Submitted photo As part of their national tour Cirque Mechanics will bring one of their shows - Zephyr - Friday to The Reg Lenna Center for The Arts, 116 E. Third St. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.

When watching a Cirque Mechanics performance, the twisting, twirling, and tumbling appears to be routine.

That’s because it is.

For the performers, it’s a lifestyle, and they need to keep their skills honed.

“It is certainly a lifestyle to do what we do,” said Wes Hatfield, acrobatic captain, and act development lead.

As part of their national tour Cirque Mechanics are scheduled to bring one of their shows – Zephyr – Friday to The Reg Lenna Center for The Arts, 116 E. Third St. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.

“We go to the gym and workout, but also when we go to the gym, it’s usually a circus center,”

Hatfield, who also performs in Zephyr, said whether it’s contortionist or an aerialist, they continually are doing those physical movements because that is a workout in itself.

“We’re not like thinking, ‘oh, we got to go to the gym and stay in shape.’ We’re more like, ‘Oh, I got to go to the gym and do the thing that I love to do and in turn you stay in shape,'” Hatfield said.

The acrobatic captain said there are 10 performers in Zephyr, and the show is just under two hours long with a 20-minute intermission.

According to cirquemechincs.com, Cirque Mechanics, inspired by modern circus, finds its roots in the mechanical and its heart in the stories of American industrial ingenuity. The shows, imbedded in realism, display a raw quality rarely found in modern circus. Cirque Mechanics signature style is wrapped in acrobatics, mechanical marvels and a bit of clowning around.

Humans have been harnessing the power of the wind for thousands of years. The beauty and efficacy of that timeless and ingenious process inspired the creative team at Cirque Mechanics to create Zephyr. This theatrical circus show harnesses human power, instead of wind, to generate an energetic acrobatic experience, the website noted.

Inspired by a visit to the Whissendine Windmill, a working windmill in central England, Zephyr tells the story of Nigel. Our mill owner and operator has a complicated relationship with wind, the natural resource that powers his flour mill. His reliance on wind is tested and in turn he is lured by fuel in the name of progress as his primary energy source. His choices cause elation and disruption. Aptly represented by the community the mill serves as dynamic and lyrical circus acts, the website said.

And for Hatfield, he loves performing, and being part of Cirque Mechanics and Zephyr.

“I love this company, it’s a lot of fun being a part of sort of next creations because it’s a smaller company. So it’s a little bit more of an intimate field as an artist,” Hafield said.

He noted that he is part of the crew as well, so he is involved in almost every facet of the show. While on tour, Hatfield said he likes the change of pace from traveling from one city to the next, and taking in the beautiful seating and the architecture of the performance venues. And even though there may be an appearance of a routine, he said it changes on tour.

“I like the adventure,” Hatfield said.