Performer in hospital after fall

Audience members watched in horror Tuesday night as two performers fell 15 to 35 feet during a "Zumanity" show at New York-New York.

One of the Cirque du Soleil performers injured in the fall, a woman, remained at University Medical Center's intensive care unit in critical condition on Wednesday. The other, a "little person" named Alan Jose Silva, was treated for minor injuries Tuesday night and released from the hospital, said Anita Nelving, spokeswoman for Cirque du Soleil.

While details of the accident varied slightly from witness to witness, one consistent comment was that the audience was aghast.

"It was traumatic," said Glenda Andress, a Dallas resident who was at the show.

The accident occurred near the end of the 7:30 p.m. performance. Witnesses said the woman was hanging 15 to 35 feet from the stage on a long white drape during an "aerial silk" segment of the show when she lost her grip.

As she plummeted to the stage floor, she knocked Silva off the same drape. He had been hanging onto it about a foot or two below her. Both hit the stage with a resounding thud and bounced several inches into the air, witnesses said.

"We thought that was just how the act ended. But I thought no. They hit really hard," said Veronica Harris, another tourist from Texas. "Our bodies are not meant to have impacts like that."

The spectators gasped loudly after the performers hit the ground, and as the woman and Silva moaned in pain on the stage, witnesses said.

Cirque du Soleil staff began assisting the performers about a minute after the fall, witnesses said. They took the performers away on stretchers as people in their seats looked on in dread.

Nelving said those who immediately attended to the injured performers on the stage and backstage were a physical therapist and a couple of people with paramedic training.

The show resumed after the injured acrobats were taken from the stage.

Andress said at least half of the approximately 1,000 people in the audience began walking out. She said it was obvious that "they were so traumatized they couldn't be there anymore."

Witnesses said they received a full refund for their tickets.

Silva, from Brazil, has been with the show since it began in September 2002, Nelving said.

The other performer, whose name was withheld, is from Bulgaria and has been with the show for about six months, she said.

Zumanity will stop performing the about eight-minute long "aerial silk" act while they re-examine whether it is safe, Nelving said.

This isn't the first time Zumanity players were injured doing that specific act. About a year and a half ago, two performers fell while performing the aerial silk segment during rehearsal, Nelving said.

There have been other accidents associated with the Cirque du Soleil shows as well. In 2002, a thousand-pound prop for the "O" show fell on Bellagio electrician Mark Brown. He lost 25 percent of his skull and was paralyzed from the waist down. He later sued Cirque du Soleil but settled with the company for an unknown amount as the jury was about to award him $41.6 million, according to the jury foreperson.

Though Tuesday's fall upset Andress, she remains a fan of Cirque du Soleil.

"I loved all the Cirque du Soleil shows," she said. "I loved this one too. It was beautiful and funny. It was hilarious up until it (the accident happened). Then it was shocking."

Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-4638.