Cirque du Soleil's 'Luzia' Propelled by Water and the Allure of Mexico Karen D'Souza - The Mercury News
go to original November 9, 2016

Sneak Peek at LUZIA by Cirque du Soleil (Cirque du Soleil)

Patricia Ruel fell in love with Mexican culture years ago. She has traveled there often, once kayaking up and down the Baja California peninsula for 42 days, and is always dreaming of exploring a new hidden jungle or ancient Mayan ruin or painted desert.

As creative director of “Luzia: A Waking Dream of Mexico,” the latest spectacle from Cirque du Soleil, the French-Canadian circus juggernaut, she gets to dive deep into her love for Mexico.

“I am so passionate about Mexico that it was very natural for me to do this project, which was very much inspired by the richness of Mexican culture,” says Ruel, a Cirque veteran who has worked on “Ka,” “Amaluna” and “Love.” “I am very attached to it.”

Ruel has always been drawn to Baja, a startlingly beautiful place where cactus-dotted desert collides with a pounding azure sea, a place that Cousteau once described as the world’s aquarium. That intoxicating play of light and water is central to the imagery of “Luzia,” in which the wet stuff is a character unto itself. Forty-four artists, who hail from 15 different countries, join together with the audience to take the plunge into a world of water in this highly sensory theater experience, which takes its name from a fusion of the Spanish words for light (“luz”) and rain (“lluvia”).

...From the rotating turntable stage to the massive water recycling process, all of the show’s technical ingenuity must be invisible and seamless because the ultimate mission is to spark a sense of awe.

Read the rest at The Mercury News

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