Welcome to another episode of ImmerCirque,
Cirque du Soleil VR 180 experience.
To continue and have the full experience,
please go get your VR glasses and enjoy the show.
Name's Elena Lev.
I'm originally from Moscow, Russia.
I do a hula hoop contortion solo act that I've joined the circus with,
and so I've been doing that for 25 years now.
I’m gonna start with the base,
and to be continued.
I love putting on makeup, and to me exactly,
it is a little preparation, meditation.
I usually like to listen to some music,
sometimes talk to my neighbors,
but it is a time to just sit down
and prep yourself mentally for the show.
Final step: lashes.
Et voilà! And now we're gonna go warm up the show.
My dad decided he wanted to do gymnastics,
so he became a great gymnast,
and my mom did rhythmic gymnastics.
And then they met each other at university,
as my dad was transferring into circus,
and they both joined the circus.
So, when I was born they brought me into gymnastic
and then rhythmic, and made me choose.
I chose, of course, rhythmic gymnastics,
because I liked to play with all the little apparatuses.
Hula hoop was one of my favorites.
So, when my father started touring a lot,
I had to kind of stop the big sport,
and because I already was playing with hula hoop
and was pretty good at it,
we then decided to create the different acts.
I was then 11,
so we combined the dance, the rhythmic gymnastics
with hula hoop and circus,
and that's kind of all came together.
The beginning of the act I like,
because this is where you come on stage.
Here I am!
You have to catch the eye and the attention
of your performance to the audience.
Then, there is a part of the act, of course, which takes concentration.
Usually, it's my first trick.
I take my hoop and I put it on my foot
and this is where I have most of the balance.
And then once I passed that part, I'm good.
If you want to see more
of the backstage VR experience of Zumanity,
click here.