Lauren Rose (left) joins fellow Gator gymnastics alum Marissa King on the Cirque du Soleil stage as part of the Amaluna show.
Cirque du Soleil Amaluna show adds Gator Lauren Rose
Tuesday, June 7, 2016 | Gymnastics
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By: Layne Weitzel, UAA Intern
Lauren Rose was nine years old when she decided that one day, she would perform on a Cirque du Soleil stage. Lauren Rose (left) and Marissa King in their Cirque du Soleil make-up and costumes. Other Gators who have performed on a Cirque stage include Chrissy Van Fleet, Corey Hartung, Melanie Sinclair and Nicola Willis.
Now, a little over a month after her 24th birthday, she can call herself a Cirque performer.
Rose, who competed for Florida gymnastics from 2011 to 2014 and graduated from UF in December 2015, recently earned a spot with the Cirque show "Amaluna," which is currently touring in Frankfurt, Germany, and will later make five more stops across Europe. Rose auditioned for the company in September 2015 and was granted a training contract from January to March.
Although floor exercise and vault were Rose's primary events at Florida, she will take on a new challenge for "Amaluna." Each character in the show is associated with a different stunt or skill, and as an Amazon, Rose will perform on uneven bars. This version of uneven bars differs slightly from the one used in collegiate gymnastics -- the show uses two apparatuses that face one another, and the bars themselves have less give and flexibility than what is used by artistic gymnastics competitors.
During Rose's two-month training contract, which Cirque calls "Performance Preparation Program," she practiced specifically for the uneven bars at the company's headquarters in Montreal, learning how she would execute her routine in the show.
"They particularly liked us to train what they called classic, which is Olga Korbut-style bars when they are closer together, and you let your hips beat the bar, and you wrap yourself around the bar," Rose said. "The bar did not have a bounce the way traditional bars do, which made you have to change the way you swing and tap for traditional skills.
"One of the most surprising things is that artistry is far more important than perfection. They were more interested in creating an artistic impression than executing a skill perfectly."
Luckily, Rose has a fellow former Gator to lean on in learning the ins and outs of Cirque. Marissa King, an 11-time All-American at Florida, began performing in "Amaluna" as an Amazon in late 2014 and will team up with Rose on the bars.
"It is so nice to have a UF teammate to perform with on stage!" Rose said.
Rose is not a stranger to circus-style entertainment. In addition to her gymnastics background at Florida and Orlando Metro, she trained on and off in aerial silks at Metro Movement and Aerial Arts starting at age 12. Cirque features aerial silks in shows such as "La Nouba," which was the first Cirque show Rose saw.
"It is always good to have backgrounds in multiple areas," she said.
When she was working toward a degree in applied physiology and kinesiology, Rose was vocal about her goals of becoming a Cirque artist and pursuing a later career in the medical field as a surgeon. However, she is keeping her options open, whether it's staying on at Cirque and working in physiotherapy with the artists or studying at PA school.
"As of now, I don't exactly know what I want to do," Rose said.
For now, she'll continue to fly high for Cirque du Soleil.
