Cirque du Soleil has returned to Australia with its critically acclaimed production LUZIA, now playing at Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse until 26 May 2024.
The season will commemorate 25 years since Cirque du Soleil first brought its captivating spectacle to Australia in 1999 with Saltimbanco.
This unique production, LUZIA invites audiences to immerse themselves in an imaginary Mexico – a lush realm where dreams intertwine with reality. Get ready to be transported to this enchanting and visually stunning world during the show’s delightfully imaginative journey.
Written and directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca, in association with Brigitte Poupart, LUZIA takes you to an imaginary Mexico, like in a waking dream, where light (luz in Spanish) quenches the spirit and rain (lluvia) soothes the soul.
In a series of grand visual surprises and exhilarating acrobatic performances, LUZIA takes audiences on a surrealistic journey through a vibrant world filled with wonders, playfulness and striking artistry.
Smoothly passing from an old movie set to the ocean to a smoky dance hall or an arid desert, LUZIA cleverly brings to the stage multiple places, faces and sounds of Mexico taken from both tradition and modernity.
Rich in awe-inspiring moments, LUZIA enchants by incorporating rain into acrobatic and artistic scenes – a first for a Cirque du Soleil touring production.
LUZIA brings traditional and contemporary circus disciplines to a whole new level. Cyr Wheel artists perform the unprecedented feat of rolling and spinning under the rain, while an aerialist suspended from a Trapeze flies and twirls through pouring showers.
Jaw-dropping highlights include a male contortionist skilfully twisting his body in the world’s most unimaginable positions, a powerful Aerial Straps specialist defying the laws of gravity at the centre of a cenote (natural sinkhole), a juggler tossing seven pins at breakneck speed, and two football freestylers deftly mixing street dance with mind-blowing ball manipulation.
Hoop Diving is taken onto gigantic treadmills, expanding exponentially the speed and amount of daring leaps executed. The tableaux of LUZIA weave an intricate, contemporary mosaic that awakens your senses and transports you to a place suspended between dreams and reality.
The music of LUZIA takes the audience on an incandescent journey to the heart of the show’s imaginary Mexico. The score whisks spectators away on a voyage of exploration that takes them from a traditional village to a desert by way of a tropical jungle, to the seaside and all the way to an alleyway in a bustling metropolis.
For LUZIA, Composer Simon Carpentier wrote a hot, lively score with distinctive Latin American flavours. A little like the Running Woman – one of the emblematic characters in the show – the music jumps playfully from style to style, from one rhythm to the next, from emotion to emotion, striding across landscapes as joyfully as across musical boundaries
LUZIA premiered in April 2016 and is Cirque du Soleil’s 38th original production since 1984. Through its set design, costumes, acrobatic performances and music, LUZIA explores various themes linked to the culture, history and mythology of Mexico, some of which may not seem connected at first glance.
A total of 115 people from 26 countries are part of the touring cast and crew of LUZIA. The 47 artists alone represent 18 different nationalities including Australia, Belarus, Canada, Colombia, Finland, France, Guinea, Italy, Israel, Mexico, The Netherlands, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Poland, Russia and Venezuela.
LUZIA is currently playing under the Big Top at Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse until 26 May 2024. It will then tour to Adelaide (from 9 June), Perth (from 25 July), Brisbane (from 25 September) and Sydney (from 24 November). For more information, visit: www.cirquedusoleil.com for details. Checkout the trailer here!
Image: Cirque du Soleil’s LUZIA – photo by Anne Colliard | Costumes: Giovanna Buzzi