Cirque du Soleil's Luzia opens under the Big Top at Ontario Place
The acrobatic spectacle featuring 47 performers from 26 countries opens June 18 and runs through August, with stops in Ottawa and Vancouver to follow.
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Cirque du Soleil's Luzia opened June 18 under a blue and white Big Top at Ontario Place (2150 Lake Shore Blvd. W), bringing a cast of super-human performers — contortionists, swing-to-swing acrobats, aerialists, and soccer freestylers — to the city's west end.
Written and directed by Swiss-born Daniele Finzi Pasca, who also created Cirque du Soleil's Coreto, Luzia is described as "a waking dream where light ('luz' in Spanish) quenches the spirit, and rain ('lluvia') soothes the soul." It's an "escape to an imaginary Mexico – a surreal world suspended between dreams and reality," according to the production's framing.
The show features a reported 47 performers from 26 countries. A skydiver lands in a topsy-turvy world populated by characters in costumes — cacti, birds, snakes, beetles, armadillos, monarch butterflies, a giant horse and jaguar. Scenes range from a wavy ocean to a dry desert and a rambunctious saloon.
Expect hoop diving, aerial straps, cyr wheels, adagio, juggling, hand-balancing, and soccer tricks alongside jaw-dropping flips, twists, and leaps. Contortionist Aleksei Goloborodko delivers especially striking moments, rounding his limbs, back and head in ways that evoke equal parts wonder and winces.
Between acts, comic relief and Latin American music (composed by Canadian Simon Carpentier) play as the central recycled water feature drains and the floor gets mopped — all performed by characters staying in role.
The Toronto run ends August 30. The show then moves to Ottawa (September 10 to October 18) and Vancouver (November 4 to December 13). Tickets are available through the production's website. Parking is available onsite, or use SpotHero for potentially cheaper options.
Circue du Soleil was founded in 1984 in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec by Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix. Over the past 42 years, more than 378 million people have attended 50-plus productions in 86 countries. Luzia first came to Toronto 10 years ago and is the company's 38th production.