Cirque Du Soleil’s Luzia coming to Claremont Showgrounds in July 2024

Perth get ready for an explosion of Mexican culture when Cirque Du Soleil’s big top show Luzia arrives in WA next year, featuring hoop diving, contortion and a mesmerising rain curtain.

Fresh out of South Korea, the Australian tour—which celebrates 25 years of Cirque Down Under—will kick off in Melbourne in March before arriving in Perth in July.

Claremont Showgrounds will transform into a circus village when the iconic 19m high big top and additional tents are set up.

Luzia is set to take audiences on a surreal escape to an imaginary Mexico, incorporating acts such as trapeze, contortion, aerial straps, swing to swing and juggling.

It will also showcase hoop diving, a traditional circus discipline from China, with acrobats performing on gigantic treadmills for the first time in circus history.

Also a first is the inclusion of featuring rain into the big top. A water basin is placed under the stage floor to create a rain curtain.

NSW hoop diver Nelson Smyles has been travelling with the show since 2017 and was ecstatic for it to arrive back home in Australia.

“It’s wild, it’s the show I left Australia with so to bring it back to my family and friends and start in Melbourne where I went to school, it’s such an exciting experience,” he said.

The 27-year-old described Luzia as a “visual explosion”, “mind-blowing” and “beautiful”.

Smyles, who is seen on stage with a team of eight hoop divers, said he couldn’t wait to show off for Perth.

“I’ve never been to WA, I’m such a lazy local,” he said.

Dressed as a hummingbird, the Mexican symbol of the reincarnation of a fallen warrior, Smyles dives through hoops while on a large conveyor belt, performing “wicked” tricks.

Having travelled the globe and getting one tour break a year, Smyles said his family were extremely supportive.

“They’ve visited me all over the world, my dad was a ballroom dancer in the 80s and he came to watch me do the show at the Royal Albert Hall where he competed in ballroom dancing there, that was really special,” he said.

Tickets will go on sale on Friday at cirquedusoleil.com

Fun facts:

• Luzia premiered in April 2016 and is Cirque du Soleil’s 38th original production since 1984.
• The big top seats more than 2500 people.
• The entire site set-up takes eight days. This includes the installation of the big top, the concessions tent, the VIP tents and the rehearsal spaces
• The four steel masts stand at 25 metres tall.
• 550 pegs are required to hold the big top firmly to 48,500 square feet of asphalt.
• The big top can withstand winds up to 120 km/h.
• In total there are 1000 pieces of costume seen on stage in Luzia, including 140 pairs of shoes.