Birkdale diver Gene Kimlin is joining the aquatic cast of Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas’ “O” at the Bellagio Hotel. Kimlin has been performing, in and out of the water, for more than twenty years and now joins the international cast as it performs nightly at the infamous Bellagio. The 24 year old first started training in gymnastics before he began competing competitively in diving. While he has never been able to represent his country in any large arena events (in 2006 when he was set to compete with Australia in the Commonwealth Games he hit his head on the diving board and missed out on the trials), he has always been enthralled with the acrobatic acts of Cirque du Soleil and jumped at the chance to work with the troupe when he heard they needed a new diver.
With a rigorous audition tape that got Cirque du Soleil execs excited about his interpretive dance skills, he was shuttled over to Montreal, Canada to begin training. “When I went over there they said, ‘What attracted us to your was not actually your diving, we can see you’re a brilliant diver and are strong and flexible, but it was your interpretive dance,” Gene told The Redland Times. “They could see that I had never had any type of interpretive dance training and didn’t even know what interpretive dance was, but saw that I’d made a real effort and had actually created something that was, well, good.” After three months of training in 2006 he had to wait until a divers spot opened up and now he plans on opening with the 10 full shows each week mid November. Check out all the action and get your own O tickets to see Kimlin perform live on stage!
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