While the performers soar through the air at Cirque du Soleil’s Luzia in Tysons II, artistic director Gracie Valdez will be feeling grounded.
That’s because the show’s run here (September 6 through October 19) is like coming home for the 40-year-old. Although she was born in Los Angeles, she and her family moved to Vienna when she was in fourth grade. She graduated from St. Paul VI Catholic High School in 2003 when it was in Fairfax, and George Mason University in 2007.
“I’m really nostalgic,” says Valdez, who danced at Cuppett Performing Arts Center from ages 12 to 18. “Vienna has a massive part of my heart. … I think it’s the sweetest little town. When I try and explain it to people, it’s hard to explain, but it’s like a little dreamland.”
That’s an apt choice of words for someone who works for Cirque, a 40-year-old Canadian entertainment company known for producing animal-free circuses with surreal sets, elaborate costumes, and seemingly impossible acrobatics and other physical feats.
Performing Arts Background
Valdez got into the performing arts when she started taking dance lessons at Cuppett Performing Arts Center at age 12. She was instantly hooked. “I got addicted in terms of the structure and the discipline,” she says, adding that she did ballet, jazz, modern, and contemporary dance.
She went on to join the high school dance team and GMU’s Masonettes, the university’s official dance team. Valdez also taught at Cuppett, showing students ages 2 through adult how to move. When her mentor — a fellow Mason grad — joined Cirque, Valdez took over her now-defunct dance company, Mayzsoul.
“Because I had managed the dance company so successfully, in her eyes, she was very gracious and introduced me to some wonderful people [at Cirque] that offered me a position as a stage manager,” Valdez says.
That was in 2008, and the show was Kooza. Since then, she has also worked on Totem and Iris, going up the creative ladder to assistant artistic director and then her current position, which she landed in 2016.
“Working with circus, a lot of that movement and a lot of that knowledge can translate in terms of performing and performance quality, and even just musicality and how you learn through all of that when you’re learning how to dance,” Valdez says. “I am able to capitalize on that knowledge.”
Luzia‘s Artistic Vision
As artistic director, Valdez says she is responsible for the quality of Luzia, designed to blend dreams and reality in an imaginary Mexico. “Anything that happens on stage I’m accountable for … [except] technical aspects,” she says. “We have a technical director that I work with in tandem.”
To that end, she manages all the artists and artistic team, including stage managers, coaches, and performance medicine therapists, who help keep the performers in tip-top shape for the seven to 10 shows they do per week.
“I have my eye on the show as it’s happening, every show,” says Valdez, who now calls Perth, Australia, home.
When Valdez has free time during her stay in Tysons, she visits her favorite childhood haunts, including Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts and exhibits at Smithsonian museums in DC, a nod to her degree from Mason in art and art history.
She also visits with longtime friends from her dancing days. The extended stay means she gets to “spend some really good quality time with people that I love and cherish,” she says.
One of her favorite things to do is take her friends’ children to see Luzia, she says. “I’ve seen nearly 3,000 [performances] of this show, and watching it through the eyes of these kids is just magic,” Valdez says. “Our show is a wonderful escape from reality.”
Feature image courtesy Matt Beard & Anne Colliard
