Cirque du Soleil's LUZIA Makes a Splash Tonight in the Windy City

Cirque du Soleil opens tonight in Chicago its delightfully imaginative and visually stunning production LUZIA, a waking dream of Mexico. Through September 3, 2017, audiences are invited to a redesignEd White-and-gold Big Top at the United Center parking lot to escape to an imaginary Mexico - a sumptuous and vibrant world suspended between dreams and reality.

Through a series of grand visual surprises and breathtaking acrobatic performances, LUZIA takes audiences on a surrealistic journey filled with wonder, playfulness and striking artistry. Smoothly passing from an old movie set to the ocean to a smoky dance hall or an arid desert, LUZIA cleverly brings to the stage multiple places, faces and sounds of Mexico taken from both tradition and modernity. Rich in awe-inspiring moments, LUZIA enchants by incorporating rain into acrobatic and artistic scenes - a first for a Cirque du Soleil touring production.

With mesmerizing and refreshing performances, LUZIA brings traditional and contemporary circus disciplines to a whole new level. Cyr Wheel artists perform the unprecedented feat of rolling and spinning under the rain, while an aerialist suspended from a Trapeze flies and twirls through pouring showers. Hoop Diving is taken onto gigantic treadmills, expanding exponentially the speed and amount of daring leaps executed. Jaw-dropping highlights include a Guinness World Record holder juggling seven pins at breakneck speeds, a male contortionist skillfully twisting his body in the world's most unimaginable positions, a powerful Aerial Straps specialist defying the laws of gravity at the center of a cenote (natural sinkhole), and two football (soccer) freestylers deftly mixing street dance with mind-blowing ball manipulations.

Tickets for all Chicago performances of LUZIA through September 3, 2017 are available online at www.cirquedusoleil.com/luzia.

To watch a preview video of LUZIA, visit www.cirk.me/LUZIA_Preview. To learn more about the integration of water in LUZIA, watch http://cirk.me/LUZIAWaterVideo. Discover the unique stories, talent and passions of 14 selected cast members of LUZIA through a series of 10 lighthearted webisodes: cirk.me/LuziaSelf.

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.