Cirque Du Soleil’s New Water Show LUDÕ Is A Dreamy Adventure

Cirque du Soleil is known for defying gravity with its performers’ amazing acrobatic stunts. But its new show does things a little differently. An exploration of childhood wonder and memory, LUDÕ not only features acrobats soaring through the air but also an underwater element that will blow audiences away.

Director and writer Michel Laprise conceptualized LUDÕ for VidantaWorld, a new luxury resort in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. The show’s custom-built theater features a circular stage and seating arrangement that’s almost completely surrounded by aquariums, where aquatic dancers perform.

“In every project I do, I take something at the beginning that’s impossible and I make it possible,” says Laprise, explaining that everyone involved was anxious that the aquariums would leak or cause more complex problems. “It was nerve-wracking, [but] not for me, because I have trust in Cirque du Soleil. I know we can deliver.”

And that they did. Cirque du Soleil invited Bustle to attend the LUDÕ premiere on Dec. 12, along with a star-studded crowd that included Paula Abdul, Tyra Banks, and Rebel Wilson. The immersive dinner-and-theater experience now has seven shows per week, with tickets available. Below are the highlights from the dazzling new production.

A Gourmet Dining Experience

While you can buy tickets that don’t include dinner, you’d be missing out on one of the interactive elements of the show. At the premiere, I was served a three-course meal ahead of the performance, which included lobster bisque and a short rib Wellington with mashed potatoes. It arrived in a picnic basket — a nod to the show’s playful childhood theme. Dinner is rounded out with a selection of desserts, elegantly plated in a miniature version of the show’s theater.

An Immersive Journey

While water plays an integral role in LUDÕ, it’s not a show about life under the sea. Rather, Laprise and Cirque du Soleil’s director of creation, Daniel Ross, wanted the story to focus on immersion, following a theater director named Ludovico who seeks inspiration by reliving and reflecting on early moments from his life as the audience watches them come to life onstage.

“What if we use water to tell a story of letting go, a story of [playfulness], a story of reconnecting with your child [self’s] heart?” Ross says. “We had to swim a bit against the current, because people, as soon as they heard ‘underwater,’ they started throwing seashells, mermaids, and fish at us. And we were like, ‘No, we don’t want that.’ If you look at the set, we’re in the clouds.”

Awe-Inspiring Aquatic Stunts

As expected, the show is full of amazing stunts, with acrobats, jugglers, synchronized swimmers, and dancers showing off gravity-defying tricks while using water in different ways. I was in awe as the dancers’ feet beautifully kicked up water into the air and the jugglers moved through a stunning water curtain effect.

Of course, one of the coolest parts is seeing the aquatic troupe perform in the aquariums surrounding the theater. Dancer and diver Fernanda Morales says that it takes considerable technical skill to move underwater.

“Buoyancy is key to being able to move comfortably in the water, because you don’t want to be floating. You don’t want to be sinking,” she says. “We had to really understand what we needed in terms of how much air we take for some moments, how much air we don’t take for other moments, how many weights we take out, and how to put the weights [back] on our bodies.”

With their bright costumes and graceful movements, the aquatic troupe truly immerses you into the show’s dreamy world.