Cirque du Soleil envisions the Mexico of imagination in Luzia
Credit to Author: Stuart Derdeyn| Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2019 23:35:13 +0000
When: Oct. 3 to Dec. 29 various times
Where: Le Grand Chapiteau, Concord Pacific Place, 88 Pacific Blvd.
Tickets and info: From $54 at cirquedusoleil.com
Creating worlds under the big top where awe and wonder combine is part of any Cirque du Soleil show. The places the Montreal-based global entertainment brand takes audiences reside in the realm of imagination. No amount of creative cartography could locate them on a map.
Luzia, on the other hand, locates itself as “a waking dream of Mexico.”
The 38th original production might be the first time Cirque has assigned itself to somewhere real. While the colour palette parading by on the stage may remind you of the brightly hued streets in a Cinco de Mayo celebration, there is no symbolism to the show.
Artistic director Gracie Valdez says the name comes from combining the Spanish words for light (luz), which “quenches the spirit,” and rain (lluvia) which “soothes the soul.”
“Daniele Finzi Pasca, who co-created the show with his wife, spent over 10 years living and travelling in Mexico and was very inspired by the places and people he met there,” said Valdez.
“Cirque has a long relationship with the country, with a permanent show called Joya established in the Mexican Riviera. Latin America is a big market, and I travelled through Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay a couple of years ago.”
Drawing from both folk traditions and dynamic modern urban realities of Mexico, Luzia packs in the expected acrobatics, bendy folk and freaky clowns while upping the ante with the first integrated water element for a company road show.
A water basin is placed at the centre under the stage floor while a rain curtain creates shimmering environments that deliver even more excitement with already challenging routines. Doing high-speed balancing acts on the steel Cyr wheel is a tad slippery on a wet surface, but Cirque engineers took on all the challenges.
“The water is like another main character in the show, but it presented different challenges when it came down to how to perform traditional acrobatics in a wet atmosphere or in the rain,” Valdez said.
“What do we need to adapt, to change? Is it stage surface, drainage, circulation, heat, cleanliness; yes? But we have the best people in the world working on this stuff and they love to top themselves each time out.”
Beginning with a traveller skydiving into the Mexico of memory, the show charts everything from the magnificent migration of the Monarch butterfly to an acrobatic dance in a cantina straight out of a Cantinflas comedy from the 1930s.
From hand-balancing lifeguards on some faraway beach to clown scuba diving, Luzia looks lively. Of course, no show drawing inspiration from Mexico could be considered complete without an homage to The Beautiful Game.
Cirque du Soleil Luzia football dancer Abou Traore.
In Cirque’s first Football Dance, a duo try to execute increasingly more difficult tricks using hands, feet, heads and more in a display of ball-manipulating marvel that has proven to be a big hit with audiences.
Abou Traore is one half of the act. The Paris-based Guinean was active in semi-professional football clubs and dreamed of a spot on Les Bleus before a knee injury took him out.
So how did he wind up going off side and joining the circus?
“I probably started playing when I was five, and was on my way to a professional career attending the Paris Saint Germain Football Academy, ” said Traore.
“But an injury sidelined me for almost one and a half years and I wasn’t sure I would play again. My brother Iya was doing freestyle street performance and told me to follow him and it turned out I really loved it. It’s a very different art and one that I can do, so I’m very happy to be here performing.”
Iya Traore is a full time freestyle footballer, performing at festivals, galas and major public events across France. Combining football artistry with hip-hop dance, street style and more, the sport is extremely popular in Europe, Africa, Asia and South and Central America.
Abou joined his brother to compete in the TV show France’s Got Talent and finished second, ahead of his brother. That was around 2012.
By 2015, having seen Abou’s widely viewed online performance videos, Cirque du Soleil casting scouts came calling.
Traore and his partner developed their act by marrying it to the catchy live music score that reviewers keep noting in Luzia.
While Cirque du Soleil shows are always anchored by live original scores, anyone familiar with the variety of company productions knows that some have better soundtracks than others. Valdez notes that the singer in the band is Mexican and that the score is particularly upbeat and driving. It’s perfect backing for their tricks.
Luzia hasn’t even opened in Vancouver but the run has been extended, which goes a long way to show how popular the annual Cirque du Soleil tours have become.
So where will the company will choose to put up its signature big striped tent when the condos are finally built on the Concord Pacific lands adjacent to the convenient Science World and Stadium SkyTrain stations?
Valdez is confident.
“We love Vancouver and Vancouver loves us, so when the time comes, I’m sure it will all be sorted out.”
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