![]() The family rejoices too when Andrea’s older brother Philip, a theology professor who lives in Aberdeen, Scotland and his family arrive for holidays. She spends her summers with her mother, Gregg, who retired from New Hamburg to Port Elgin on Lake Huron several years ago. “Though I have a green card, I’ve never applied for American citizenship.” “I’ve remained a Canadian citizen,” she says. Today, family and “home” have continued to play a large role in Andrea Ziegler’s 25-year American show biz career. In 2007, after a decade of dancing, leaping, catapulting and contortions, she moved on to be Dance Master with Cirque’s “Viva! Elvis” and was promoted to Acrobatic Choreographer on “Michael Jackson: One,” “Amaluna” and “Kurios.” Still, she calls her body remaining “relatively unscathed” from these rigorous years. When you have a catered dinner brought in by Wolfgang Puck every Saturday, you know this is a fine job!”īut, the vigorous lifestyle of Cirque performers does have its end date. Fifty dancers, including New Hamburg’s star celebrity, were hired from around the world to appear with her in “A New Day.”įor the five-year Dion run, she also worked as a Dance Captain for the troupe.Īndrea has only kind words for Dion and her late husband- manager René Angélil. The Canadian star was beginning a residency at Caesar’s Palace in Vegas. ![]() Still, this small-town raised gal loved what she was doing, and after her time with “Mystère,” she toured Europe performing with Cirque’s “Quidam.”Īfter Andrea took a year off to backpack around Australia, Celine Dion came calling at her door. It’s just all about money, tourists, casinos and the strip.” ![]() ![]() “Las Vegas is a city without a soul,” she opined. Playing the “Lizard Girl” of that high-energy production, she found herself (in costume) on the cover of Maclean’s Magazine during the run of the show.Īnd while Andrea’s vibrant personality immediately earned her friends with the multi-national Cirque du Soleil cast and crew members-many of them Canadian, the city took some getting used to.Īn interview I conducted with her in 2000 was frank about the adjustment. But more was on the horizon.Īn audition to be part of the cast for the Las Vegas production of Cirque du Soleil’s “Mystère” saw her packing her bags in 1997 for parts south. When Phantom went on tour, Andrea relocated to Vancouver. She then moved up to understudy the principal role of Meg. She joined the company as one of six in the ballet chorus, played the iconic monkey who dances on the music box in the musical’s opening scene. Those qualities served her well in Ryerson University’s Dance program-so well that they landed her a spot in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera,” playing to sold-out audiences at Toronto’s Pantages Theatre.Īndrea’s role did a tribute to her physical abilities and energies. This sprite was 5 foot 2 inches of spunk, athleticism and talent. Not that she had the dancer’s stereotypical long and lean body. She’d been a student of the Josephine Both School of Dance in Cambridge since she was three, and was a star on the dance floor too. When she wasn’t pounding balls on the W-O volleyball court, keeping her place on the school’s honour roll, or adding her voice to the school’s music program, Andrea Ziegler was dancing.
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