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.
“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…
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