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Tonya Papanikolas ReportingIt takes a lot of practice and skills to go from gymnast to acrobat in a Cirque du Soleil show, but one Utah man did it.
Twenty-seven-year-old Dustin Hill has always loved gymnastics.
Dustin Hill: "I started tumbling when I was about five-years old."
Sheri Hill, Mother: "He was always upside down. We saw him upside down more than the right side up."
Jay Hill, Father: "He was maybe four or five, but he'd be standing, bending over backwards, squirming around and contorting his body."
So the next logical step was to buy a trampoline.
Jay Hill, Father: "He just begged and begged us to get a trampoline."
But little did Dustin's parents know what an investment they were making. After years of practicing in his backyard, Dustin used his trampoline as a springboard for his new career. Dustin is now an acrobat with the Cirque du Soleil show "La Nouba" in Orlando. He performs trampoline stunts off a 15-20 foot wall. His character wears red.
Dustin Hill: "Me and another character kind of do a battle scene on top of this building, then we jump off the building, land on the trampoline."
Dustin has performed with the show for three years. He got the job by sending in a self-made audition tape. On that tape he showed himself tumbling and jumping off the wall in his backyard onto the trampoline.
Dustin Hill: "I think they saw this, saw that I could have potential, and so that's what iIm doing now in the show."
Dustin says he didn't know at the time Cirque du Soleil had an act like that, but he's glad they do.
Dustin Hill: "It's fun to do your own act."
His proud parents see the show whenever they can.
Sheri Hill: "Your heart's pounding. You're like... Ahhh, that's my boy."
Jay Hill: "He likes being in front of a crowd, he likes to please a crowd; and I think he's doing what he's always wanted to do."
Dustin competed in gymnastics at BYU before going on an LDS mission. When he got back, the school had dropped the men's sport. He says that's what prompted him to audition for Cirque du Soleil.
