Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil (French for "Circus of the Sun" ) is an entertainment empire based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada located in Saint-Michel, and founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberte and Daniel Gauthier.

Initially named Les Echassiers they toured Quebec in 1980 as a performing troupe and encountered financial hardship that was relieved by a government grant in 1983 as part of 450th celebrations of Jacques Cartier's discovery of Canada.Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil was a success in 1984 and after securing a second year of funding Laliberte hired Guy Caron from the National Circus School to recreate it as a "proper circus". No ring and no animals helped make Cirque du Soleil the modern circus ("Cirque Nouveau" / New Circus) that it is today. Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world and has its own central theme and storyline which brings the audience into the performance by having no curtains, continuous live music and performers change the props. After critical and financial successes (Los Angeles Arts Festival) and failures in the late 1980s, Nouvelle Experience was created with the direction of Franco Dragone that not only made Cirque profitable by 1990 but allowed it to create new shows.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s Cirque expanded rapidly and went from one show with 73 employees in 1984 to currently 3,500 employees from over 40 countries doing fifteen shows touring every continent and have an estimated annual revenue exceeding US$600 million.The multiple permanent Las Vegas shows alone play to more than 9,000 people a night—5% of the city's visitors—adding to the 70+ million people who have experienced Cirque. In 2000, Laliberte bought out Gauthier and with 95% ownership has continued to expand the brand.Several more shows are in development around the world, along with a television deal, women's clothing line and perhaps in other mediums such as spas, restaurants and nightclubs.Cirque's creations have been awarded numerous prizes and distinctions, including Bambi, Rose d'Or, three Gemini Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards.In 2004, Interbrand's poll of brand names with the highest global impact ranked Cirque du Soleil as number 22.

Cirque du Soleil History

Seeking a career in the performing arts, Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte toured Europe as a folk musician and busker after quitting college. By the time he returned back home to Canada in 1979, he had learned the art of fire breathing. Although he became "employed" at a hydroelectric power plant in James Bay, his job ended after only three days due to a labour strike. He decided not to look for another job, instead supporting himself on his unemployment insurance. He helped to organize a summer fair in Baie-Saint-Paul with the help of a pair of friends named Daniel Gauthier and Gilles Ste-Croix.

Gauthier and Ste-Croix were managing a performing artist's youth hostel named Le Balcon Vert at that time. By the summer of 1979, Ste-Croix had been developing the idea of turning the Balcon Vert, and the talented performers that lived there, into an organized performing troupe. Although the talent was plentiful, they lacked the funding to make their idea a reality. As part of a publicity stunt to convince the Quebec government to help fund his production, Ste-Croix walked the fifty-six miles from Baie-Saint-Paul to Quebec City on stilts. The ploy worked, giving the three men the money to create Les Echassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul. Employing many of the people that would later make up Cirque, Les Echassiers toured Quebec during the summer of 1980.

Although well received by audiences and critics alike, Les Echassiers was a financial failure. Laliberte spent that winter in Hawaii plying his trade while Ste-Croix stayed in Quebec to set up a nonprofit holding company named "The High-Heeled Club" to mitigate the losses of the previous summer. In 1981 they met with better results. By the fall of 1981, Les Echassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul had broken even. The success inspired Laliberte and Ste-Croix to organize a summer fair in their hometown of Baie-Saint-Paul.

This touring festival, called "La Fete Foraine", first took place in July of 1982. La Fete Foraine featured workshops to teach the circus arts to the public, after which those who participated could take part in a performance. Ironically, the festival was barred from its own hosting town after complaints from local citizens.Laliberte managed and produced the fair over the next couple years, nurturing it into a moderate financial success. But it was during 1983 that the government of Quebec gave him a 1.5 million dollar grant to host a production the following year as part of Quebec's 450th anniversary celebration of the French explorer Jacques Cartier's discovery of Canada. Laliberte named his creation "Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil."

Retired big top touring shows


Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil

Originally intended to only be a one-year project, Cirque du Soleil was scheduled to perform in eleven towns in Quebec over the course of thirteen weeks running concurrent with the third La Fete Foraine. The first shows were riddled with difficulty, starting with the collapse of the big top after the increased weight of rainwater cause the central mast to snap. Working with a borrowed tent, Laliberté then had to contend with difficulties with the European performers who were so unhappy with the Quebec circus' inexperience, that they had at one point sent a letter to the media complaining about how they were being treated.

The problems were only transient, however, and by the time 1984 had come to a close, Le Grand Tour du Cirque Du Soleil was a success. Having only sixty-thousand dollars left in the bank, Laliberte went back to the Canadian government to secure funding for a second year. Unfortunately, while the Canadian federal government was enthusiastic, the Quebec provincial government was resistant to the idea. It was not until Quebec's Premier, Rene Levesque intervened on their behalf that the provincial government relented.

Le Magie Continues

After securing funding from the Canadian government for a second year, Laliberte took steps to renovate Cirque from a group of street performers into a "proper circus". To accomplish this he hired the head of the National Circus School, Guy Caron, as Cirque Du Soleil's artistic director. The influences that Laliberte and Caron had in reshaping their circus were extensive. They wanted strong emotional music that was played from the beginning to end by musicians. They wanted to emulate the Moscow Circus' method of having the acts tell a story. Performers, rather than a technical crew, move equipment and props on and off stage so that it did not disrupt the momentum of the "storyline". Most importantly, their vision was to create a circus with neither a ring nor animals. The rationale was that the lack of both of these things draws the audience more into the performance.

To help design the next major show, Laliberte and Caron hired Franco Dragone, another instructor from the National Circus School who had been working in Belgium. When he joined the troupe in 1985, he brought with him his experience in commedia dell'arte techniques which he imparted on the performers. Although his experience would be limited in the next show due to budget restraints, he would go on to direct every show up to, but not including Dralion.

By 1986, the company was once again in serious financial trouble. During 1985 they had taken the show outside Quebec to a lukewarm response. In Toronto they performed in front of a twenty-five percent capacity crowd after not having enough money to properly market the show. Gilles Ste-Croix, dressed in a monkey suit, walked through downtown Toronto as a desperate publicity stunt. A later stop in Niagara Falls turned out to be equally problematic. Despite critical praise, both shows were a failure which put Cirque du Soleil 750 thousand dollars in debt.

Several factors prevented Cirque from going bankrupt that year. The Desjardins Group, which was Cirque du Soleil's financial institution at the time, covered about two-hundred thousand dollars of bad checks. Also, a financier named Daniel Lamarre who worked for one of the largest public relations firms in Quebec represented the company for free, knowing that they didn't have the money to pay his fee. The Quebec government itself also came through again, granting Laliberte enough money to stay solvent for another year.

We Reinvent the Circus

In 1987, after Laliberte re-privatized Cirque du Soleil, it was invited to perform at the Los Angeles Arts Festival. However, they continued to be plagued by financial difficulties. Laliberte and Gauthier took a gamble and went to Los Angeles, despite only having enough money to make a one-way trip. Had the show been a failure, Cirque would not have had enough money to get their performers and equipment back to Montreal.

The festival turned out to be a huge success, critically and financially. The show attracted the attention of entertainment executives including Columbia Pictures, which met with Laliberte and Gauthier under the pretense of wanting to make a movie about Cirque du Soleil. Laliberte was unhappy with the deal, claiming that it gave too many rights to Columbia who was only attempting to secure all rights to the production. He pulled out of the deal before it could be concluded and the experience stands out as a key reason why Cirque du Soleil remains independent and privately owned today.

An artistic difference caused Guy Caron to leave the company in 1988. The disagreement was over what to do with the money generated by Cirque du Soleil's first financially successful tour. Laliberte wanted to use it to expand and start a second show while Caron wanted the money to be saved, with a portion going back to the National Circus School. An agreement was never met and Caron, along with a large number of artists loyal to him, departed. This stalled plans that year to start a new touring show.

Laliberté sought out Gilles Ste-Croix as replacement for the artistic director position. Ste-Croix, who had been away from Cirque since 1985, agreed to return. The company went through more internal troubles, including a failed attempt to add a third man to the partnership, Normand Latourelle. This triumvirate lasted only six months before internal disagreements prompted Gauthier and Laliberté to buy out Latourelle. By the end of 1989, Cirque du Soleil was once again in a deficit.

Nouvelle Expérience

In that same year, Cirque attempted to revive one of their previous shows, Le Cirque Reinvente. The attempt was abandoned after a weak critical reception. Laliberte and Ste-Croix instead created a new show based on the plans that had originally been drawn up by Caron before his departure. Originally intended to be called Eclipse, they renamed the show Nouvelle Expérience.

Franco Dragone returned, albeit reluctantly. He was willing to return only if he had full creative control of the show's environment. One of the first things that he did was to remove the curtain that separates the artist from the audience. His reasoning was that this would make the artists and the audience both feel part of a larger show. Whereas in a traditional circus the artist could go past the curtain and drop his role, Dragone had created an environment where the artist had to remain in character for the full length of the production.

Although Dragone was given full control over the show, Laliberté oversaw the entire production. He was in favor of Dragone's new ideas. Inspired by Jules Verne's "La Chasse au Meteore", Dragone's concept for the show was that each of the performers were playing the parts of jewels spread around the Earth.

Nouvelle Expérience turned out to be Cirque du Soleil's most popular show up to that point and would continue running until 1993. It spent one of those years at The Mirage Resort and Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. By the end of 1990, Cirque was profitable again and was prepared to start a new show.

Saltimbanco

Created in 1992, Saltimbanco (big top version) was the first show in which Cirque du Soleil would narrow its focus to tell a very specific and themed story. Dragone was inspired by the way multiculturalism shaped the nature and direction of Cirque du Soleil and wanted the theme of this new show to be one of "cosmopolitan urbanism." Laiberté stated that, "For me, Saltimbanco is a message of peace. In the 1990s, immigration was an issue, the mixing of cultures in cities, and Saltimbanco reflects that mix, with all of its personalities and colours. It's the challenge we have in today's world: respecting each other, living and working together, despite our differences."

Idealistic or not, Saltimbanco, which come from the Italian saltare in banco, meaning literally "to jump on a bench", was well received. Featuring 47 artists, the cast has been assembled from the citizens of fifteen different countries. This is, to date, the longest running show that Cirque du Soleil has ever produced. It has run for fifteen years and has toured North and South America, Europe, Japan and the Asia-Pacific Rim.

With Saltimbanco finished and touring in the United States and Canada, Cirque du Soleil toured Japan in the summer of 1992 at the behest of the Fuji Television Network. Taking acts from Nouvelle Expěrience and Cirque Réinvénte they created a show for this tour entitled "Fascination". Although Fascination was never seen outside of Japan, it represented the first time that Cirque had produced a show that took place in an arena rather than a big top. It was also the first that Cirque du Soleil performed outside of North America.

On the first of February in 1997, Saltimbanco played its final show at London's Royal Albert Hall. However, the following year, the show was restaged and started a new three year tour throughout Asia and the Pacific.

Big top touring shows

Alegria

Alegría was a departure from the bright circus atmosphere seen previously in productions like Saltimbanco. Created for Cirque du Soleil's tenth anniversary, the concept for the show came to life over a dinner conversation between Franco Dragone and Guy Laliberte.Dragone wanted this show to be dark and heavy; "At one point," Dragone said "I was with Guy Laliberté at a restaurant in one of the Las Vegas casinos, and I told him the next show would be sad, heavy, really hard: ' Alegría! Alegría! Alegría!' It's Italian for 'Joy! Joy! Joy!' Where I come from, it's what you say when you're in pain. It means life goes on."

Costing more than three million dollars to produce, Alegría's main theme is about the abuse of power and the subsequent struggle for freedom. Alegría makes use of darker lighting and music than previous Cirque productions. The stage and the props use gothic arches and harsh angular designs to attempt to invoke a feeling of oppressiveness.

Alegria has toured North America twice, Europe, Asia and Australia, and spent a year in residence at the Beau Rivage resort in Biloxi, Mississippi.Its most famous 'White Singer', Francesca Gagnon, has twice been invited to reprise the Alegría title song at the Montreal Jazz Festival.The music of Alegría has proven extremely popular and the show's soundtrack remains the best-selling Cirque du Soleil album to date.
Quidam

Premiering in 1996, Quidam adhered to the trend of bringing darker shows to the big top, previously established by Alegría the year before. Derived from the Latin word for "a nameless passerby", Quidam was Cirque du Soleil's ninth production and premiered in Montreal on April 23, 1996. Dragone's concept for this show is the imagination of a young and jaded girl named Zoe. Drawing heavily from surrealistic artwork, the performers in the show are the manifestations of her own daydreams.

Show designers Michel Crête and Franco Dragone wanted to find a new way of incorporating the acrobatic equipment onstage. One of the ways they did this in Quidam was to design an overhead rigging system that would allow the performers to enter and exit from above and across the stage. The system also allowed the ability to suspend cast members in the air using harnesses safely for extended periods of time.

The show premiered in Montreal as Cirque du Soleil's new head office and training center was being inaugurated. Initial reviews were critical of Quidam, some suggesting that it "did not feel like Cirque du Soleil". Still, the production scheduled a three year tour of North America. By the time the one-thousand performance tour was finished, Denver, Houston and Dallas were added to the schedule and more than 2.5 million people watched Quidam. QUIDAM is now on tour in Mexico, performing in Mexico City until December 30, 2007 then in January 2008 QUIDAM has a stop in the beautiful city of Monterrey and later visiting for first time Veracruz. After Mexico, QUIDAM will be back to Europe with a first stop in Lisbon, Portugal.

Dralion

The years of work had taken their toll on Cirque du Soleil's creative team. After La Nouba, Franco Dragone and Michel Crête parted ways from the company. To fill the void they left for the creation of the next show, Guy Laliberté turned to his former artistic director, Guy Caron. Since his departure in 1988, Caron and Laliberté had remained friends and Caron was persuaded to leave the National Circus School to return to work with Cirque du Soleil on a new oriental-themed show.

Rather than attempt to mimic Dragone's style, Caron decided to revisit the themes of Le Cirque reinvente. "I like a show that's full of energy, without gaps, that's full of strong acts, funny, with a big punch at the end" Caron explained. One of his obstacles was working with a team of performers that were almost entirely new to Cirque du Soleil, including a new set designer named Stéphane Roy who had worked with Laliberté and Gauthier back in Baie-Saint-Paul at the Balcon Vert youth hostel. Despite the new team, many people within the company were unenthusiastic about Dralion, alarmed at how much the atmosphere and style differed from Dragone's productions.

Despite any misgivings, Dralion went on to be Cirque du Soleil's top-grossing touring show. The television filming of the show received a Primetime Emmy Award.

Varekai

In 2002, Cirque du Soleil premiered Varekai, its first touring show in three years. Laliberté brought in fresh talent to direct this new show, a theater director named Dominic Champagne. Much like Caron directing Dralion three years earlier, Champagne found himself working with a fresh group of performers that had never worked for him before. Unlike Dragone's and Caron's intuitive approach to writing productions, Champagne scripted Varekai from start to finish.

Varekai, which is a word from the Romany language which means "wherever", was conceptualized on the basis of mythology like many of the previous productions. The story is about the Greek myth of Icarus. The story picks up where the myth leaves off, it tells the story of what happened to Icarus after he fell from the sky. He lands in the middle of a jungle at the base of a volcano where he must learn to fly again.

Corteo

Corteo is a Cirque du Soleil touring production that premiered in North America in 2005. Corteo, which means "a celebratory procession" in Italian, the show is about a clown who watches his own funeral taking place in a carnival-like atmosphere. Inspired by "The Grand Parade: Portrait of the Artist as Clown" on display at the National Gallery of Canada, in many ways Cortéo is a throwback to the older and more lighthearted Cirque productions like Saltimbanco.

Directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca, the founder of the Swiss clown troupe Teatro Sunil, Cortéo takes place on a pair of large divided and moving stages, each comprised of a large turntable which is 104 feet (32 m) in diameter. Each of these two stages is covered by a large curtain with a painting on it called the "Cortéo Procession".

KOOZA

Like Cortéo, KOOZA is another show that goes back to Cirque du Soleil's older styles. Premiering in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on April 19, 2007, the show is heavily inspired by Middle Eastern culture and makes use of a large traveling tower on the stage called a "bataclan." The bataclan moves over the course of the show and reconfigures the performing space.

This show was directed by David Shiner, who had previously worked as a clown in Cirque's production of Nouvelle Experíence. He was another example of Cirque's trend of using new directors for each new performance. His past experience being a clown and working with the Swiss National Circus ("Circus Knie" ) are an influence on the lighthearted and whimsical nature of the KOOZA production.


Resident shows


Mystère

On December 25, 1993, as Cirque was approaching its 10th anniversary, they unveiled a new show at the then-new Treasure Island Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Mystere was a departure from their standard format much in the way that Fascination was. A deal was made between Cirque du Soleil and Steve Wynn, Treasure Island's developer, to grant permanent residency to Cirque's new show. It posed certain difficulties for the company, such as the need to set up a permanent infrastructure to meet the needs of its employees working in the Las Vegas area.

Dragone's concept for Mystère was an exploration of the origins of life in our universe. The themes for the show are a conglomerate of multiple mythologies from multiple cultures. The music was quite different from Cirque's previously traditional style as well, relying on more "ethnic" music of Spanish, African and east European inspiration.

The show represented Cirque's first attempt at moving from the big top into a theater setting. It was also the first time that Laliberté and Gauthier were forced to contend with a major business partner, Treasure Island. The partnership led to difficulties and Steve Wynn was not initially optimistic about the show's chances for success, saying "You guys have made a German opera here." Franco Dragone took Wynn's sarcasm as a compliment. Wynn remained unhappy with the dark and moody feel of Mystère and had even threatened to delay the opening of the show unless changes were made. Nevertheless, Mystère was successful and has remained at the hotel ever since.

"O"

At the Bellagio Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, Cirque created its tenth production and second resident show. Once again working with hotel entrepreneur Steve Wynn, Cirque du Soleil and Wynn financed a 70 million dollar theater within the hotel. As the company was getting more comfortable with theater productions, they wanted to create a show performed in the water, a concept not tried in a theater before."O", whose name comes from the phonetic spelling of the French word for water, took more than 400,000 man-hours of production and pre-production work to assemble.

Many past practices were unable to be used in the production of "O". The costumes used by the performers were nearly 10,000 dollars each and needed to be made of material to resist the effects of the chlorine and bromide in the water. The makeup that had been used in past shows was also unsuitable for the performers being submerged in the tanks, a new waterproof formulation needed to be made before the show could be started.

The 1,800 seat theater itself was centered around a 1.5 million gallon tank of water for the performers to work in and around. It was built using a water pumping system that is as noiseless as possible to prevent any mechanical noise from detracting from the quality of the show itself. Twelve underwater speakers allow the performers in the water to hear and react to audio cues even when they are submerged.

To support the needs of the performers who would be getting in and out of the water, A directed HVAC system was created for this theater to control the heat and humidity generated by the approximately 84 degree water. Blowers were built into the stage to keep warm air circulating on the stage while a silent air movement system carried air at 55 degrees Fahrenheit underneath every seat in the theater. The combined systems keep both the performers and the audience at a comfortable temperature.

La Nouba

Later that same year in Orlando, Florida, Cirque's third resident show was inaugurated at the Downtown Disney section of the Walt Disney World Resort. In a partnership with Disney's former CEO Michael Eisner, Cirque created its first permanent freestanding theater to hold 1,671 attendees. 160 feet (49 m) high and designed to resemble a white tower with metal turrets on the outside, the 70,000-square-foot (6,500 m²) interior is made to project the appearance and atmosphere of a travelling show's "Grand Chapiteau".

Conceptually, Dragone and Laliberté decided to portray La Nouba as a fairy tale. Assistant designer Michel Crête noted "We were at Disney, so we were influenced by a world of fables." The set design is built to give the perception of an old attic where the performers tell the audience a story. La Nouba", which originates from the French phrase "faire la Nouba" which means "to party", contrasts stories through two groups of people, one colourful and the other monochromatic.

The creative design team of Cirque du Soleil admits that La Nouba was rushed together. They had been working non-stop for years on the previous shows for the past several years and La Nouba was created under near-exhaustion. They countered this by attempting to instill more youth into the show, in both the themes and the age of the performers.

Zumanity

In September of 2003, Cirque du Soleil unveiled Zumanity. This new production was a resident cabaret-style show at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino on Las Vegas Boulevard (The Strip). It is the first "adult-themed" Cirque du Soleil show, billed as "The Sensual Side of Cirque du Soleil" or "Another side of Cirque du Soleil". Created by Dominic Champagne, Zumanity is a departure from the standard Cirque format. Intended to be for mature adult audiences only, this show is centered around erotic song, dance and acrobatics.

The inspiration to create Zumanity came from multiple sources. Laliberté had been offered the chance to create two new shows in Las Vegas, and wanted something completely new and original rather than multiple similar shows that would cannibalize off of each other's sales and audiences. Another reason was that the New York-New York Hotel and Casino wanted to make their entertainment appear more "trendy". The hotel liked the concept of a more adult Cirque du Soleil performance.

Laliberté admits that the biggest reason to produce this show was the chance to create something with riskier subject matter. He was interested in the idea of creating a show that explored human sexuality, something that was at complete odds from the other more family-oriented Cirque shows. "Our previous shows have all been family-oriented and 'politically correct.' Laliberte said, "which is great. But we're human beings, we won't hide it. We're a bunch of happy campers. We like to live new experiences. Zumanity deals with some of those experiences."

KA

After Steve Wynn sold his Mirage Resorts to MGM in 2000, Laliberté received a call from Terry Lanni, CEO of the MGM Mirage. Lanni had been eager to capitalize on the previous successes of Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas and offered to fund the production of two more shows. The first was Zumanity.

Directed by Canadian theatre veteran Robert Lepage, KA's drew heavily on martial arts for its inspiration. The story centers around the adventures of a pair of imperial twins. Unlike most Cirque productions, the story of KÀ was more concrete and linear, more narrative and less abstract. First premiering in November of 2004 at the MGM Grand, KÀ became Cirque's fourth resident show in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was also the largest and most expensive production the company had created to date. By the time it had been completed, KÀ had cost more than 220 million dollars, of which more than 30 million was in costumes and 135 million was the theater itself, the bill for which was paid entirely by the MGM Grand.

LOVE

The show is based at The Mirage, Las Vegas and consists of panoramic sound and visuals along with a cast of 60 international artists. Born from a personal friendship and mutual admiration between the late George Harrison and Cirque founder Guy Laliberté, LOVE brings Cirque du Soleil together with the musical legacy of The Beatles through their original recordings. Using the master tapes at Abbey Road studios, Sir George Martin and his son, Giles Martin have created a soundscape of The Beatles music for LOVE.

Tokyo 2008 (working title)

Based at the Tokyo Disney Resort near Disneyland Tokyo that will open on October 1, 2008, Canadian stage and film director François Girard sets up a dramatic production of a character who ultimately brings two completely opposing worlds, the sky and the earth; together in reconcilation and harmony in a large circus tent-like theatre and is carefully designed to harness the sun's rays from any direction [39]. This will be one of the first Cirque du Soleil residency shows to be placed in Asia, after the residency shows in Macao, China that will open in 2008 and 2010, respectively.


Arena touring shows


Delirium

Delirium is a Cirque du Soleil live music event with Live Nation. Instead of being a standard touring show it is a multimedia/theatrical production that features remixes of existing Cirque music and reinterpretations of performances.
Saltimbanco

This production of Saltimbanco is an abbreviated interpretation of the big top version.


Seasonal resident show


WINTUK

Performed at the WaMu Theater in New York City's Madison Square Gardens and will run for ten weeks each winter from 2007-2011. Wintuk is a family-based and specifically-themed semi-permanent residency show about a young boy living in a large, snowless city waiting for the first snowfall that never comes. With the help of four other companions in search of their place in the world, they will journey to an imaginary Nordic country of Wintuk, where they experience the rich culture of the Northern peoples and bring back snow to the city in a snowstorm.

Previews for the 2007 season was presented from November 1–November 4, 2007 and the official inaugural season ran from November 6, 2007–January 6, 2008.

Cirque du Soleil Future Productions

* 2007/2008: A new television series has been announced by Initial (a sub company of Endemol, the makers of Big Brother) in a 3-year contract. The hour-long programs may be filmed in the O2 Centre in London.

* May 2008: Cirque du Soleil will open a new residency show at the Las Vegas Sands-owned The Venetian Macau hotel on the Cotai Strip in Macau, China, directed by Québécois film and theatre actor/playwright/director Gilles Maheu.

* June–September 2008: Cirque du Soleil will have a daily parade spectacle called The Awakening of the Serpent to be performed for the duration of Expo 2008 in Zaragoza, Spain.

* Summer 2008: A new permanent show at The Luxor Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, featuring Criss Angel. According to the press release, Cirque du Soleil is working with Criss to fuse his signature illusions and artistry with acrobatics, dance, puppetry, music and poetry to tell a story.

* October 1, 2008: Cirque will be producing a new resident show at the Tokyo Disney Resort. Film director François Girard will be directing that show.

* October 19, 2008: Cirque will perform a special one-night, one-time event as a closing ceremony performance for the La Francophonie Summit and part of the celebrations marking Quebec City's 400th anniversary at the Colisee Pepsi in Quebec City, Canada.

* April 2009: Cirque du Soleil has announced there will be a new touring show (working title: Cirque 2009) to be directed by renowned Brazilian choreographer/dancer Deborah Colker.

* November 2009: The Elvis Presley Projects. CKX, Inc., the company that owns the rights to Elvis Presley's name, likeness, and music publishing has signed an agreement to have Cirque create Elvis-themed permanent shows and multimedia presentations. This production is slated for Las Vegas' Project CityCenter currently under construction.The Elvis Presley Projects will include additional touring and permanent shows, along with "Elvis Experiences" (interactive multimedia exhibits). One touring Elvis show is planned for Europe/Asia in 2008, with one "Elvis Experience" outside the United States. One new Elvis Presley Project will open each year from 2009-2015.

* 2010:
* A new Cirque show will debut at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, California with a movie-themed show for the millions of tourist who flock to Hollywood Boulevard each year. The show will run for ten years and will take a six-week break during the city's Academy Award season.
* Cirque has signed a major partnership with key Persian Gulf real estate developer company Nakheel to create a residency show at the Atlantis, The Palm Resort currently under construction on The Palm, Jumeirah in Dubai with an initial 15-year deal for a new and original show scheduled to perform in late 2010 and directed by Guy Caron (Dralion) and Micheal Curry
* A second residency show in Macau will be launched at a yet-to-be constructed hotel-casino that according to sources is a reinvention of the variety show, created and directed by René Simard.
* Cirque will co-create the Canada Pavilion in association with the Government of Canada at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China.

* Date unknown: Cirque du Soleil has proposed a theme park near Oropesa del Mar/Orpesa, Spain to act as a permanent location. The theme is "Illusion World", and it would be located in Castellon. Negotiations are underway, but nothing has been finalized as of December 2006.


Cirque du Soleil Other Projects


Current Projects

* A Taste of Cirque du Soleil, a special 30-minute performance on the Constellation and Summit Celebrity Cruises cruise ships. Included on these ships is The Bar of the Edge of the Earth, a dream-like bar/lounge/disco.
* Cirque du Monde, a social action project designed to reach marginalized youth.
* Revolution, a lounge concept designed for The Mirage resort in Las Vegas in which the Cirque cast members perform to the music of The Beatles.
* Cirque du Soleil Collection, a ready-to-wear women's clothing line.

Past Projects

* 74th Academy Awards (March 24, 2002), Cirque du Soleil created a five minute performance for the category of special effects at the 74th Academy Awards. They spent four months creating the show featuring 11 acts from a variety of Cirque shows. Each of the acts were choreographed and themed to their equivalent movie by re-creating the special effect scene featured in the film on stage while playing clips on a large screen behind the performances.
* Soleil de Minuit/Midnight Sun (July 11, 2004), a special one-night event in Montreal celebrating the 20th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil and the 25th anniversary of the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
* Reflections in Blue (July 16, 2005), a unique one-night water show in Montreal on as part of the opening ceremonies for the 2005 World Aquatics Championships.
* Pre-Game Show (February 4, 2007), at Super Bowl XLI. Produced by David Saltz.

Legal issues

In November of 2003, a U.S. federal discrimination complaint was filed against Cirque du Soleil by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund on behalf of gymnast Matthew Cusick. The allegation was that in April of the previous year, they fired Cusick because he tested HIV positive. Cusick had not yet performed, but had completed his training and was scheduled to begin working at "Mystere" just a few days after he was terminated. Even though company doctors had already cleared him as healthy enough to perform, Cirque alleged that due to the nature of Cusick's disease coupled with his job's high risk of injury, there was a significant risk of him infecting other performers, crew or audience members.

The complaint was filed at the Los Angeles office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Cusick stated that his HIV status in no way interfered with his ability to perform and he had been cleared by Cirque's own doctors twice before his termination. Cirque du Soleil in turn said that they had several HIV-positive employees, but in the case of Cusick, the risk of him spreading his infection while performing was too high to take the risk.

After learning about the complaint, an additional complaint was filed on Cusick's behalf by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Their complaint stemmed from the issue that the City of San Francisco bans contracts (or in this case land leases) to discriminatory employers.

Although Cirque du Soleil's position remains that this is a safety issue, not a discrimination issue, they settled with Cusick on 22 April 2004. The terms of the settlement include that the company would initiate a company wide anti discrimination training program and alter its employment practices pertaining to HIV-positive applicants. In addition, Matthew Cusick received $60,000 in lost wages, $200,000 in front pay, $300,000 in compensatory damages and Lambda Legal received $40,000 in attorney fees.