Review: Cirque du Soleil’s ‘LUZIA’ brings the illusory vision of Mexico to life under the big top

On November 6, the 2025 Cirque du Soleil performance season in Atlanta officially opened at Atlantic Station. The crowd buzzed with excitement as visitors watched traditional dancers in la calavera makeup dance to lively Mexican music performed by a live mariachi band. A stilt walker moved gracefully through the crowd, pausing to take pictures with attendees. Inside the big top tent, folks bought merchandise and popcorn from the concession stands. 

I navigated through the crowd with my daughter in tow, pausing as a dancer bent down to hand her a complimentary floral hair clip from a basket in her arms. We found our seats surrounding the circular stage in the middle of the space, my daughter’s line of sight aided by a booster seat. The din of audience members finding their seats quieted as music swelled and the performance began, marked by the dramatic entrance of the show’s host, The Traveler, who appeared to fall ungracefully from the sky and onto the stage, landing in a field of yellow marigolds.

The Traveler, a somewhat bumbling, comedic and endearing character, guided the audience through the stories of LUZIA. The show’s theme was “A Waking Dream of Mexico,” and throughout the performances The Traveler encountered a number of mystical creatures and characters that evoked the sumptuous and vibrant world of Mexico through colorful costumes, innovative set design, energetic music and, of course, excellent acrobatics.

Butterflies, jaguars, hummingbirds, snakes, iguanas, crocodiles, fish, armadillos, a jaguar and even larger-than-life bugs all made appearances in the performance. Through the scenes, viewers were transported to lush fields filled with flowers, sandy beaches, arid deserts and lush rain forests showcasing the variety of environments found in Mexico.

In one scene, a showboating, hand-balancing lifeguard was surrounded by fawning swimmers as he was directed by a demanding film director as a nod to 1920s Mexican cinema. In another, footballers seemingly fresh off the pitch engaged in a lively dance with carefully-contained, swirling soccer balls.

As is to be expected, it was the performers themselves who skillfully brought these stories to life. Their mastery of technique lent them a fluidity that allowed viewers to lose themselves in the narrative story arc. The evening showcased stellar acrobatics, including hoop diving on treadmills, the adagio acts wherein performers achieved intricate flips through the air, dual cyr wheel dancers paired with a high-flying trapeze act overhead, plus traditional masts, contortion, poles and aerial straps. 

Throughout the evening’s performance, I glanced over at my young daughter, who was transfixed by the movements onstage. Holding her toy binoculars up to her eyes, she gasped as The Running Woman wearing a gigantic, flowing monarch butterfly costume leapt to the stage in front of a bright sunrise and pursued by a massive galloping horse. Similarly, the dramatic and surprising addition of a rain curtain that poured onto the stage from up high in the rafters above — at times actually taking the form of shapes and animals — brought a sense of awe and wonder from all of us in the crowd. 

This use of rain in the big top is a first for Cirque du Soleil, and it requires storing 10,000 liters of water, which is emptied and refilled between stops on the tour. A computer analyzes the water to ensure it contains a safe level of alkalinization and micro-particles, and the stage is perforated with almost 95,000 holes to allow the water to flow through the floor and be recaptured by the system. The result is a stunning spectacle of engineering that embodies the symbolism of rain in Mexican culture. 

I will admit that while I was watching the performance, tears pricked the corners of my eyes to see just how moved and inspired my daughter was by the show. As we walked out of the big top, stepping back into the inky dark night lit by the full moon and the glittering Atlanta skyline beyond, we spoke about the intergenerational and transformative power of dance and, more broadly, art. 

Cirque du Soleil, a traveling performance series that has been taking the world by storm since 1984 when it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul, Canada, offers a unique combination of acrobatics, dance, set design, storytelling and theater that continues to captivate audiences both young and old. We left feeling amazed by the power of the human mind and the athleticism of performers, while my daughter may have found new inspiration to become the next generation’s Running Woman. 

Subsequent showtimes of Cirque du Soleil’s LUZIA will take place at Atlantic Station through January 25, 2026. 

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Isadora Pennington is senior editor of art + design and dance. An experienced writer and photographer with a deep love for the arts, Isadora founded the Sketchbook newsletter with Rough Draft Atlanta in 2022. She is also president of the Avondale Arts Alliance and director of the Avondale Arts Center.