A Celebration of Sensuality with AirOtic

At first glance, AirOtic is an elegant, beautifully crafted show featuring some of the finest examples of the male form in skillfully choreographed, acrobatic feats celebrating same-sex sensuality. Beyond that beauty, is a story about its creators, Stephane Haffner and his husband Kyle Kier, that is a dizzying tale that includes a colorful youth, political asylum, making global change for LGBTQ rights, sweat and tears, and many different languages. The background to AirOtic is a show unto itself, and it begins with Stephane’s multinational past.

Talking to Stephane is like traveling the globe in one conversation. His accent is charming and gets thicker the more excitedly he talks. His dad is half French and half Swiss, the French part being from a region in France that was consistently in battle with Germany, so his surname is actually German. When he was three, he moved to Switzerland and then moved to Italy with his mom at age 11, where he spent his most formative years. His grandma spoke German to him, his dad French, his mom Italian, and his great grandmother spoke Hungarian. With all this culture, how could he not be artistic? His inspiration to get into acrobats did not come from a ballet performance, an opera, or even an art piece…it came from a caped crusader.

Since I was a kid, I always wanted to be a superhero. The first time I saw people doing gymnastics and competing in gymnastics, I told my mom that is what I wanted to do, to be able to do crazy acrobatics that no one else could do, to feel like a superhero. So, when I was six, I pushed my mom to put me in a gymnastics club and was incredibly lucky because at that time I was in Switzerland and the school had a strong gymnastics team. When I started to train, they saw that I had abilities and told my mom I should be on the competing team. At the age of six, I was already training, full-time, on a competitive Swiss team and I won. It was exciting, but also very tiring and stressful because there is a lot of pressure.

When I left Switzerland to go to Italy, I ended up in the national Italian team and competed until the age of 17. It was then that I broke a piece of a vertebra. When you have a permanent trauma, you are not allowed to compete. I thought at that point, my career as a gymnast would completely end and everything that was physical was over. I decided to go to fashion design school and wanted to get out of Italy because that was also the year I came out. I felt uncomfortable being in Italy, having an Italian mom who didn’t really understand what was going on and I needed to get out.

He took one of the most difficult fashion design school exams and was admitted to the prestigious Duperré, the same school that Jean Paul Gaultier attended. He was also turning 18 and becoming a man, unhindered by what his parents had to say. Because he was so good at school, they wanted him to become a doctor. He had other plans, he took to the streets all on his own, and that was the birth, so to speak, of early AirOtic.

Paris is expensive, and I needed money, so I decided to create a street performance. It was incredibly challenging in the beginning. I had created an act with some acrobatics, of course, some dance, and some very visual aspects, working with Lycra and making shapes. The first day I came back home, I counted all my coins and I made over 2,000 francs. I counted them four times because I couldn’t believe I made so much money. I made many connections performing in front of the contemporary art museum in Paris, it is a very central place in the city, and everybody is walking by – the tourists, but also all the people who live in Paris. I met several TV producers, and they started to invite me to work on TV, to work on video clips.

His big first gig was doing a campaign for Loreal, collaborating with the famous model Laetitia Casta, with none other than Luc Beeson (Fifth Element) as his director. But the athletic world was still calling, and he wanted to get into circus school. Though he was quite talented, he was told he had to make a choice – either circus school or fashion school. He ultimately found a mentor outside of Paris who took him under his wing and there he learned trapeze, rope, hoop, contortion, and more. The birth of his troupe was around the corner.

I started to meet other acrobats and that is when I started to tell them about my gigs. Because of all the connections I made with the street performances, everyone was starting to ask me to create stuff for events. I started to involve all my friends who were acrobats, and that is how the company started. I was good and making costumes, so I was making all the costumes for everyone, and we very quickly had a professional look.

It was to be one of Stephane’s most important gigs that would his life and would lead to a chain reaction that would culminate in the creation of AirOtica and global change.

The most amazing experience of my career is when we participated in Italy’s Got Talent in 2015. I participated with my team, and with my husband as well, making it all the way to the finale that aired live on Italian TV. At the end of our performance, I decided to propose to Kyle. I got on my knee, took the ring out of my pocket, and I asked him if he wanted to marry me. This was an extraordinary moment in my life, and I did not expect what would happen right after because at that time in Italy, there were no LGBT rights at all. The video went viral the next day.

We had more than 4.5 million views all over the world. And so that little video, those three minutes on TV, caused a lot of things to happen. We started to get invites to all the gay prides, the gay events, to talk about what we did. And six months later, the European Union reached out to Italy and said that they had to do something about LGBT rights. We finally got civil unions in Italy. I would never have thought that one day just hanging from the ceiling and doing what I love that I could actually make things change in the world.

During this time, we were also invited to attend Atlantis Cruises as a special guest. And then I had the idea to create an LGBTQ type of show where we would celebrate the love, sensuality, and the beauty of love in general, between a man and a man, between a girl and a girl, between a girl and a man, and just celebrate the love and sensuality in all its forms. And that’s how AirOtic started.

Today multiple AirOtic teams are working throughout the US with shows in Palm Springs, Fort Lauderdale, and Chicago. Stephane and his husband plan to open a show in a new city every two to three months. With this national presence, how will non-gay audiences respond?

What is amazing is that the audience that attends our show is not necessarily gay, it is a mixed crowd. It is powerful to be able to share a message of acceptance and respect. There are just a few people who walk away because they realize there is gay content, but the majority the people are impressed by the beauty of the show in general, and they really do not care that there is gay content. They appreciate us as human beings and that is a powerful emotion to feel.

Beyond the emotional reach of the show, Stephane has taken the mission of AirOtic a step further.

In January, I created a foundation called XY Foundation. I talk about the Foundation at the end of my shows or every time I can reach out to a big audience to raise money. We use this money to help people in countries where being gay is illegal or where there is a death penalty for being gay. We are helping them to get political asylum, get out of those countries, and come live in the US, France, or in Spain, anywhere where there are LGBTQ rights so they can live freely.

Right now, we are helping a couple from Iran that has escaped and is now in Turkey. We contacted the French Embassy, and we are going to offer them political asylum. Recently, we participated in Spain’s Got Talent, and I had the opportunity to talk about the XY Foundation. It was aired in all the Latino countries and now we have four couples from Cuba who are asking for help. We are now helping them to get paperwork and try to bring them to the US so, if anyone that reads the article wants to support and help us, that would be amazing.

To see AirOtic is to witness intimate art on stage. There is a refinement, but also accessibility and connection with the audience that is sincere. But what goes on behind the scenes that the audience never sees?

We usually take about an hour, an hour and a half to warm up. So, when they see us on stage, it looks easy, flawless, and beautiful. But to get to that point, there is a lot of work behind it, and a lot of training. The movement that you see on stage must be repeated thousands and thousands and thousands of times to have that look and to look so easy and flawless. The audience does not see this and, of course, this is also part of the magic. And we are not necessarily the sexiest people when we stretch and get ready for a show. We are usually wearing very warm socks and a hoody, in very comfortable clothes. So, it is something that if you see it from the outside, it’s going to look boring and strange, but in the end, is going to allow us to create the magic on stage.

To be part of AirOtic is to be part of a team, everyone does their part, and the audition process is a unique mix of social media, training, and reading of energies. Stephane talks about his troupe as if they are his own family.

Occasionally we conduct casting calls on Facebook or Instagram and the circus community. A lot of the acrobats that want to be part of the show are reaching out to us. The first step of the audition is submitting videos and pictures. We do a pre-selection from the videos and the pictures of the performer. Then, we do some training together. It’s also a state of mind being part of the company because it’s kind of a big family. It is hard work, and it makes the people get very close. In addition to rehearsal time, there is also setup time with all the acrobats setting up the stage, preparing the lights, and helping to put the show together. We are people that are driven by the same passion and that is what brings us together.

Having Stephane and AirOtic in Palm Springs is a unique mashup of global culture meets Palm Springs quaint. The change of pace is a welcome change for Stephane.

I am incredibly happy to be here because it’s a very special environment. I have been to Palm Springs many times before and I really love the nature here and the peace. I have kind of a crazy life, and so being here and performing here and waking up in the morning and surrounded by the mountain with so much peace is very, very, very inspiring. I am having an amazing time.

Listening to Stephane talk about his art, his family of acrobats, and his upbringing is just as thrilling as watching the show. He consistently turns the focus to the show and, more emphatically, the XY Foundation. They need a lawyer in the US to help with the immigration paperwork, they also need people who can help with the logistical paperwork from airline tickets and beyond. You can donate funds and/or get involved by heading to www.XYFoundation.com

AirOtic runs in Palm Springs at Hunters currently, to the end of December. Head to www.Airoticshow.com for more information and for other city tour dates.