Queensland performers Helena Merten and Nelson Smyles will share the spotlight when Cirque du Soleil’s new show, LUZIA, opens in Brisbane this week.
Promoters said it would be the first time both had performed in LUZIA in front of friends and family in their home state.
Helena stars as The Running Women, “wearing a monarch butterfly-inspired costume, with stunning huge wings that are six metres long each”, while Nelson is a Hoop Diver in the show which marks Cirque du Soleil’s 25th year visiting Queensland.
Helena, who started gymnastics at five years old on the Gold Coast and was an Australian Tumbling Champion at 21 said she had dreamt of performing with Cirque du Soleil since she was seven years old when she saw her first show, QUIDAM, in Brisbane.
“Now in returning home to Queensland, to where it all began, and I am beyond excited to perform in front of my hometown crowd,” she said.
“I’ve been on the road for so long. I started doing overseas shows when I was 18, so it’s great to come home to Australia and have all my family and friends finally see what I have been doing and why I’ve been away for the last 10 years.”
Nelson started training in gymnastics at the age of four, before getting into springboard/platform diving at the age of 10 at Southport Diving School.
Promoters said, as a teenager, Nelson fell in love with Parkour, the discipline of moving through a complex environment in the fastest and most efficient way possible.
“Through Parkour, Nelson realized becoming a circus artist would allow him to make a job out of his passion for sports, movement and acrobatics,” they said.
LUZIA opens on September 25, under the Big Top next to the Royal Queensland Golf Club, off Curtin Ave East, at Eagle Farm in Brisbane’s inner north-east.
LUZIA fast facts:
- LUZIA premiered in April 2016 and is Cirque du Soleil’s 38th original production since 1984.
- The word LUZIA is a mix of the word ‘’Luz’’ in Spanish that means light and the word ‘’lluvia’’ that means rain.
- LUZIA is the first touring production to incorporate rain into acrobatic and artistic scenes.
- More than 4.5 million spectators around the world have already seen the acrobatics and uniqueness of LUZIA.
- In total there are 1000 pieces of costume seen on stage in LUZIA.
- LUZIA travels with a team of 120 people, including 47 artists, from 26 different countries.
- LUZIA is the 10th Big Top show to visit Australia in 25 years.
