Cirque Mechanics: Tilt brings 1980s-inspired circus spectacle to Popejoy

An 18-foot human powered ferris wheel, acrobatics and 80s vibes turn Popejoy into a gravity defying amusement park experience.

Published on Feb. 19, 2026

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Cirque Mechanics: Tilt!, a circus production featuring an 18-foot-tall man-powered Ferris wheel, acrobatics, juggling, and other amusement park-inspired acts, is coming to Popejoy Hall at the University of New Mexico. The show is set in a 1980s amusement park and aims to bring a unique, mechanical, and real-world feel to the circus experience.

Why it matters

Cirque Mechanics: Tilt! offers a fresh take on the traditional circus experience by blending circus arts with large-scale mechanical contraptions and an 80s-inspired amusement park theme. The show aims to appeal to a wider audience beyond typical theater-goers by creating a visually striking and immersive performance.

The details

The centerpiece of the show is an 18-foot-tall Ferris wheel that is powered by the performers themselves, who run up, climb on, and propel the wheel around. Other acts include a five-person teeterboard routine meant to mimic a roller coaster ride, as well as juggling, acrobatics, and dance. The show also features a clowning piece with plate spinning and a stilt walker act that swings an acrobat between his legs.

  • Cirque Mechanics: Tilt! will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 27, 2026.

The players

Chris Lashua

The show's founder and producer, who previously worked with Cirque du Soleil and founded his own company, Cirque Mechanics, which combines circus, acrobatics, theater, and large-scale mechanical devices.

Aloysia Gavre

Co-founder of Cirque Mechanics with Chris Lashua.

Popejoy Hall

The performance venue at the University of New Mexico campus where Cirque Mechanics: Tilt! will be staged.

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What they’re saying

“The show is set in a 1980s amusement park, and so we have a Ferris wheel that actually comes to life with people that are pushing it and pulling it and climbing on it.”

— Chris Lashua, Show founder and producer (abqjournal.com)

“I build these mechanical contraptions that look more at home in a factory or inside the clock … They're visually part of the scene, and so that look gives it a very different feel and flavor from the more fantastical kind of dream world setting of what those shows were at the time.”

— Chris Lashua, Show founder and producer (abqjournal.com)

“This one on the whole '80s thing, it's very much, I wouldn't say, poking fun, but we're absolutely going down that path and we've got a composer who wrote music that very much feels of that era, and it's fun.”

— Chris Lashua, Show founder and producer (abqjournal.com)

What’s next

Tickets for Cirque Mechanics: Tilt! at Popejoy Hall are on sale now, starting at $29.50, and can be purchased at popejoypresents.com.

The takeaway

Cirque Mechanics: Tilt! offers a unique and visually striking circus experience that blends traditional circus arts with large-scale mechanical devices and an 80s-inspired amusement park theme, aiming to appeal to a wider audience beyond typical theater-goers.