Brandon Pereyda is one of the world’s most brilliant & unique performers EVER! His ‘Chains’ act is breath taking and pushes the human physicality to its limits. Brandon brings fantasies to life. He flies and defies gravity on his chains. Dreams take flight as he soars through the air, performing daring feats of aerial athleticism choreography and strength. It is truly one of the most dramatic, impressive, moving and brilliant acts anywhere around the world!
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Zumanity is one of my favorite shows on earth and here’s why: it’s sexy, it’s fun, it’s got a great comedian, it’s got an emcee thats hysterical, and it’s got these unique special acts that will blow your mind. And when I saw the show in May there was one man, and one man only I wanted to talk to, which is Brandon [Pereyda], who has this unique chain act where he dangles and twists himself and contorts, and he’s here with us now…
Q. How are you?
Very good. How are you?
Q. I am delicious but not as good as you because, let’s face it, you’ve got one of the most unique brilliant acts on earth and I ask myself every time: how are you not dead?
Well that’s a good thing or I’d not be here! It’s a lot of daily training and, to be honest, the act I do is scary as all hell, but it is truly inside of me, inside my soul, so I literally live it every night.
Q. Let’s explain. So there are chains and you dangle from them and you contort, and you do it over and over and over again to the point where we’re begging you to come down for your own safety. You make it look so beautiful and clever but at the same time it must be incredibly stressful and physically demanding?
[It’s] extremely physically demanding and emotionally as well. I have a whole process that I go through by the time I come into work [through] until I go up and drop in, so to say, from the high grid. It’s extremely mental. Everything has to be perfectly planned out. Some people would say it’s superstitious but to me everything in the act is perfectly planned out, and has to be specific, so leading up to it has to be as well.
Q. You’re incredibly brave on two levels: one, the Act obviously is far more dangerous than anything I can even conceive of doing, but then the whole thing is so beautiful, and you were born to work for Cirque du Soleil really because they scour the world looking for people like you, unique performers who have dedicated their life to a specific craft. Did this choose you or I guess you must have chosen it?
I definitely chose it. I actually wanted to be a doctor! I saw an aerial performance when I was about 17 years old; it’s the first time I ever saw aerial. I was a gymnast; I grew up doing gymnastics, and decided to do this. So I started training [in aerial]. I always liked the extreme; I don’t like anything that’s the norm, so I’ve always – in my whole career – pushed doing different things. How would I do it, you know, as opposed to how somebody else does it? So I think I started doing the chains just because nobody else does it. It’s not very common. And then with this apparatus… I created the apparatus… designed it myself… designed the act… and just kept pushing myself in creating new stuff because, for me, I don’t like going down that same groove that everybody else does.
Q. Let’s be honest: you can actually fall off those chains? There is nothing holding you on, is there?
I have no safety in the act. My act is named one of the most dangerous acts in the show – if not the most dangerous – because I’m flying over the audience multiple times. I only have my hand grip, as opposed to a lock or some type of a safety [wire] or [being] harnessed in, or anything like that. I’m not and it’s literally just my hand strength that’s holding me onto the bar, or to those chains itself.
Q. The focus you must have during that set is extraordinary. I mean, every hand movement has to be specifically placed and you must be thinking about everything in sort of an autistic 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 order. You must have an incredible memory?
It is literally one through one hundred. And each movement has one through one hundred, so my mind is doing so many things just to make sure that my body is going in the right positions, whether it’s focusing on where I need to be at a certain time—and also it comes down to lighting and to music; those have effects. On the other side you’re dealing with the costume, and then you’re dealing with, on top of that, performing and actually making it a performance for the audience to enjoy as opposed to just going up there and doing some impressive tricks.
Q. I would love to look like you and when I saw your body up there I thought yes, I’ll look like that. I’ve been to buffets every day this week, just helping myself, in a three or four times a day and nothing has happened. How do I create this?
To be honest with you my diet is very strict throughout the week and it’s only because I’m practically naked every night on stage. The act definitely does help. Doing this act 10 times a week, as you can see, is very strenuous. In the morning I wake up and I feel like I’m 90 with arthritis. Every part of my body feels like I got hit by a bus, and then slowly throughout the day I wake up and get my body moving and it feels back to life again.
Q. Talk me through your day. You wake up and eat what at what time, and how do we get to seven o’clock when you out in the show?
Usually I wake up around 11 or 12 and have a protein shake for breakfast. [Then] I usually have a fitness class that I teach; I’ll do a little nice quick workout – cardio. Come home and eata prepped meal that have already made and then I’ll go into workwith a carbohydrate drink with amino acids. I come in usually right at 4:30, start my hair and makeup at five o’clock, and then at six o’clock I start stretching and warming up. That is when I take my other amino supplement that I have just to help with the breakdown of the muscle tissues that I do in the show. And then I don’t eat anything until after the second show. I can’t have any food from my in my system from 3:30 in the afternoon until after the show at 11:30 at night just because spinning, [being] upside down, and flying around with an extra two pounds of liquid or food in my stomach isn’t gonna help.
Q. I’ve been very lucky to interview the stars of Cirque du Soleil across the strip from KA to “O” to all of the shows, LOVE, here [Zumanity] many, many, times and I’m constantly amazed by the discipline you have. The ninety minute you spend on stage twice a day is nothing compared to what you do off. It’s a lifestyle isn’t it? This is not a job, this is your life?
It truly is a lifestyle because if you go out one night and you decide to have a couple of drinks, you feel it the next day. And you know that it throws off and it pushes back your day. I can’t just come in and sit down. I’m sixty feet in the air, flying through the air, so I really have to know what I’m doing at all times to make sure that the next day, and even the next couple of days, are going to be flawless and safe for me in the air.
Q. And then when you see that poster with your face and body on it, is there any greater thrill than that? Because, I mean, that’s your legacy that will live on forever. It is on the internet [where] anybody can find it. It’s an extraordinary achievement. I guess this is the dream?
It’s crazy because when I was 17 years old I [wanted] to do Cirque du Soleil because [I saw} a Cirque artist performing, and I was like: I’m gonna be in Cirque du Soleil. I joined Zumanity when I was 23; it was like a fast-track road. To have an act in a Cirque du Soleil show is very rare. To have a solo [act] is even [rarer]. To have a solo [act] that is designed specifically by the actual person [is] even [rarer than that]. So to [have] that opportunity in the Cirque world was already a huge blessing. And then now this year to see all these billboard go up, and the posters of me in the ad that you see… it almost doesn’t feel real because I look at it and I’m like “why do I see myself?”
Q. Who’s that guy?
Exactly! Who is that? Who is that up there on the side of the wall? Everybody is always like “oh my god Brandon you’re everywhere in Vegas!” and it came so fast, so quick, but like I worked so hard to get there and it’s nice to see that it’s there. It’s nice.
Q. And there’s no getting away from being you. I mean, you’ve got extraordinary hair and you’re so physically imposing. When you walk through the casino most people must know who you are. Does that ever become normal?
I have had red hair and a red Mohawk for about 10 years. With long, bright, florescent red hair in a Mohawk with shaved sides, you stand out already. The people here in Las Vegas recognize me specifically if they’ve seen the show. Just a couple weeks ago I was at the grocery store by my house, which is a good 20 minutes away, and somebody came [over] and said “oh my god, you’re that guy in Zumanity!” And I was like “I.. What?” because sometimes I forget! I get used to it now. It’s funny because some of the cast members don’t like to leave the theater with me if we’re doing out because if there are people still outside of the theater, they recognize me and then I end up having to do photo ops. Everybody just wants to go and have a cocktail after the show so it slows everybody down. I usually leave by myself and try and put a hat on or something to cover up.
Q. If I could be you for one day… I’ve never seen people look up to a guy with such admiration. It’s remarkable! And on a physical level, what you do is so brilliant; I hope you know how spectacular it is. These guys know how to make an amazing act look even more spectacular, and that’s what they’ve done with you. It is so sexy and brilliant and unbelievable; what you do is remarkable. I hope I’ve said enough nice things it’s all meant with truth. Great to talk to you, thank you for your time. And good luck with the two shows tonight!
Thank you very much. It was a pleasure meeting you!
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Listen to this interview here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S4fKRvQUVk
Transcribed by the Fascination! Newsletter.
{ SOURCE: Alex Belfield of Celebrity Radio }
