Privet
That means hello in Russian!
My name is Marina from Zumanity by Cirque du Soleil.
Welcome to Get Glam on Refinery29.
For all of you that have a VR headset, click on this icon.
Where is the icon?
To watch in virtual reality.
I’ve been in the circus since I was born.
I started to perform when I was six years old with my father.
I grew up in Vegas, so I’ve always watched Zumanity and I’ve always thought,
"Oh my god.
I want to be in this show."
Zumanity is such a unique show compared to all the other cirque shows because we’re
not portraying necessarily animals.
We are people and we’re portraying sex and love and beauty and everything.
The character I play, her name is Star.
The character jas to be, not only soft and elegant, she has to be powerful, feisty and
strong.
The whole entire show I am looking for love and I am looking for romance.
And I do a duo act with the love that I find.
And my partner is my husband.
We actually met on Viva Elvis, which was about nine and a half years ago.
And I actually have two brothers who are also in Cirque, so yes, we are a big circus family.
Stage makeup is a little bit different than your average makeup so we have to put on a
little bit more than normal, but we don’t want it to be cakey as well.
We do two shows a night, ten shows a week.
We sweat, we run around and we want it to last.
These contours have to be a little over exaggerated and I want my cheekbones really high up so
I’m not going to go straight, I’m gonna kind of “voom” a little bit up.
So my character, her eyes are super bright, very glittery.
This white really makes the eyes open up a lot on stage.
It feels like I’ve done this makeup routine thousands of times.
I feel like every day it still changes.
I find different steps, different shortcuts.
Looks a little crazy, I know.
But it helps.
So what do you think so far?
I’m not done yet.
Makeup takes me about, start to finish with wig prep, one hour.
On a good day.
Now let’s do glitter and lashes.
Now, rhinestones.
I am an acrobat so it takes a little bit more time to do my wig prep and my makeup, just
to make sure it stays on.
I lose these rhinestones on stage all the time.
Because I kiss onstage, we need lipstick not to move.
Just on the corners to make them darker.
This lipstick is super sticky.
The closer I come to finish with my makeup, I am more becoming the character.
I would never wear red lips, but Star does.
At this point, I feel myself becoming Star.
Next thing we’re gonna do is wig prep.
That’s the part that completely transforms me.
A lot of people who come watch the show do not recognize me at first, at all.
We have to make this super tight.
Pin curls done.
Now let’s prep it.
You get yourself like a free little botox.
Everything is so pulled back.
Voila!
And let me show you now what we’re putting on.
And this is her.
Hi.
Hey!
So this is Roger, the mastermind behind all the wigs and makeup.
Let’s transform.
Anchored in.
At the beginning of Zumanity, Thierry Mugler, our costume designer and Natalie Gagne our
makeup designer, wanted to keep Zumanity fresh and fashion forward and also give a nod to
Hollywood glamour, and that’s how the Star character came about.
How does that feel?
Yup!
Awesome!
Alright, hair and makeup is done.
Now let’s get to wardrobe.
Follow me.
This is Ron.
He is my dresser.
He puts up with me a lot.
My costumes are always dirty and he cleans them up.
Spin around.
Now that I’m ready, it’s showtime.
Entering stage right.
How is everybody doing tonight?
Thank you for watching Get Glam on Refinery29.
Are you feeling sexy?
I’m on.
For more behind the scenes of Zumanity in VR180,
check out this awesome video on Cirque Du Soleil’s YouTube channel.