When was cirque du soleil founded




















This was the beginning of a life-long love affair. Almost everyone on this planet has heard of Cirque du Soleil. Only few are aware of the details of its early beginnings though. The following brief history does not claim to be complete. Rather, I want to take this moment to give a rough overview, to celebrate an entertainment giant which has touched many of our lives throughout its brilliant existence.

The Canadian artist Guy Laliberte travelled as far as Europe and performed with many street performer groups throughout his teenage years. In one of those collectives, Gilles Ste-Croix realized that incorporating circus skills into theatrical performance opened up a whole new world of possibilities of reaching out and communicating with the audience.

They started working together and Gilles had a huge influence on Laliberte. Shortly after the arrival of Guy, Ste-Croix introduced the idea of using the talent wandering through Le Balcon Vert to form a troupe that would perform theater on stilts.

Les Echassiers charmed their audiences and were making a profit by the end of To fortify the business side of their vision, Laliberte and Ste-Croix also set up the non-profit holding company Le Club des Talons Haut.

The festival was called Le Fete Foraine. It took place in and ran successfully for a week. A second and third festival in the following two years ran for ten days each. Many street performances were featured, as well as workshops for aspiring circus artists. It was a melting pot of promising talent as well as a meeting ground for visionaries.

Guy Laliberte in his own words is a man with a good hand for creative business:. I knew it took discipline to make things happen, even when I did projects at art school. Watching the success and vibrant energy of Le Fete Foraine, Laliberte realized he had all he needed for a homegrown circus right there within his reach. Laliberte says he was watching the sunset on a beach in Hawaii when he first thought about forming a circus — so he named his circus; Cirque du Soleil.

The very first audience gasping at the beauty of a Cirque du Soleil performance was aptly located in Gaspe, a small town in Quebec. It was a learning process for the whole troupe, with many little accidents and organizational nightmares.

For their very first show in Gaspe they broke their own tent and had to borrow another one. Only in the fourth location did they start using their own Big Top. They were technically bankrupt. With lots of struggling, Cirque managed to get one more year of funding from the government. The first thing Guy Laliberte did was go to Europe to buy a bigger tent. The previous one had only seated people. In the show started with three Quebec cities, then for the very first time ventured outside its home province into the neighboring Ontario.

Now, for the first time the show simply called itself Cirque du Soleil. Founder Guy Laliberte gave Quebec its very first own circus. From then onwards, the international saga began. Over the next 8 years, Cirque toured with various shows. First in Canada was La Magie Continue.

Cirque broke its own ticket sale records. The same year brought another major next step forward for Cirque. We Reinvent the Circus was staged in London and Paris.

These first ten years also represented an intense time of learning and growth for Cirque and its organizers. Relationships were built with established circus companies like Roncalli in Germany, and Knie in Switzerland. Especially the Swiss family Knie, were immensely helpful.

Know-how was exchanged and Knie even went so far as to send their Tent Master to the Cirque team, for some essential training in maintenance and set-up. Franco introduced a new approach to character. He worked with performers to better understand their impact on stage apart from their acrobatic expertise. His high-quality artistic vision not only made Cirque profitable by , but also allowed it to create new shows.

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This traveling show offered a unique take on the circus arts: Animal free, striking, dramatic, beautiful, and reflective. Street performances featured outrageous costumes, magical lighting, and original music. Performed in a theatre custom built to accommodate the complexities of the show, Mystere lit up the Las Vegas strip and became a required stop on any Vegas trip.

Mystere still fills its theatre after two decades of residency in Las Vegas, dazzling generations with its artistry and beauty.

Cirque du Soleil was here to stay, and in the following years expanded to conquer Asia, Europe, and South America with a series of new shows that tour the world, filling large arenas with modern circus fans. Cirque du Soleil About us History.



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