Las Vegas show acrobat to join Bize Lizu

A performer from Cirque du Soleil will be joining the St Petersburg dance company, Bize Lizu, in its upcoming Malta tour, promising to add even more colour and contortion to the already action-packed and spectacular French Kiss show.

The acrobat has extensive experience in Las Vegas, Europe and Asia and is set to mesmerise his audiences with gravity-defying displays.

Cirque du Soleil is an entertainment empire famous for its reinvented circus shows. Its multiple, permanent Las Vegas shows alone play to more than 9,000 people a night, adding to the 70 million and more who have experienced Cirque.

Apart from the acrobatics, though, fans of modern ballet and cabaret will be again treated to a mélange of both these dance forms during French Kiss. But the vibrant show is also intended to draw in audiences that are new to the art.

The dance company will be giving dance classes while in Malta, the organisers said.

Returning to Malta after a successful stint of shows in February, Bize Lizu is promising new dance numbers and costumes. Last time round, the lively, 11-year-old dance company was introduced to Malta with a sold-out sampling of their work, entitled A Night In Paris.

The professional dancers were accompanied by 860 kilos of costumes - each one encrusted in Swarowski crystals from the tips of their toes to the head-dresses.

However, French Kiss is not just glamour and glitz. It also plans to have a philanthropic aim: Part of its profits are being donated to cancer patients, the organisers said, while the dancers would be donating gifts to children suffering from leukaemia at Mater Dei Hospital.

The upcoming shows will be staged at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta on June 14 and 15 with tickets starting from €15 (Lm6.44).

A limited number of seating remains but audiences also have a choice of three nights under the stars and by the water's edge at the Grand Hotel Excelsior, with prices starting from €50 (Lm21.47), inclusive of the three-hour show, a buffet dinner and a fireworks display over Marsamxett Harbour after each performance.

More details are available on 7979 1223 or via e-mail at horizon-projects@onvol.net.