Cirque du Soleil Contortionist Ninjyn Altanhoyak: "Korea Feels Like Home"
Creatrip Team
4 months ago
Mongolian contortionist Ninjyn Altanhoyak, a performer in Cirque du Soleil’s Kuza, says Korea feels like home. Kuza, which debuted in 2007, is touring Seoul’s Jamsil Big Top through Dec. 28 after a stop in Busan. The show features 54 artists and includes a contortion (contortion: extreme flexibility acrobatics) act performed by three artists. Altanhoyak, 30, grew up partly in Seoul at age 15 as the child of a military attaché and learned Korean mainly from TV dramas and variety shows. He also received medical treatment in Korea as a child, and has kept in touch with friends there; he first performed in Korea with Kuza in 2018. Altanhoyak began training in contortion at age 5 in Mongolia, later lived in Pyongyang while attending a Russian embassy school and won an award at a local arts festival. He joined Cirque du Soleil at 19 and has performed in Kuza for ten years, touring most of the year. He credits Mongolian performers’ light bodies and perseverance for their success in contortion and says Korea’s enthusiastic audience reactions energize the performers.
