Any way you take a look at it, Cirque du Soleil is a phenomenal success story. In only 20 years, it has carved out a novel area of interest within the leisure business, unfold to cities all around the globe and earned rave reviews every step of the way. And it is doing just fine financially too: Cirque's property are price an estimated $1 billion, its annual ticket gross sales have climbed above $450 million, and more than forty million folks worldwide have attended at the very least one Cirque show. You can attribute this massive popularity to the extraordinary expertise of actually seeing a Cirque present. The combined work of performers, administrators and the backstage crew add up to a totally original whole that leaves most audiences in awe. Nearly everywhere Cirque goes, its reputation appears to precede it. In this text, we'll go underneath the "Grand Chapiteau" of the touring present Alegria to uncover the magic of Cirque du Soleil. Cirque du Soleil was born in 1984, when a bunch of Montreal fireplace-eaters, stilt-walkers and juggling road performers joined forces to create one present that had every thing.
Through the years, the Cirque group grew, creating new shows and spreading to new cities. At the moment Cirque du Soleil has 5 touring exhibits and six set up reveals (exhibits that keep in a single city). Cirque plans so as to add a new show to their lineup each year. While its exhibits and touring operations have turn into extra sophisticated, Cirque du Soleil has by no means strayed from its street performer roots. Unlike three-ring circuses, which function animal acts along with human performers, Cirque du Soleil has always been solely dedicated to the extraordinary talents of performers. In assembling a present, the Cirque crew gathers numerous expertise from everywhere in the world and brings all the performers collectively right into a cohesive complete. Whether it's a touring show like Alegria or Varekai or a resident present like "O" or "Love" in Las Vegas, all Cirque reveals are built around the identical two core components: a unique theme and a novel soundtrack. As we'll see, these two essential elements information the development of each show's acts, units and costumes.
To buy tickets for Cirque du Soleil or Memory Wave Program to take a look at the schedules and areas of their reveals go to http://www.cirquedusoleil. Right here, a inventive group together with Cirque founder Guy Laliberte, directors, inventive administrators, costume and set designers and choreographers collect to brainstorm ideas and ideas for new shows. The very first thing the crew determines is the present's theme. The theme is a delicate balance, as a result of it must tie the acts together without including up to a narrative. The Cirque group avoids straight narrative so as to permit room for the viewers to interpret the show any method they need. Every Cirque show's theme is tied closely to the show's soundtrack. In the subsequent section, we'll examine this a part of the creative process. HowStuffWorks would like to thank Cirque du Soleil's Artistic Director Pierre Parisien and Public Relations Director Renee-Claude Menard for their help with this article. The team is led by a composer, equivalent to Rene Dupere, who wrote the Grammy-nominated soundtrack to Alegria in addition to several other Cirque shows.
Alegria's soundtrack, like all Cirque du Soleil soundtracks, is an eclectic mix of music kinds. This mix of music establishes the changing temper and theme for the viewers. To ensure that the musicians follow the tempo of the performers, all Cirque exhibits use dwell music. In the event an act fails, the musicians adjust tempo and volume and improvise if necessary. The soundtracks to all Cirque du Soleil reveals feature music which makes use of "phonetic sentence strings" as an alternative of actual words. In accordance with Parisien, "use of real phrases blocks the potential of imagination." Parisien believes that this signature lack of a language, just like the present's open-ended theme, leaves room for audience interpretation and lends Cirque a common appeal. A College of Ohio doctoral student researching the theatre arts as soon as went undercover to review Cirque du Soleil. While working with the performers, she discovered in regards to the language of Cirque, or what the performers seek advice from as "Cirquish." The performers speak a type of gibberish that is a blend of languages and sounds.
What looks as if a foreign language to an outsider is usually a creation of the performer. Casting agents and scouts scour cities and distant areas trying for new expertise so as to add to new and existing Cirque reveals. Moreover, Cirque's casting brokers hold auditions twice a 12 months at their International Headquarter (IHQ) in Montreal, and performers may also submit video auditions. The Cirque du Soleil database at present holds greater than 20,000 artist data cards on acts ranging from the sublime to the unusual. Lemieux and the Cirque costume design workforce spun somewhat Cirque magic to create easy white lace costumes for the Angels and Memory Wave focus enhancer garish, flamboyant costumes and masks for the Previous Birds. Since the White Angels act takes place on the Russian bars, safety and vary of movement have been main considerations within the design of their light but strong costumes. Using a special Cirque-designed tool, the costume designers made the White Angel costumes from a particular lace incorporating fishing line.