<\/p>\n
\nA Cirque du Soleil performer was stretchered off stage after a fall on Saturday.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Kymberlee Fernandes\n<\/p>\n
A person in the audience at an Auckland performance of Cirque du Soleil on Saturday afternoon says everyone fell silent, when a performer fell several metres to the ground.<\/p>\n
Joy Marshall said 6-8 acrobats were executing a bar routine, when one plunged onto the safety mat.<\/p>\n
Marshall was at the show with her daughter and a friend from school, and her mother.<\/p>\n
She said they enjoyed the first part of the show, and the second half involved acrobats doing a routine on the high bars, including flips.<\/p>\n
However, one of the performers plunged 2-3 metres onto the mat, landing flat on his stomach. She said he tried to get up, but collapsed.<\/p>\n
Several people surrounded him and paramedics came onto the scene. Black sheets were put up for privacy from the audience.<\/p>\n
The performer was taken to hospital and his condition is not known.<\/p>\n
The show was stopped for about 20 minutes, as medics attended to the performer, before they were stretchered off the stage.<\/p>\n
Marshall said one person in the audience stood up and urged Christians in the crowd to join him in prayer.<\/p>\n
“It was quite a brave and beautiful moment.”<\/p>\n
The performer was taken to hospital, but it’s not known how seriously injured he is.<\/p>\n
Messages on the loud speaker asked people to remain seated and that the show would continue.<\/p>\n
Marshall said the next sequence was fairly short, involving the main character riding across the arena on his bicycle, with the other characters farewelling him below.<\/p>\n
“They all took their bows and that was the end of the show.”<\/p>\n
The show, Corteo, is playing at Spark Arena until 9 November.<\/p>\n