When cirque came to Dallas a few years ago, it was a little person with one (big)* balloon! Most fun I’ve had at a show!
Edit: My memory failed me, but here’s a photo from one of the shows: Corteo
It is more efficient to put your lifting gas in one big balloon than several smaller ones, since there’s less balloon material to lift. If I understand, it’s always Valentyna up there, and she’s been doing this balloon act for 20 years.
Actually the surface-to-volume ratio is what matters - multiple smaller ballons have more total surface area and need more material, but Valentyna’s technique with the mutiple ballons gives her more control over her movements in the air.
You’re mostly right. Fewer, bigger balloons means less balloon material to hold the same amount of helium.
However, Valentyna barely has any midair control at all. She relies on basically jumping in the direction she wants to go, or the crowd pushing her the right way. Maybe if she pulls down one of her balloons and holds it closer to her, she could change the balloons’ angle of attack while jumping. Strategically let go of that balloon to make its line go slack for a split second, letting her drop a few feet. That’s probably the extent of Valentyna’s control.
If anyone in the theatre has an air vortex cannon, they could control Valentyna’s flight a lot more than she could.
