Alexandr (Sasha) Yudintsev was a star tumbler in his native Kazakhstan, representing his country in three World Cup series and two World Championships. But after nearly a dozen years of tumbling, Yudintsev made a life-changing decision and ran away with the circus.
But it wasn’t just any old circus.
“This has just been such an amazing experience for me. And this show is just a very high acrobatic level of acts and it has a great storyline,” Yudintsev said as he showed off his physical strength and comedic chops during a media preview of Cirque du Soleil’s “Corteo” show at Microsoft Theater at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles last month.
The traveling circus will take over the venue for select evenings March 23-April 30 and return to Southern California later this year at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert Aug. 31-Sept. 3.
First premiered in Montreal in 2005, the “Corteo” production mixes comedy, tragedy and jaw-dropping acrobatics. It follows the story of Mauro the Dreamer Clown who imagines his own funeral. But since he is a clown and this is the circus, this story isn’t about a quiet and sad remembrance, but rather a spectacular sendoff.
In lieu of flowers, this funeral is filled with jugglers, acrobats hanging from all sorts of contraptions or bouncing and flipping on a giant bed/trampoline. There’s even going to be a hula-hoop artist using her entire body to spin multiple hoops.
“It’s always important to have a story and ‘Corteo,’ in our case, it’s a celebration of his life and we’re just remembering him and having fun,” said Yudintsev, who portrays one of the supporting characters in “Corteo” dubbed Clown August.
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“It’s a guy with high energy, upbeat, but doesn’t always do everything right,” he continued.
Yudintsev joined Cirque du Soleil in 2010 after sending in a recording of some of his skills.
“I didn’t know much about the circus and just did it and about a week after, they called me from Montreal and I got contracted to ‘Corteo,’” he recalled. “It was amazing.”
He’ll be showing off his multiple talents while tumbling on a bed-shaped trampoline meant to represent clowns as children jumping on a bed. He’ll also be juggling alongside Johan Juslin, who first saw a Cirque du Soleil show on TV at the age of 10 while living in Finland.
“The juggler in that show was just amazing and at that moment I knew I wanted to become a juggler,” he said. “That was my life goal, to get to Cirque du Soleil and after the show ended I went to my backyard and started juggling.”
He went on to attended the National Circus School, located in front of Cirque du Soleil headquarters in Montreal, and started his Cirque career with the show in 2017.
For the upcoming “Corteo” he will be juggling throughout the show, throwing up as many as ten rings in the air and passing multiple clubs between himself and a partner.
“I’m a harlequin juggler and I just try to be happy and funny,” he said. “For me, this has been a dream since I was a kid, and when I perform I become motivated, passionate and inspired. I want to bring those same feelings to other people when they come to watch our show.”
Erin Cervantes, an Iowa native and aerial acrobat, is also a part of the latest show. She got into the circus because of a workout class.
“Coming from Iowa, I never really saw a circus,” she said. “I always thought you had to be born into the circus family to be able to be a circus performer.”
After moving to Los Angeles to become an actor, she wandered into a circus school with a friend just as a way to keep up on their fitness.
“It was just for fun,” she recalled. “I used to dance as a kid and it never crossed my mind to make it a career, but I found I had a talent for it and just kept going.”
Now she will be opening the “Corteo” show as one of four women performing aerial acrobatics while hanging from chandeliers above Mauro’s bed. The women represent the clown’s former girlfriends.
“I feel free, I feel light, you can feel the breeze through your hair as you spin on the chandelier,” she described. “And the story is so beautiful, seeing your lover one last time before he departs the world.”
Cirque du Soleil’s “Corteo”
When: Select dates and various showtimes March 23-April 30
Where: Microsoft Theater at LA Live, 777 Chick Hearn Court, Los Angeles
Tickets: Starting at $35 at cirquedusoleil.com.
Also: Various showtimes Aug. 31-Sept. 3 at Acrisure Arena, 75702 Varner Road., Palm Desert. Tickets start at $39 at Ticketmaster.com.