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MOLLY HAYSMaria Silaeva is no ordinary teen, and performing in Alegria is no ordinary life. It's a whirl of practice, school and travel.
ST. PETERSBURG - Maria Silaeva appears in the spotlight in a yellow, form-fitting suit adorned with sparkling accents and tight yellow curls atop her head. She is ready to perform.
A singer's voice is heard, but all eyes are on Maria. She bends and twists into unimaginable shapes, dances with a red silk ribbon, and juggles and spins silver hoops. She is a manipulation artist, performing one of several acts in Cirque du Soleil's Alegria tour.
Maria, 16, has been with Alegria for more than three years. She combines contortion, juggling, ballet and rhythmic gymnastics in her act. "I do the ribbon in the beginning, then the six hoops. I kind of spin them on my body at different times and on my foot," she said. "I'm actually doing it for fun. I love it."
Maria, who is Russian and whose real name is Masha (Maria is the English translation), began studying gymnastics when she was 6. Her coach suggested that she try out for Alegria. Now, each day she practices three hours to perfect her routine.
The thrill of the audience's response makes Maria grateful to be a part of the show. "When they clap, it makes me feel happier, and it makes me smile," she said.
Her life on the road is different from that of an average teenager. She attends school on-site. The cast gets two weeks off for vacation during the year. When the show travels between cities, Maria gets time off from performing.
When asked if she regrets not having a regular teenager's life, Maria said, "I have problems with that because . . . I'm working every week." She said that makes it difficult to make friends.
In her spare time, Maria likes to shop, surf the Internet, watch movies and listen to music. She likes comedy, drama and horror movies, and anything featuring Jennifer Lopez. She enjoys classical, rock and country music, and listens to Eminem and Nickelback. Her favorite artists are Russian.
On the road, Maria's life is very structured. She usually gets to bed about 1 a.m. (performances end about 10:30 p.m., but she stays awake to watch movies, she said). She wakes up at 10 a.m. and heads to school. She is in school from 11 a.m. to late afternoon, but that depends on how many performances are scheduled for the day.
The classes are taught in English and French. Maria is a ninth-grader and studies English, history, geography, biology, math, French and art. "(Mostly) I study English because my English is not good," she said.
Maria and the other students also study the child-labor laws of other countries to learn that though work tends to be fun for the Cirque kids, it may be forced for children in some countries. Because they will visit Asia soon, they have studied how children in Bangkok, Thailand, are drugged and forced to work.
After school, Maria rushes to be made up and warm up for Alegria (the word means jubilation in Spanish). Maria said warmups and rehearsals are fun. While doing them, she practices her act and skills she would like to perfect, such as hand balancing.
After makeup and warmups, it's off to the stage.
"For me it's not difficult at all (performing for a live audience)," she said. "It was difficult (the first time), and I thought, "I'm alone onstage, so it's kind of like everybody's looking at me,' and you think of that. It scared me before, but now not anymore. I like to play with the audience."
In her life after Cirque, Maria would like to be a model or an actor. But if that doesn't work, she said, she may want to stay with the show. "Maybe I will think of something else, a different act, like hand balancing," she said.
Whatever she does, Maria said, her work with Alegria can only help. To her, Alegria is "like a dream."
She has become accustomed to her life away from her home, family and friends in Russia. She described her life on the road and with the other performers as like being with family. Alegria employs two physiotherapists, four chefs, four teachers, many technical and office staff members, 150 locals for support and 56 performers and musicians.
"We are close to each other," Maria said. "They take care of me like a daughter or sister."
- Molly Hays, 15, is in ninth grade at Countryside High School.