Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - While Banderas Bay area residents and visitors eagerly await the opening of the Cirque du Soleil theme park that's currently under construction in Nuevo Vallarta, the show that the park will be centered around, Luzia, A Waking Dream of Mexico, will start touring around Mexico in August.

Cirque du Soleil's 38th original production, Luzia premiered two years ago in Montreal and has been touring in Canada and the U.S. ever since. Now, the cast of 44 artists from 15 different countries will give audiences in Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexico City the opportunity to experience a reinterpretation of their culture, geography and soul as seen through the eyes of Cirque du Soleil.

Drawing from the richness of Mexico, the show's name is a blend of luz and lluvia, the Spanish words for light and rain, two elements at the core of the show's creation. The fusion of the two primal elements with breathtaking acrobatic scenes and music written and performed by Mexican musicians will take audiences "through a sumptuous journey through an imaginary Mexico: a surreal world suspended between dreams and real life," said Federico González Compeán, the general manager of Grupo CIE, Cirque du Soleil's promoter in Mexico.

The show takes audiences from an old movie set by the ocean to a busy dance hall and from there to an arid desert. Luzia draws from traditional Mexico, but also from recent and modern times. The inspiration found in Mexico and its reinterpretation on stage serves "as homage to the country that captures and reflects a big part of what we are, from our landscapes to our virtues," said Compeán.

Show-goers can expect monumental set designs, like a 15-meter on stage waterfall; acrobatics representing aspects such as the renowned speed of Northern Mexico's Tarahumara, or Rarámuri, tribe; the different incarnations of rain, from a refreshing shower to torrential downpours (the water used run through a filtration and disinfection system) and the country's amazing animals, represented by enormous, life-like puppets.

Luzia will open on August 30 in Guadalajara, move on to Monterrey, Nuevo León on October 4, and Mexico City starting on November 8. Ticket prices range from 890 to 3,290 pesos ($45 to $168 USD). Tickets for the Guadalajara shows are now available at cirquedusoleil.com/luzia.

Sources: Cirque du Soleil • Travel Pulse • Mexico News Daily