A Cirque du Soleil performer is recovering after taking a terrifying fall during a show over the weekend.
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According to KOIN 6, the accident happened during the Kooza show at Portland, Oregon’s Expo Center on Saturday, Aug. 25. Kooza is one of the traveling shows of Cirque du Soleil and is holding a residency in Portland.
During the show, Cirque du Soleil performer and Russian aerialist Mariia Konfektova was seen doing her suspended-in-the-air hula hoop performance when she fell.
Benjamin Goldstein, a 10-year-old who attended the show with his little sister Samantha and father Brian, caught the tumble on camera.
“At first, I thought it was part of the show, like, it looked like it was purposefully,” Benjamin explained. “But then we’re, like, people were acting weird. I was like, oh, this isn’t part of the show. Something’s up.”
Samantha also told the media outlet that she got “really, really, really scared” when the Cirque du Soleil performer fell. “Yeah, yeah, I also thought it was part of the show,” she noted. “But I saw she was actually really hurt. And it’s all really scary.”
A spokesperson for the show released a statement about the ordeal. “In accordance with our emergency procedures, we stopped the show briefly and the artist was immediately assisted by the tour intervention team and transported to the hospital for examination.”
The spokesperson continued by noting. “The health and safety of our employees is always our top priority. As always, in the case of an accident, the artist will continue to be monitored by the KOOZA medical and coaching team to determine when she can return to the show.“
The spokesperson added that the performer was “conscious, stable, and being cared for by medical specialists and [their] team” as of Sunday afternoon.
A Separate Circus Aerial Performer Fell During a Recent Performance
Cirque du Soleil performer’s accident comes just days after another circus aerial performer took a nasty fall during a performance.
That accident took place at the Glyne Gap Field in Bexhill, East Sussex last week. During the performance, the circus performer was balancing on poles that were held by two men on a tight rope. As part of the act, she was standing up and sitting back down.
As she tried to sit, she lost her footing and fell 16 feet to the ground. She laid motionless on the ground as South East Coast Ambulance Service (Seacamb) was contacted.
Thankfully, a Seacamb spokesperson confirmed to BBC the woman’s injuries “did not appear to be life-threatening.”
Gravity Circus, which was holding the event, issued a statement about the incident. “We can confirm that an accident occurred last night involving one of our tight rope performers during the show,” the circus stated. “In live entertainment and high-risk performances, accidents can unfortunately happen despite stringent safety measures.