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Maya Kesselman\u2019s path to the grand circus stage began at a young age after her mother decided to surprise her with a present in the form of a trapeze lesson. Now, having traveled around the world to attend several prominent circus schools, she\u2019s returning to the Bay Area to perform as part of Cirque du Soleil\u2019s latest production titled \u201cLuzia: A Waking Dream of Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to [my family] I was able to do what I wanted,\u201d said Kesselman, who will don brightly-colored feathers, a pair of wings and a long beak for the production. \u201cWith their love and acceptance and support I was totally able to do what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a child, Kesselman recalls being an active kid who immediately fell in love with the circus. From the age of 10 until she turned 18, Kesselman attended San Francisco Circus Center, one of the most prominent circus schools on the West Coast. Then, after attending San Francisco State University for a year, she moved to Montreal, Canada, where she attended \u00c8cole Nationale de Cirque for one year.<\/p>\n
She then moved to Brussels, Belgium, where she auditioned for the opportunity to attend \u00c8cole Sup\u00e9rieure des Arts du Cirque. She was accepted into the school\u2019s program, and became a full-time student for three years. As exciting as it was for Kesselman to move to Europe, it was also a challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very exciting, and I\u2019m sure it was also kind of scary for her [my mother] to let her daughter go so far away, but they always supported me in my choice of doing circus,\u201d Kesselman said, as she reminisced of her mother. \u201cYeah, I have a very important family and very artistic parents, so it\u2019s all good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her work with Luzia began in France, where Kesselman received an email from Cirque du Soleil asking if she was interested in joining the company for its newest production.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of those moments when you know you have a choice to make,\u201d Kesselman said. \u201cI really love these moments in my life and I\u2019ve been lucky to have a lot. I knew that I wanted to take the opportunity right away.\u201d<\/p>\n
She agreed to join the company under the condition that the artists in her company, Back Pocket, could come along with her. Cirque du Soleil agreed.<\/p>\n
The name \u201cLuzia,\u201d fuses the sound of \u201cluz\u201d (light in Spanish) and \u201clluvia\u201d (rain), two elements at the core of the show\u2019s creation. \u201cLuzia\u201d has a cast of 44 artists from 15 different countries and the creative team of 16. Some of the prominent Latino performers featured in the show include: Venezuelan professional football freestyler Laura Biondo; Mexican puppeteer Gerardo Ballester Franzoni; Mexican pole-dance specialist Diana Ham; Majo Cornejo, Cirque du Soleil\u2019s first ever Mexican singer; Puerto Rican trumpet player Joenuel Lebron-Millan; Colombian musician Felipe Saray; Colombian trombonist Juan David Pavas Pavas; Venezuelan percussionist Yilmer Vivas; and Mexican guitarist Rodrigo de la Mora.<\/p>\n
In the show Kesselman plays a colorful hummingbird warrior, along with six others throughout the production, who dance to the music in unison and take long runs on a rotating treadmill. They finish the act with a few cartwheels until they jump through a hoop while maintaining perfect balance. In her other role, she also does Chinese pole climbing.<\/p>\n
The physical and mental preparation for a large project of this magnitude is rigorous and demanding. Kesselman does a lot of back and forth running in between numbers and changes into eight different costumes throughout the show. She feels more than comfortable with her roles now after completing more than 200 shows, including shows in Montreal and Toronto.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really enjoyed the show,\u201d said Maria Rankich, an international student living in Toronto. \u201cAlso, the costumes were unique and beautiful and the music fit so good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ll be somewhat stressed for the first time to show my professional artistic side to my peers my friends, my family in San Francisco,\u201d Kesselman said. \u201cBut I\u2019m also really excited to do it and I\u2019m really happy that I could have the opportunity to bring what I do, back to San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luzia opens Thursday, Nov. 17, at AT&T Park in San Francisco.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [su_slider source=”media: 32015,32016,32017,32018″ limit=”40″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_slider source=”media: 29856,29857″ limit=”30″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_menu][\/su_slider] Maya Kesselman\u2019s path to the grand circus stage began at a young age after her mother decided to surprise her with a present in the form of a trapeze lesson. Now, having traveled around the world […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":32015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3929],"tags":[11835,11837,11833],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-32014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-cirque-du-soleil","tag-luzia-a-waking-dream-of-mexico","tag-maya-kesselman","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n