Cirque du Soleil Aerialist ‘Conscious and Stable’ After 'Shocking' Fall During Portland Show: ‘I’m Okay’

Mar. 15, 2025

Mariia Konfektova.Photo:Mariia Konfektova/Instagram

Mariia Konfektova/Instagram

A Cirque du Soleil aerial hoop artist is recovering after a fall at the KOOZA show in Portland.

On Saturday, Aug. 24, aerialist Mariia Konfektova fell from the ring she was performing on not long into the show at the city’s Expo Center, according toFOX 12.

Konfektova assured fans she was okay after noticing a worried comment on anInstagramvideo she’d previously posted on May 18.

“I’m okay thanks for asking 🙏🏻❤️,” the performer, who is theGuinness World Record holderfor “the most aerial hoop rotations in 30 seconds,” wrote.

“Safety is of our utmost concern, and they will be cared for until they can return to the show. We do hope you enjoyed the rest of KOOZA,” the post added.

Cirque du Soleil did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Mariia Konfektova.Mariia Konfektova/Instagram

Brian Goldstein, who attended the show with his two children, toldGood Morning America, “The Cirque du Soleil response team just showed up on stage, there was 10 to 12 of them.”

“To see something like this is very surprising and very shocking,” he added, saying that he gave the performers who carried on with the show “kudos” after experiencing an incident like that. Goldstein’s son Benjamin, 10, captured the harrowing moment on camera.

Artists perform at Cirque du Soleil’s KOOZA show in Calgary, Canada on Sept. 19, 2023.Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty

Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty

Jason Pehling, who was at the performance with his wife Becky and their daughter, told FOX 12 of witnessing the fall, “You go to a show like that for fun and entertainment, you know that there’s some inherent risk but you don’t expect to see something like that."

“Not long into the show we were watching the woman that was up on the ring as she was sort of floating, flying around, then as she kind of swung towards us all of a sudden you saw she lost control, body hit the ground, sort of bounced up and then the head sort of bounced up off of the ground, she didn’t move initially,” Pehling added to the outlet, saying it looked like the performer fell at least 15 feet and landed face first.

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“When her head hit, it was a big ‘thunk’ noise,” Pehling recalled. “It was quiet in the crowd after that.”

This is the latest circus show incident involving a performer. On Monday, Aug. 19, a womansustained “serious injuries” after falling from a tightropewhile seated on a chair between two other artists roughly 16 feet in the air during a circus show held at Glyne Gap Field in East Sussex, England.

source: people.com