It's 18kg and a taskmaster, but Ghislain Ramage wouldn't be without his circus partner.
Before he goes on stage, Ghislain Ramage looks at his partner - 18kg, nameless and capable of inflicting a painful whack if not kept under control - and thinks how amazing life is that his job is spinning inside a giant ring.
Then he pushes the metal ring he calls his "wheel" out to within millimetres of the edge of the circular stage under the Big Top tent of Cirque du Soleil's Kooza, which opens in Auckland on Friday.
The 33-year-old likes start his performance by rolling the wheel as close to the stage edge as possible. It's just another challenge as he continues to perfect the near-new - 15 years in the history of the circus is nothing - act of Roue Cyr, which involves pulling of a dazzling array of tricks inside a spinning, mesmerising wheel.
"Before I even step on stage I look at my wheel and I think, 'Wow, this is what I do for a living.' It still sounds unreal to me because it's something so absolute.
"This is how I make a living: I spin in a ring and people are happy to look at it. It's still absurd but I'm so grateful for that."
The French native is among 50 performers whose skills, strength and, sometimes, silliness delight thousands around the world in Kooza's 12-year-old celebration of traditional circus fare.
Circus life is one of cheering crowds, camaraderie and long months on the road, far from home, for performers like Ramage.
But by his side, always, is his wheel. His is a solo act but it doesn't feel like it.
"I try to think of it as a dance, kind of like a relationship with me and my wheel because that's kind of what it is ... it's a little weird, because it's a piece of metal, but for me it's more than that.
"I have hard times, I have good times - it's like relationship. She's hit me many times, but now I feel like we've got in a peace[ful] state and I really enjoy dancing with that thing."
It took him six months just to learn how to spin, and years to master - but the joy of the wheel was the freedom it gave him to keep improving.
"Take trapeze. It's been existing for so long that they tried every trick. The same with juggling. I saw it straightaway, that this was going to be much more creative."
