June 15, 2023 / by Kay / In programmes
The reluctant performer from Cirque du Soleil
Hard to believe that someone who’s just spent three years in a Cirque du Soleil spectacular show in Las Vegas never fancied being a performer. But that’s Luke Quadrio, our guest acrobatics instructor who is arriving in August.
An introverted child, he found his way to the pinnacle of circus performance from a simple starting point: a garden trampoline and an abundant choice of trees to climb in rural north-eastern Australia, near Brisbane.
Even as a teenager who was coaching trampoline, gymnastics and parkour, he wasn’t for putting himself out there on the stage.
“It was never about the performance for me, I had no interest in competing despite my coach always trying to persuade me. I really just liked doing flips,” recalls Luke.
Don’t we all? But don’t make the mistake of thinking Luke isn’t competitive when it comes to his other passion: board games!
“Dune Imperium is my go-to game,” says Luke, “but honestly, anything strategy-based.”
When circus came a-calling, Luke’s life took a totally different trajectory.
“I was studying business at Uni because I naively thought that’s what I needed to do to get a job,” he says. “I found circus through some parkour and gymnastics friends that I trained with, and loved the creative nature of it.
“In the last semester, a mentor of mine mentioned Beijing’s circus school to me in passing and I instantly liked the idea.
“I did some research and then mentioned it to some of my students who were looking for tertiary circus education. Myself and three of them decided to move there together to train.”
It was during the three-year programme at Beijing International Art School that Luke decided to specialist in Chinese pole. His creative and compelling use of this apparatus is what led him to become a Cirque du Soleil performer.
Since he finished the programme in China, Luke has followed his devotion for circus arts in his home country and around the world, sharing his extensive experience in a variety of disciplines both as a performer and an instructor.
One of his locations was in Brazil, where he met our flying trapeze instructor Gabriel Stella at Circocan. Through this connection, Aerial Edge is fortunate to be able to invite Luke to be our guest instructor for the full-time four-month Foundation Course which starts in August.
Along the way in his travels, he’s become an accomplished linguist and learned a lot about yoga.
“I speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese and I’m learning French at the moment. The romance languages interest me more than any others,” says Luke.
“As an eternal student myself, I believe anyone is capable of learning anything with enough patience and the right attitude.
“I’m eager to join the Aerial Edge family!”