his work as a musician within the Cirque – he is today an artistic advisor for singers and musicians.

As a child, Raphaëlle attended all the Cirque shows. But the one that changed her life, the one that she tells us about today with a dazzling look, is O, which she watched from a booth at the top of the amphitheater.

“When you’re in the room, you don’t see everything that’s going on. It’s still hollow, the swimming pool. There, you saw all the divers, how they returned. I was in a booth; there were maybe 15 people there, all family members. You saw the people going down the stairs, the clowns leaving… That’s the visual that I have in mind. »

It was that evening that his dream was formed.

In Las Vegas, Raphaëlle was enrolled in an artistic swimming club. Nice coincidence: it was a Quebecer, Stéphanie Bissonnette, who was her trainer. “She had the dream: she had O », says Raphaëlle.

“She coached her, she inspired her,” tells us her mother, Vanessa Caron, present for the scholarship award. “She told him: “Raphaëlle, you have to go to Quebec to see my team, with whom I trained.” »

Every summer, the little family returned to Quebec to allow Raphaëlle to do camps at Québec Excellence Synchro, in Quebec.

Seven years after making her debut in artistic swimming, Raphaëlle had the goal of being part of a national team. Without American citizenship, such a thing was impossible south of the border. The family therefore packed up and returned to live in Quebec. Except this move didn’t come without challenges.

The language challenge

Language was the biggest challenge Raphaëlle had to face upon her return here. After seven years in the United States, she was accustomed to speaking English – although her parents tried to speak to their daughters in French at home. At school, Raphaëlle found herself in difficulty.

“You learn everything in French with the history of Quebec, after that you learn everything in English with the history of the United States, then in Quebec… There is a big clash! I didn’t know who Jacques Cartier was at 14! »

After her first year back in Quebec, she was told that she would have to repeat her third year of secondary school. “You move, you create a gang, you get used to it… and then you have to double down,” she says. “I was like, oh my god, I can’t believe I’m here, I’m illiterate, lord! »

As she was a special case, the school management allowed her to continue sports studies despite her failure. And fortunately. “It was fortunate that her club was there to support her because it was an almost insurmountable challenge,” suggests Vanessa Caron. She got there. »

If her repeating a year was the worst news ever at the time, Raphaëlle is very happy today to have experienced it. “Luckily I doubled,” she says. Honestly, it’s hard to say, but I’m super proud to have finished high school. This is a great accomplishment! »

The complete loop

In the category of successes, Raphaëlle Plante does not leave her place. Last June, some three weeks before the Olympic Games, she learned that she would be part of the Canadian team that would go to Paris.

When she arrived in Paris, the 22-year-old was not nervous. She was simply happy. Especially since the team originally had very little chance of qualifying.

“I was like a child. I said: you are an Olympian, you too, I am an Olympian! »

Two months after the Games, Raphaëlle still does not know if she will embark on another Olympic cycle. One thing is certain: if Cirque du Soleil calls, there will be no hesitation for the rest of his athletic career.

“I’m going. Certainly,” she says with the smile of someone who is just waiting for that.

“Potentially, I would like to go to O because that’s what hooked me. It really would be a complete circle; I started because ofOand there I would end up in O ! »