Now 40, ex-OU gymnast David Henderson still flipping for Cirque du Soleil's Corteo show

jenni carlson, oklahoman

Tue, Feb 7, 2023, 7:02 AM·5 min read

David Henderson knew he wouldn’t be a competitive gymnast forever.

He also knew he wouldn’t want to stop twisting and turning, swinging and soaring.

And he continues doing all those things even though he turned 40 a few months ago and hasn’t competed for the OU men’s gymnastics team in almost two decades. He is a performer for the world-renowned contemporary circus Cirque du Soleil.

Later this week, Henderson will be in Oklahoma City for a four-day run of Cirque’s show Corteo.

“Being a part of this kind of production, it’s amazing,” Henderson told The Oklahoman. “I mean, people are cheering, thousands of people cheering every night. No one’s gonna complain about that.”

He chuckled.

“And I’m doing something I love on stage and I’m sharing it.”

More:OU women's gymnastics beats Iowa State, but Sooners 'probably could've been sharper'

Former OU gymnast David Henderson performs in Cirque du Soleil's production of Corteo. Photo by Maga Prgomet

From NCAA champion to Cirque du Soleil

Henderson was part of three national championship teams during his Sooner career — 2002, 2003, 2005 — and as a senior, he won an individual national title on still rings.

After exhausting his college eligibility, he moved to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. He had his eye on the 2008 Olympics, the ultimate dream for any competitive gymnast. But when that didn’t happen, Henderson knew what he wanted to do next.

“I love acrobatics,” he said. “Absolutely obsessed with it since I started the sport when I was 11 or 12.”

He wanted to go into circus arts.

His passion for performance art had been spurred by his father, who wasn’t a gymnast but rather a martial artist. The elder Henderson taught in Houston, where the family made its home, but he also did demonstrations and performances around Texas.

Henderson watched his dad and felt pulled toward something similar, so soon after he retired from competitive gymnastics in 2008, he put together a tryout video and sent it to Cirque du Soleil.

“I knew that it was the world for me,” he said, “and I knew that I had the acrobatic talent and the skill for it already. All they would need to teach me is just, how does this stuff work here? How does the whole system work?”

A few weeks after sending in his application video, Henderson got his answer. Cirque du Soleil invited him to its headquarters in Montreal for four months of training.

Henderson quickly knew he’d found his post-gymnastics career. But even though he loved everything about becoming part of Cirque du Soleil, it didn’t have a spot for him in any of its shows when he finished training. A couple months of waiting became six months then almost a year.

Henderson needed to work, so he took a job as a tumble monkey in “The Festival of the Lion King” show at Disney World.

Three weeks into that job, Cirque called with an offer.

More:How did Oklahoma gymnastics become a juggernaut? For Sooners, it starts on balance beam.

David Henderson was part of three national championship teams during his OU career.

'It’s about longevity'

Henderson was initially part of the Corteo show when it was performed under a massive traveling big top tent. He eventually joined the Totem show for about a year before deciding to take some time off to be with family. He has three daughters, and he wanted to spent some time at home with them.

“But then I realized I still have something in me that’s burning,” he said.

Henderson returned to Cirque work in 2018 and has been touring ever since.

While there are other former competitive gymnasts among Cirque du Soleil’s performers, Henderson said the transition to circus arts is more niche than natural.

“It’s not for everyone because it is the arts,” he said.

Henderson’s brother, Jamie, for example, was also a gymnast at OU but had no interest in circus arts.

“And he majored in studio art, so he’s really an artistic guy,” Henderson said. “But I guess my thing is performance art, so I use my body to tell the story and paint the picture.”

Even though Henderson is now 40, he believes he is better than ever at his craft. He took a lesson learned in competitive gymnastics and put it to use in circus arts — never stop learning.

“I’m constantly learning how to better care for my body,” Henderson said. In gymnastics, “it was more about getting the job done. We gotta get that result. But here, it’s a job. It’s about longevity.

“I feel better here at 40 years old than I did as a twentysomething in college.”

More:OU women's gymnastics: Takeaways from No. 1 Sooners' victory over No. 5 Utah

David Henderson works the still rings when he competed for OU during a meet against Air Force at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman in 2004.

Find Henderson on social media, and you’ll likely see video of him working out with something called a mace. (“This big, heavy stick with a ball at the end,” he explained.) He swings it all around. Behind his back. Over and behind his head. Sometimes he adds in jumps or spins.

He said the mace workouts help not only with his strength but also with his joints, lengthening and lubricating them.

He admits to having aches and pains, but he doesn’t worry about the physical strain of his job, swinging around on high bars, launching himself through the air and flipping all around. He says that’s the easiest part of what he does.

Way more difficult is being on tour and away from his daughters.

“I call them every day,” Henderson said. “But it’s not the same being there.”

But the thing that recharges his batteries is performing on the Cirque du Soleil stage. Much like competitions during his gymnastics career, getting in front of people and doing a performance is exhilarating. It’s why he trains. It’s what he loves.

“For me, it’s easy,” he said. “I share what I’ve loved and worked for my entire life and people just enjoy it.”

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.