Ode to the Trickster.

**IMPORTANT** I am in NO way affiliated with Cirque du Soleil or the show Kooza. This is blog is run by a FAN!!! I plan to devote this blog to everything and anything about the character from Kooza... the Trickster! Bienvenue!

[sweepseven]

The Trickster & Kashmir

[tricksterofkooza]

Here it is guys. The evidence we’ve been looking for, for ages.

This is our female Trickster! Darya Vintilova. 

Taken from her public Facebook page. I also tossed up a picture of her without her Trickster get up on, just to get a nice side by side comparison. The Trickster photo is likely rather old, my guess is sometime during the start of the show (maybe 2010?).

[ronyavalentine]

The Trickster

A commission I made for my sweet friend Lani @paladinofmoonlight ! Thank you for commissioning me — this was the most fun I’ve had with a piece in a good while!

[sweepseven]

[sweepseven]

[tricksterofkooza]

I SAW KOOZA IN MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA A WEEK AGO AND I'M. OBSESSED AAAAAA

YAY! Welcome to the club, your only required initiation is to sing Kooza Dance very loudly while prancing around like the Trickster. 

Did that?

Cool, you’re in.

[tricksterofkooza]

On seeing this in Australia, if you're curious: No contortionists, maybe one was sick or something. The girl swung on a hoop instead of a trapeze. And the Trickster was absolute perfection :)

Wooo!! thanks for the update.

And I’m also happy to report that Mike Tyus is back as the Trickster!! There aren’t too many photos of him but you can check his tag on tumblr for a handful of cute gems. I’ve only seen Jason Berrent and Joey Arrigo, but I hear Mike is wonderful!

[tricksterofkooza]

I don't know if this blog is still active, but I saw Kooza today in Australia and adored it and the Trickster! After scrolling through your posts, I can't find anything about your backstage experience and I'm dying to know! Any info on this?

This is so sweet! I’ve been extremely busy the past… erm, year?… So I don’t really touch this blog much anymore, sadly. But I’m happy to see so many people getting joy out of the posts that are still floating around :).

I never really posted about it, did I? Lol, whoops. I’ll try my best to do an abbreviated version…

Well, Stephan (the original Innocent) took me backstage and showed me around all the different areas, it was super cool. I got to see the costumes up close (WOW, holy crud, the detail! My favorite costume by far was the Trickster’s Crooner/Skull outfit) and I got to hug Joey (who was playing the Trickster at the time, he still in costume and sweaty af, but was so sweet nevertheless!). The tour was relatively low-key since everyone was very tired/getting ready to leave to go home. Stephan showed all the different parts - wardrobe department, just behind the stage where they make the entrance, the entrances to the trapdoors underneath the stage, where all the props are kept, the monitors of stage on a closed circuit to help them with their cues, and the warm-up/waiting areas. He even took us to this separate tent/room where there was just a TON of hardware and equipment for the tech crew. 

It really made you appreciate just how much hard work it takes to put on these shows.

If you have any requests or would like to help contribute to the blog since it’s pretty much inactive right now, I’d be very interested in adding on some admins to continue making posts. That goes for anyone who’s reading this. :)

Thanks for the Kooza love!! <3

[tricksterofkooza]

I've watched Kooza twice on hulu in the last week, read, or rather skimmed through all the fanfiction I could find, and went through every page of this blog. LOL, do you think I'm obsessed?

Obsessed is just another way of saying “passionate,” I think! Welcome to the party; do a little Kooza Dance! ;)

[maddsaa]

Wheeew ok, been working on this on an off since January. Glad to be FINISHED hahaha So here’s one more Kooza (Cirque du Soleil) study to celebrate the fact that apparently we’re actually gonna get to see the show in December!

[maddsaa]

Process for this study! Not included: a couple of more pics before #1 and the ridiculous amount of times I flipped the image horizontally and vertically haha @cirquedusoleil

[sweepseven]

Farewell to Yulia Korostelva, Kooza’s trapeze artist! 

Best of luck with all that’s to come. 

[tricksterofkooza]

With Yulia, we are also saying good bye to troupe members Cedric Belisle (Charivari/L'Innocent) and Mary-Pier Guilbault (principal singer). Wish them 'happy trails'!

[fathermime]

Oh my god. This is beautiful and sad and just amazing.

[onyx-dream]

Kooza’s The Innocent is an adorable addition to the tree 🎪💛💙🎄 #cirquedusoleil #kooza #ornament #treeornament

[theprovince]

[galacticyoga]

[tricksterofkooza]

This is a cute little montage of footage of Kooza rehearsals. This is some time before the show actually premiered since the costumes are still in development during these run throughs.

Some interesting tidbits of note: The Trickster’s entrance is modified here with no hydraulics, only a sort of “tumble” out of the box (at around 0:34). Also, The Trickster was at one point much more integrated into the trapeze act, he actually flies around with her at one point early in the act, as seen here (around 0:54).