Two years ago, San Diego BMX cyclist Victor Salazar went off to join the circus. This week, he came home.
Salazar, 26, is one of five professional BMX riders performing in “Volta,” Cirque du Soleil’s action sports-inspired tent show that opened Wednesday and continues through May 5 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
“Volta” features a cast of more than 40 international acrobats, skaters, slackline walkers, aerialists, parkour athletes, clowns, dancers, singers and musicians. But it’s the BMX riders who star in the show’s finale, performing high-flying stunts on steep polycarbonate ramps and vertical platforms just feet away from the surrounding audience.
Salazar said audiences in the 2,500-seat tent are usually surprised to be so close to five riders performing intricate maneuvers together in such a confined space.
“It can be nerve-wracking for people because they don’t expect such an intimate experience,” he said. “There’s a lot of adrenaline pumping and high-flying action. What they may be used to seeing on TV is nothing like what they’re going to see in the tent.”
Salazar was invited to Montreal in 2017, when the Canadian circus theater company began developing a new show that would combine traditional circus performers with urban, street and parkour athletes. The Mission Valley resident said he enjoyed the experience of working in the tent show environment so much that he signed on as a permanent member of the Volta BMX team.
Since Volta’s launch in mid-2017, it has toured continuously through Canada and the U.S. with four-to five-week stops in each region. It’s now finishing up a winter-long tour of California. From Del Mar, it will next move to Chicago for a two-month run. In the transfer time between each city, Salazar has flown home to San Diego to visit his girlfriend, his family and friends. So he’s thrilled to back in his hometown this month, for more reasons than one.
“It’s a huge accomplishment for me to be here with Cirque du Soleil to show everyone who supported me along the way where I’m at in my journey,” he said. “A lot of the time I was hurt or I didn’t do my best or I was down and out. But I never let that get me down. I’ve always been pushing. It’s a big weight off my shoulders to show people that this is what I have to offer and this is what we want to bring.”
Salazar, who grew up in Huntington Beach, said he fell in love with BMX cycling when he saw his first race at age 3. While he enjoyed winning races, he quickly realized he was more interested in doing aerial tricks than finishing in first place. When he was 13, a BMX stunt team performed a motivationally themed show at his middle school and their message of positivity stuck with him.
“They said if you have dreams and goals in life, no matter what they are, pursue them and go for it,” he said.
At 16, he turned pro and at 18 he became a touring athlete, traveling with BMX teams all over the world. In 2013, he won third place in a FISE World Series contest in France. He has performed in NBA and NFL halftime shows and has appeared in several national TV commercials.
One of his best friends, and sometimes competitors, on the touring circuit was AJ Anaya of Denver, Colo. Anaya was among the first BMX riders to be recruited to Montreal to develop Volta. He convinced Salazar to join him there. The all-ages show tells the wordless story of Waz, a fame-seeking game-show contestant who becomes disillusioned with life and goes in search of a new identity, which he finds among a community of supportive, free-spirited athletes led by the BMX riders.
Because Volta was the first show Cirque du Soleil shaped around action sports, these athletes had a major part in crafting their acts. Steven Ross, senior publicist for Volta, said the BMX riders requested less rigid costumes for better flexibility and the arc of the see-through ramps they ride at the corners of the stage were built to their specifications.
Salazar said performing in the dark tent with moving stage lights on see-through ramps can be challenging and confusing, so white strips of reflective tape line the edges of the heavy plastic ramps so the riders don’t miss a landing. The show is not without its dangers. In December, a member of the BMX team was injured in a fall during a performance in San Francisco. And last spring an aerialist died after a fall during a Tampa show.
Ross said Cirque du Soleil treats all of its performers like professional sports athletes. They travel with coaches and medical staff who perform regular health evaluations and rotate out performers for a rest whenever necessary. Salazar said he stays in peak form by working out in the gym six days a week and practicing for at least two hours each day on his bike — which is purple with chrome plating for show-goers looking to identify him during performances.
The Volta tour schedule is now booked through September, with several more cities planned after that. Salazar said he plans to stay with the show indefinitely.
“I don’t see myself going anywhere. I’m here to stay,” he said. “It’s been an awesome ride.”
{ SOURCE: San Diego Union-Tribune }
