Behind the Scenes at Cirque du Soleil's Amaluna

What's up, guys? Young Hollywood back under the big top at Circus Ole. This time taking you behind the scenes of Amaluna. Miss Ara, the peacock goddess of the show, lovely to meet you in person.

So great to meet you.

Your resume is long with Miss Celine Dion tucked away in the middle there. Right. Break down how you found your way to Cirque. And I'm glad you did, because what a presence you have.

Thank you. I kind of have straddled the concert dance world and the commercial world. And Cirque has kind of allowed me to hop from one show to another.

You've been in a few Cirque shows. How does Amaluna differ from the ones that you've been a part of?

I mean, the main thing is that it's in a Chapitto, so it's in a tent. There's an intimacy to the tent show that I love. It's a different vibe on stage between audience and stage because of the way that it's in the round.

Right. One thing I love about this show is female power. Definitely. Now, how would you describe it? I I'm thinking there's like a sexiness, a feminine vibe that's just palpable.

Actually, it's showing how women have often been like the love interest or the sister, like the kind of relegated to one role. And Amaluna is like, women are many things. And I love that about the peacock goddess. There's the softness, there's the fierceness. So for me, that gives the character a lot of meat.

Well, I need to see the meat. I I I Oh, gosh. Okay. Let me try. I can't compete. But we're gonna try some moves?

I'm gonna try some moves. Okay, so we're gonna go here. Oh. Oh, she's starting spicy. And you're have your little peacock hands. Then we switch legs and arms. Then take your time. Just using your back muscles. That feels good. Yes. A little massage. Yeah. And then call someone and pull it behind the head. Reach. Woo! Then flick the left leg. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Reach this way. And then take it down. And to finish, you bend the elbows. Yes. Amazing.

Sherno, you are a gymnast here at Cirque, but everyone's a gymnast, but you're like the gymnast. Like Olympian gymnast.

Yeah. Well, there are a couple more Olympians with us.

Yeah. Now, I'm watching you in the circle. I don't even know how to pronounce what you do exactly here at the show.

Uh, it's calledusia or the cyr wheel.

Now, tell me how you even got involved with Cirque. Obviously as a gymnast, you're kind of made for this.

And after I finished my gymnastics career, I was thinking, like, what could I do? Cirque seemed the perfect opportunity to to go and do the dream of the little girl that I was when I first saw it.

The cool thing about Cirque is it gives me the opportunity to pretend I actually know what I'm doing. So, show me what you got.

Maybe we can just start with like, uh, moving the wheel around. So you can just kind of see if you can just let it come around like this. There you go.

If Amaluna needs somebody, you know who they're gonna call.

Bend your knee so that you're almost sitting down. Okay. With straight arms. Okay. I'm just gonna spin you around a little bit. I'm gonna show you what I want you to try. Okay. You want to have one foot on, and you're gonna push the other foot. Yeah?

Yep. Yep. Oh, I almost tried to let go and then it was like, no, don't try. All right.

And then there's one more thing.

Mad respect for you. Wow.

There's one thing that we can try as well where you don't have to put your feet on. Okay. So basically, you're gonna have straight arms. You're kinda gonna hang, and you're just gonna step forward and backward. Oh, you look so pretty. Forward and backward. Yeah. Yep. Good. Very good.

Hello to Vladimir from Russia. Welcome to Los Angeles with Amaluna, the 43rd city that the show has been in. 19 countries. Any place else that you want to take it?

Personally, I would love to be visiting or working in Japan and South Korea, all that area. Malaysia is one of my favorite places.

You grew up in this circus under this tent. Your parents are Cirque performers.

Yeah. Wow. So I'm second generation of performers. Basically, I joined the tour when I was one year old.

You were like the master of juggling.

I combine dance and juggling at the same time, which makes a unique blend. Let's see and try to do something, right?

We're gonna try.

What you're gonna do is throw one ball in the air over to the other one. A little bit higher. Boom. Boom. Yep. And then the other one. So we're a third way out there, all right? Take the second ball. The first thing you actually learn in juggling school is, you take the ball with your foot. Because it's so easy.

I'm still trying to get the ball. Can I just do this?

Yes, of course. The second step is you're gonna throw the ball up in the air. While it's falling at its apex. So it's gonna be like there. It's gonna be falling. I'm gonna throw the other ball under it at the same height and then catch this one and the other one will fall into your hand. So it's gonna look like this. One, two. Yeah? A little bit higher with the with the other hand. Try again. Perfect. Let's try the third ball, all right? What you're gonna do is you're gonna throw the ball, throw the second one, and throw the third one as high as you can and catch them. Almost. One, two, three and that's it. Get Almost. Almost. You got it. Let's do something different, all right? Okay. So what you're gonna do is gonna throw it up and catch it. All right? Then throw it under the leg. Catch it. Yeah. Gonna throw it behind the back and catch it. Yeah. Behind the back. Catch. Whoa. That's nice. Bam. Okay, let's keep it. And then from here, look at it. Just kind of extend and then drop down. Yeah. And then wave. There we go.