TOMORROW - FRIDAY - MEDIA OPPORTUNITY at 10.30am
Southport Surf Lifesaving Club, Macarthur Parade, Main Beach:
Superstar Gold Coaster Helena Merten, who stars in Cirque du Soleil’s LUZIA which opens on September 25, returns to the Gold Coast, with full COSTUME and MAKEUP
Gold Coaster Helena Merten soars as one of the stars in Cirque du Soleil’s new show, LUZIA, which opens in Brisbane on September 26, marking 25 years of Cirque du Soleil visiting the Sunshine State.
It will be the first time Helena will perform in front of her friends and family in her home state.
THIS FRIDAY she will visit her beloved Gold Coast in full costume and makeup as her show character, The Running Women.
She wears a monarch butterfly-inspired costume, with stunning huge wings that are six metres long each.
With her on Friday will be fellow Aussie artist in the show, Nelson Smyles in his incredible Hoop Diving full costume and makeup (Nelson is Melbourne born).
WE WOULD LOVE MEDIA TO JOIN and share what will be a STUNNING and colourful moment!!!
IMAGES HERE | FILMED VISION HERE | WEBSITE www.cirquedusoleil.com/Luzia
Can you let me know if you are keen to come along – there’s information below these two images….
THIS IS HELENA:
NELSON WILL BE IN FULL COSTUME:
ABOUT Gold Coaster Helena Merten in Cirque du Soleil’s LUZIA
She started gymnastics at five years old on the Gold Coast. At seven, she knew she wanted to join Cirque du Soleil. She was an Australian Champion in Tumbling, and at 21, she became the youngest athlete to compete in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in 2015. Two years later in 2017, she joined Cirque du Soleil’s LUZIA as a Hoop Diver, Swing to Swing and Acrobatic Pole artist. This September, Queenslander Helena Merten returns home, and she’s bringing the show and it’s 126 cast and crew with her! And now, she’s one of the stars! When LUZIA premieres in Brisbane on September 26, marking 25 years of Cirque du Soleil visiting the Sunshine State, Helena will perform for the first time in front of her friends and family. Is she ready?
"I’ve dreamt of this since I was seven years old when I saw my first Cirque du Soleil show QUIDAM in Brisbane. Now in returning home to Queensland, to where it all began, and I am beyond excited to perform in front of my hometown crowd," said Helena. “I’ve been on the road for so long. I started doing overseas shows when I was 18, so it’s great to come home to Australia and have all my family and friends finally see what I have been doing and why I’ve been away for the last 10 years.”
Born on the Gold Coast, Helena was always going to be a star. She was a super talented mover, and grew up training and competing in Artistic Gymnastics, Tumbling, Sports Acrobatics and Diving. As a teenager, she was Australian Champion in Tumbling and finished second at the Sports Acrobatics Nationals as a flyer in women’s pair. She competed with no fear and loved the feeling of flying. At 18 years old, she joined the cast of The House of Dancing Water, a large-scale water-based production in Macau as a general acrobat and tumbler. It was her first taste of stage performance, and she fell in love with the energy exchange with the audience that happened every show. While perched in the air on aerial apparatuses or somersaulting into the show’s giant pool, Helena reconnected with the discipline of diving, and so she was trained as a high-diver – jumping off platforms 25 metres above the stage/pool. She loved it. So much that at 21, she became the youngest athlete to compete in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series at the 2015 Texas Cup. She finished 2nd at the FINA High Diving World Cup 2016, 2nd at the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in Azores (POR) & Mostar (BIH) in 2017 and ranked 2nd overall on the 2017 circuit. She was ready to make her childhood dream come true, and so, in 2017 she sent her videos to Cirque du Soleil with fingers and toes crossed. Almost immediately, Cirque du Soleil invited her to join LUZIA as a Hoop Diver and Acrobatic Pole Specialist, two disciplines she had never specialized in. The Casting and Coaching teams believed she had the acrobatic background needed, and after training in Montreal, Helena joined the cast of LUZIA in Los Angeles. Always a worker, she learnt more disciplines and soon joined the LUZIA swing to swing team in 2019. Coming back from the Pandemic, Helena was cast as the Running Women in LUZIA, a role she shares with another artist, and continues in Hoop Diving, Acrobatic Pole & Swing to Swing.
She wears a monarch butterfly-inspired costume, with stunning huge wings that are six metres long each. Her appearances are breathtaking, surreal and beautiful. Her character introduces the imagined world of Mexico to the audience - LUZIA draws inspiration from the rich tapestry of Mexico’s cultural heritage, and unfolds as a stunning kaleidoscope of colour, sound and gravity-defying feats, with 47 artists from 26 countries wearing some 1000 costumes. While Helena has already travelled through parts of the America, Europe and Asia with LUZIA, which is Cirque du Soleil’s first touring production to incorporate rain into acrobatic and artistic scenes, it will be the Brisbane season though, that means the most!
ABOUT Nelson Smyles - Hoop Diving/Back-Up Clown
Nelson started training gymnastics at the age of 4, before getting into springboard/platform diving at the age of 10. As a teenager, Nelson fell in love with Parkour – the discipline of moving through a complex environment in fastest and most efficient way possible. He remembers running around Melbourne with his friends, tumbling and finding new acrobatic combinations to perform. Through Parkour, Nelson realized becoming a circus artist would allow him to make a job out of his passion for sports, movement and acrobatics. At the end of his High School studies, Nelson joined the College program of NICA (National Institute of Circus Arts) in Melbourne to specialize in Hoop Diving, Clowning and Group Acrobatics. For three years, he worked at perfecting his acrobatic and artistic skills to become a full-rounded circus professional. Towards the end of his studies, Nelson sent a video demo to various companies, including Cirque du Soleil in hopes to get a job as quickly as possible. Never would he have thought his first contract would be with the renown Canadian circus company! Eleven weeks before finishing his circus degree, Nelson signed his contract for LUZIA. Nelson joined LUZIA in December 2017 on tour in Los Angeles, CA, after a few weeks of acrobatic training, costume fittings and make-up sessions at the Cirque du Soleil Montreal Head Quarters.
ABOUT LUZIA by Cirque du Soleil, CELEBRATING 25 YEARS IN AUSTRALIA
The countdown is officially on until LUZIA by Cirque du Soleil opens in Brisbane on September 25, under the iconic Big Top next to the Royal Queensland Golf Club, off Curtin Ave East. This stunning new show will deliver unforgettable experiences for both first-time and seasoned Cirque du Soleil devotees, in the state that shares a special love affair with this world famous company. Written and directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca, LUZIA invites people to an imaginary Mexico, like in a waking dream, where light (“luz” in Spanish) quenches the spirit, and rain (“lluvia”) soothes the soul. In a series of grand visual surprises and breathtaking acrobatic performances, LUZIA takes audiences on a surrealistic journey through a vibrant world filled with wonders, 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. What’s more, one of the lead artists in LUZIA is Queensland’s own Helena Merten.
MEDIA CONTACT | Kath Rose | kath@kathrose.com | 0416 291 493
Contact details:
Kath Rose | kath@kathrose.com | 0416 291 493
