Theater_CirqueKoonza_Health&Body BEAUTY 7/8/12 5:42 PM Page 2
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By Lynette Carrington Photos courtesy of OSA Images
Not Just Clowning Around Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza is a spectacular event filled with incredible sights, sounds, acrobatics and theatrics
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It dazzles and tantalizes as various acts of human endurance and artistry are combined with the most spectacular and innovative of costumes and masterful makeup.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL’S LATEST TRAVELING SHOW TO VISIT ARIZONA IS KOOZA. Circus + Dream + Reality + Human Spectacle = the mystical world of Kooza. Brought to life under a massive, air-conditioned Grand Chapiteau (big top) next to the University of Phoenix Stadium, guests of Kooza should expect the unexpected. It is where anything can happen. Kooza took Cirque du Soleil back to its roots of acrobatic performance and nonsensical clowning. It dazzles and tantalizes
as various acts of human endurance and artistry are combined with the most spectacular and innovative of costumes and masterful makeup. The talent that makes up Kooza is from every corner of the globe. Senior Artistic Director Michael G. Smith sat down with Arizona Sports & Lifestyle Magazine to share some insight about the talent, dancers, musicians, athletes and artists of Cirque du Soleil. "This year will be a bounty for us,” Smith said. Because of the Olympics, there will be a pool of potential performers hot off the games that will retire out of competition and join the Cirque du Soleil family. Athletes further develop their artistry, expand on emotional expression and continue on a rigorous training and workout regimen. “Group acts are what really impact the audience,” Smith explained. Smith joined Cirque du Soleil in 2005 after spending 15 years as a theatrical performer. He has worked on many of the Cirque shows and draws a line between the mass-audience “arena” shows and the more intimate “big top” shows, like Kooza. With the arena shows, there’s more distance between the show and most of the audience. But