Cirque du Soleil

The emergence of a new circus
 

At the beginning of the eighties, some young public entertainers create the High Heels Club. Most of them walk on stilts - a habit they got their name from - but there's also fire blowers, jugglers... It happens in Quebec, a region which doesn't have any circus tradition yet. These artists then decide to set up a festival in order to gather everyone of them and to be able to exchange their ideas and their talent. They finally decide to perform every show in the same big top. And in 1984, during the 450^th anniversary of the arrival of Jacques Cartier in Canada, the Cirque du Soleil is born. It travels around Quebec while offering a theatralized show which mixes the arts of the circus and the street, and features original music, light effects and costumes. It's slightly different from the traditional circus, as the absence of animals in the shows for instance.

In 1986, the circus had already traveled further: it went in Ontario and to Vancouver. The following year, the circus goes to California. And the good response of the public will encourage him to do a tour in the United States shortly after. The big top, which could gather 800 people, also grows bigger: in 1990, 2500 people could seat in it. The Cirque du Soleil now travels in Europe too and offers new shows: New Experience and Reinvented Circus. The Cirque du Soleil proposes different shows throughout the world. In 1992, Fascination is introduced in Japan. New Experience is such a hit in Las Vegas that the Cirque du Soleil decides to settle there the following year. Other shows are born: Mystère, Saltimbanco and, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the circus, Alegria.

In 1996, the circus creates its ninth production: Quidam. The 1998 autumn saw the apparition of a new permanent show in Las Vegas, on an aquatic scene, O, and another one appeared in Disneyworld in Florida: La Nouba. Dralion is the last show before what Guy Laliberté calls Tome II, a new era with lots of creations not related to circus and with productions for special events, like ceremonies of sports and cultural events or the Academy Awards. The Cirque du Soleil also produces TV series.

World-famous shows

Alégría: The clowns resisted to the change of time, to politic crisis and to social transformations. This show, which means “joy” in Spanish, features clowns who comment the power and its evolution among historical figures. The set represents the King's court. A dome around the ring protects the artists as the castle used to protect the town. Drawbridges, balconies... and special light effects give the mood of that changing universe to the set. About forty artists from 10 to 45 years old perform in the show. They're from the entire world: from Canada to China, including Belgium, Russia..

Saltimbanco: In that show, the actors, as every human being actually, are born naked: they're the worms. As time goes on, they have to dress to adapt their new environment. They represent different social kinds before eventually getting to the ultimate step, the Baroque cast. Armed with a deeply perceptive vision of the world and sleeping under bridges, the Baroques, throughout the fable, reveal the countless contradictions of our civilization where imagination has not yet taken power. More than 110 costumes made with all kinds of materials (velvet, imitation leather, crystalline, jean...) have been created for the show.

Mystère: It's a surrealistic celebration of music, dance, acrobatics and comedy. The audience is brought in a metaphoric journey which starts at the beginning of times. It's art in perpetual transfer shown by performances of Korean boards, Chinese mast, trapeze... This mystical journey's goal is the quest of the impossible by strength, elegance and humour. The troupe of 72 artists from 18 different countries perform its show permanently at the theatre of the Treasure Island hotel and casino in Las Vegas, designed especially for its needs. Is time going forward, or is it biting its tail ? Is this show art or theatre ? Mystery...

O: O, it's the infinite, the perfection, but also... the French translation of water. This show honours the theatre, this place where anything can happen and where occurs the drama of life, while telling it all through the ages. 74 artists perform on an aquatic stage and propose an impressive range of shows. In O, everyone joins the characters for a journey in which dreams are not only suggested but also became real. This show is performed exclusively at the theatre of the Bellagio hotel and casino in Las Vegas. It'll bring you through the waters of your imagination.

Quidam: Quidam is a more scripted show; it integrates performance and theatricality. This show offers audiences a variety of acts where high-level acrobatic performance goes hand-in-hand with the magnificent beauty of the aerial, high-flying, balancing and manipulation acts. It's a third millennium show where the human being has to adapt himself to new realities. Quidam, an ordinary person, at once confronted to rush, trainspotting, and loneliness: he's a streetwalker, a chap, a quidam: he comes, he goes, he lives... This is the story of a little girl who regrets to have seen it all already and makes her little insignificant world explode by her rage. She then finds herself in the Quidam universe, joined by a cheerful guy and another one more mysterious, who will try to woo her by offering her the mysterious, the weird, the scary. An original costume has been created for every of the characters. The music, whose inspiration varies from classic to modern, keens the mood of the show. The show includes either high acrobatic performances and a great beauty: German wheel, banquine, climbing rope, diabolo, aerial contortion are scheduled. Some funny and infernal point out every kind of cruelty while bringing purity, poetry and tenderness.

La Nouba: Since December 23rd 1998, this release belongs to the program of the Walt Disney World Resort, the theatre of the Walt Disney World theme park, in Orlando, Florida. This show was set up by the usual team of creators features 65 artists from around the globe for a new original theatrical experience that goes beyond the imagination limits. La Nouba is the meeting of two worlds poles apart: the fantastic world of the circus artists - the Cirques (circus people), sporting bright, fluorescent colours - and that of the Urbains (urbanites), who wear dark, monochromatic outfits. When these two worlds first make contact, the magic and amazing feats of the one set fire to the pale mundanity of the other.

Varekai: When a solitary arrives deep within a forest, at the summit of a volcano, the story of Verekai can begin. Because the man is in that extraordinary world, where something else is possible, that world called Varekai. The show, that pays tribute to the nomadic soul, to the spirit and art of the circus tradition, tells the absurd and extraordinary adventures in that place of pure and undiluted possibility imbued with fantastical creatures.

Corteo: Come and get in the procession... of the funerals of the clown who will guide you during this show in a fun fair mood. Next to kind angels, between sky and earth, he will lead you in a world where opposites attract each other: strength and fragility, huge and little etc. are in his universe... and in ours too. That show, mixing acrobatics and comedy, tends to bring illusion and reality closer to each other.

Kooza: Follow the story of The Innocent, a melancholy loner in search of his place in the world. The Innocent's journey brings him into contact with a panoply of comic characters such as the King, the Trickster, the Pickpocket, and the Obnoxious Tourist and his Bad Dog. The show, with multiple high level performances, is a return to the origins of Cirque du Soleil: it combines two circus traditions – acrobatic performance and the art of clowning.

Also: Year after year, the Cirque du Soleil develops new shows, as Amaluna or Totem, but also creations not related to circus. It began with Zumanity, for adults only, then came Kà, mixing martial arts, puppets and pyrotechnics, or Delirium, a multifaceted event of unprecedented proportion featuring Cirque du Soleil music remixed, and musicals inspired by Michael Jackson and The Beatles. We of course invite you to discover all these creations.