Cirque du Soleil's White-and-Gold Big Top Goes Up for LUZIA in San Jose

Cirque du Soleil is back in San Jose with its latest soul-touching production LUZIA, which started setting-up today with the raising of its massive white-and-gold Big Top at Taylor Street Bridge. A team of more than 60 men and women worked for several hours to pound pegs, unfurl the canvas, and push more than 100 supporting poles to make the intimate tent take its shape.

LUZIA, an acrobatic waking dream of Mexico, opens at Taylor Street Bridge (corner of Taylor Street and Highway 87) in San Jose on February 9, 2017 for a limited engagement through March 19, 2017. For show information and tickets, visit www.cirquedusoleil.com/luzia.

A newly designEd White-and-gold Big Top

LUZIA marks the first time Cirque du Soleil presents a production under a Big Top featuring printed patterns directly related to the theme of the show. The patterns evoke the association between Cirque du Soleil (the sun) and Mexico (the word originates from Mtztli, meaning 'moon," and Xuctli, which means 'middle') and symbolize the meeting of two celestial bodies: the sun and the moon. A bird's eye view reveals the path of the stars that spiral out from the centre of the Big Top - the symbolic meeting point between earth and sky, sacred and human.

A few facts about the LUZIA Big Top and the Cirque du Soleil village:

• The Big Top seats more than 2,600 people.
• The entire site set-up takes 8 days. This includes installation of the Big Top, the entrance tent, the VIP tent and the rehearsal spaces.
• The Big Top stands at 19 meters (62 feet) high and is 51 meters (167 feet) in diameter.
• The 4 steel masts stand at 25 meters (82 feet) tall each.
• 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 (75 mph).
• The light-coloured canvas helps counter the effects of the sun, thereby reducing energy consumption and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions.
• LUZIA travels via 65 trailer trucks carrying close to 2,000 tons of equipment

LUZIA - A waking dream of Mexico

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.

Freely inspired by Mexico, LUZIA is a poetic and acrobatic ode to the rich, vibrant culture of a country whose wealth stems from an extraordinary mix of influences and creative collisions - a land that inspires awe with its breathtaking landscapes and architectural wonders, buoyed by the indomitable spirit of its people.

The tableaux of LUZIA weave an intricate, contemporary mosaic that awakens your senses and transports you to a place suspended between dreams and reality. Featuring a cast of 44 performers from diverse artistic backgrounds, LUZIA surprises with acrobatic performances breaking down the barriers, such as incorporating water into contemporary circus disciplines.

For more information, visit www.cirquedusoleil.com/luzia. To watch a preview video of LUZIA, visit www.cirk.me/LUZIA_Preview.

LUZIA is Cirque du Soleil's 38th original production since 1984, and its 17th show presented under the Big Top. The company has brought wonder and delight to more than 160 million spectators in more than 400 cities on six continents. Cirque du Soleil has close to 4,000 employees, including 1,300 performing artists from close to 50 different countries. For more information about Cirque du Soleil, visit www.cirquedusoleil.com.

To find out more about the ONE DROP Foundation, visit www.onedrop.org.