Matthew Cusick had to be convinced to send an audition tape to Cirque du Soleil. It wasn't his idea but that of one of his gymnastics coaches.
Cusick was nervous and apprehensive. He feared he wasn't good enough. But his worries went away when Cirque accepted him for their rigorous audition. 'That in itself shocked me,' Cusick said.
Then, halfway through his audition, Cirque officials brought him aside and said they had a part for him.
'I was beside myself with joy and shock; I couldn't believe they wanted me,' Cusick said.
He was to be an aerial high-bar porter, the one who catches another performer during the trapeze act. Cusick was hired because of his size ( 6'1' ) , his strength, his gymnastics knowledge and experience, and his ability to react to certain situations when split-second thinking was needed.
He trained in Montreal for four months, a grueling period that eventually landed Cusick a contract to go into the show 'Mystere' in Las Vegas.
But his jubilation was silenced before he could star on the world-famous Strip. Two days before getting to Las Vegas from Cirque headquarters in Montreal, Cusick's contract was terminated—because he was HIV+ and, according to Cirque, a possible risk to the fellow performers and the audience.
Cusick had hit rock bottom, a flashback to 1993 when he was diagnosed with the disease.
'The day they fired me, that was a low,' Cusick said. 'When they first hired me, when I went to their training and when they called me to go to a show; those were the high points.'
Cusick sought justice for his termination from Cirque and aligned with Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, a New York-based national organization that supports the LGBT community. Lambda filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in July 2003.
Ultimately, Cirque settled the complaint and paid the largest settlement in history for an HIV-discrimination complaint settled with the EEOC.
Cusick wanted to star on stage for millions, thanks to his athleticism and showmanship, which included performing on the Chinese Pole, which is a vertical pole that performers climb and then hold themselves up sideways in different figures. But instead he's truly been a star by what he has not done performance-wise.
'I was very taken (aback) by my HIV test results, but I kept that to myself for a long time because there's still a fear that everyone with HIV lives with, a stigma attached to HIV,' Cusick said. 'When I went to Cirque, I loved to perform and wanted to pursue that. But, I was very scared that I was not going to be around to do that. I thought the end of my life might come very soon, so I didn't want to go into a career that I might struggle at. I first thought the disease I have was not manageable, but I learned it is, and I've realized that more and more now.'
Cusick grew up in gymnastics and competed until he was 17. He then moved into teaching and coaching, pushing others to achieve scholarships and awards in elite-level competition.
'I love coaching. I love what I get from coaching, including the relationships I have built with the gymnasts who I've coached, and I'm still friends with many of them to this day,' Cusick said.
He is back performing nowadays with New York-based AntiGravity, an aerial performance team. 'I really love to perform,' he said.
Cusick and his crew will be in Chicago this summer, performing at the Opening Ceremony of Gay Games VII, held at Soldier Field.
'I'm very happy to be a part of the Gay Games because it's such a great event which brings together so many people from around the world,' Cusick said.
Cusick maintains that he's not nervous about the Games. 'I don't get too nervous performing because I practice over and over,' Cusick said. 'I think it's going to be so exciting at the Opening Ceremony.'
Cusick is a Gay Games Champion. (A champion is a prominent gay or straight individual who has agreed to lend his or her support to the Games.) 'It's a great thing to be a part of the Gay Games and it is an honor to know that they wanted me to be a Champion,' Cusick said. 'I think the Games really will be a lot of fun and an opportunity to meet people from around the world; that's what I'm really looking forward to.'
