Pressematerial

KOOZA - Kreativteam

• Guy Laliberté

  Gründer und Creative-Führer

  Guy Laliberté wurde 1959 in Québec City geboren. Als Akkordeonspieler, Stelzenkünstler und Feuerschlucker gründete er Québecs ersten international bekannten Zirkus und wurde dabei von einigen Kollegen unterstützt. Guy Laliberté war schon damals ein kühner Visionär. Er erkannte und förderte das Talent der Straßenkünstler, die an dem Festival Fête Foraine de Baie-Saint-Paul teilnahmen, und gründete 1984 den Cirque du Soleil.

  Guy Laliberté war Vorreiter In Sachen Verschmelzung von Kulturen sowie von künstlerischen wie akrobatischen Disziplinen. Bis heute ist dies das ganz besondere Merkmal des Cirque du Soleil. Seit 1984 unterstützt er das Kreativteam bei der Ausarbeitung der einzelnen Shows und hat dazu beigetragen, dass die Zirkusakrobatik in den Reigen der anerkannten Kunstdisziplinen aufgenommen wurde.

  Der Cirque du Soleil ist inzwischen ein globales Unternehmen, und zwar sowohl im Hinblick auf seine Zusammensetzung als auch hinsichtlich seiner Aktivitäten und seiner Bedeutung. Guy Laliberté leitet jetzt ein Unternehmen, das auf fünf Kontinenten agiert.

  Im Oktober 2007 rief Guy Laliberté eine zweite lebensfüllende Initiative ins Leben. Er gründete die ONE DROP Stiftung, die es sich zum Ziel gesetzt hat, weltweit die Armut zu bekämpfen, indem nachhaltiger Zugang zu sauberem Wasser gewährleistet wird.  Diese neue Vision basiert auf dem Wissen, dass das Recht auf Wasser für das Überleben einzelner Menschen und ganzer Gemeinschaften weltweit ausschlaggebend ist, und steht für die Werte, auf die schon die Gründung des Cirque du Soleil zurückgeht:  Die Überzeugung, dass man im Leben das bekommt, was man selbst gegeben hat, und dass selbst die kleinste Geste eine positive Veränderung bewirken kann.

  Im September 2009 bereiste Guy Laliberté als erster kanadischer Tourist den Weltraum.  Er wollte mit dieser Aktion auf die Probleme bei der Wasserversorgung der Menschheit auf der Erde aufmerksam machen. Unter dem Motto Moving Stars and Earth for Water sollte diese erste sogenannte „Poetic Social Mission“ im Weltraum die Menschen auf künstlerische Art und Weise berühren: in einer 120-minütigen Online-Übertragung mit zahlreichen künstlerischen Darbietungen in 14 Städten auf fünf Kontinenten – sogar in der internationalen Raumstation.

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  2011 wurde Guy Laliberté in die kanadische Business Hall of Fame aufgenommen. 2010 erhielt Guy seinen eigenen Stern auf dem legendären Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Im selben Jahr wurde Guy von der Regierung in Québec geehrt, indem er als Mitglied der „Ordre de la Pléiade“ vom Ritter (ein Titel, der ihm sechs Jahre zuvor verliehen wurde) zum Offizier befördert wurde. 2008 verlieh die Université Laval (Québec) Guy Laliberté die Ehrendoktorwürde, und ein Jahr zuvor wurde er von Ernst & Young als Unternehmer des Jahres ausgezeichnet, und zwar auf allen drei Ebenen: Québec, Kanada und weltweit. 2004 wurde ihm vom Generalgouverneur von Kanada der „Order of Canada“ und somit die höchste Auszeichnung des Landes verliehen.  Im selben Jahr erklärte ihn das Time Magazine zu einem der 100 einflussreichsten Menschen der Welt. 2003 wurde er vom Konzern Condé Nast im Rahmen des Programms „Never Follow“, einem Tribut an schaffende Künstler und Innovatoren, geehrt. 2001 kürte ihn die Académie des Grands Montréalais zum „Herausragenden Montrealear“. 1997 erhielt Guy Laliberté den „Ordre National du Québec“ und somit die höchste Auszeichnung, die die Regierung von Québec überhaupt verleiht.

  
  

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  2009
  Verleihung des Lifetime Achievement Award durch die Canadian Marketing Association

  2002
  Aufnahme in den kanadischen Walk of Fame

  1998
  Verleihung des Visionary Award durch das American Craft Museum (heute Museum of Arts and Design in New York)

  1996
  Verleihung des Vision nouvelle-Awards im Rahmen der 43. Gala du Commerce (Québec)

  1988
  Persönlichkeit des Jahres, Gala Excellence, Zeitung La Presse (Québec)

  1988
  Unternehmer des Jahres, Zeitung Les Affaires (Québec)

   

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• David Shiner

  Writer and Director

  David Shiner loves to make people laugh but he takes the art of clowning seriously. "In essence the clown is a character who helps us keep in touch with the sacred part of ourselves," he explains. "It's a difficult part to play. At the core of the character is longing and the wish to find meaning in life."

  David Shiner, who is best known as a clown, started out as a street mime in Paris and his career really took off in 1984 when was discovered at the renowned circus festival Cirque de Demain. He went on to perform with a succession of well-known companies including the German troupe Circus Roncalli and the Swiss National company Circus Knie. Between circus engagements he toured with Cirque du Soleil veteran René Bazinet performing the two-man show they created.

  David's first formal association with Cirque du Soleil came in 1990, when he performed in Nouvelle Expérience, touring for 19 months throughout Canada and the USA and playing for another year in Las Vegas. Thanks to such antics as stepping through, on and over much of the audience and his classic improv-based staging of a mock silent-movie melodrama with four members of the audience, he is probably the best-remembered of Cirque's clowns. The production was filmed for HBO in 1991 and his other television performances include numerous appearances on The Tonight Show.

  David made his feature film debut in 1992, playing the part of a clown in Lorenzo's Oil, and the following year he played straight man to Bill Irwin in Sam Shepard's Silent Tongue. He and Irwin then created the two-man, wordless show Fool Moon, featuring music by the Red Clay Ramblers, who had also performed in Silent Tongue. This evening of 'inspired lunacy' ran from 1992 to 1999, including three separate runs on Broadway. Fool Moon won a special Tony Award for Live Theatrical Presentation in 1999, a Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience, and an Outer Critics Circle Special Achievement Award.

  In 2000 David originated the role of the Cat in the Hat, the host and guide of the Broadway stage musical Seussical. With the support of a grant from the Pugh Foundation he went on to develop a show at Seattle's ACT Theatre and later adapted part of that show for his one-man production David Shiner in the Round,

  "KOOZA is about human connection and the world of duality, good and bad," says David. "The tone is fun and funny, light and open. The show doesn't take itself too seriously, but it's very much about ideas, too. As it evolves we are exploring concepts such as fear, identity, recognition and power."

  David was born in 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts.

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• Serge Roy

  Creation Director

  Serge Roy has been part of the Cirque du Soleil family since before the organization officially came into being.

  Serge grew up in a highly musical showbiz family – his father was a saxophonist working the thriving cabaret circuit in Quebec. Serge inherited a great enthusiasm and a remarkable talent for music and occasionally sang professionally as a child. He fell into pop music almost by accident and recorded a hit single, but by the time it was released he was already looking for a different direction, a career that would be more artistically satisfying and personally fulfilling.

  He studied theater and played drums for a couple of years but it was only when he travelled to the artistic community of Baie St. Paul that everything really clicked. It was a time and a place of tremendous creative ferment. Gilles Ste-Croix and Guy Laliberté were putting together the shows that would eventually lead to the foundation of Cirque du Soleil – and Serge knew immediately that this was where he belonged.

  Following a stint as stage manager for the 1984 and 1985 show Le Cirque du Soleil, he left the company for several years to work on other projects. In 1989, he came back to Cirque to take on the job of North American Tour Manager for the show Nouvelle Expérience, and continued as Tour Manager for Saltimbanco in 1992 and 1993.

  He then pursued other projects for a period of more than two years. But the appeal of Cirque drew Serge back once again in 1995 to become Artistic Coordinator for the show Alegría, during its runs in North America and Tokyo. Later the same year he joined the Saltimbanco troupe for its European Tour, also as Artistic Coordinator. Also in 1995, Serge became the Artistic Director of Quidam.

  Two years later, he left Europe for Las Vegas to work as Artistic Coordinator for the show Mystère, presented at Treasure Island. Soon afterwards he accepted the position of Artistic Director for Dralion during its creation and first touring years in North America. In January 2003 he left Quidam to return to his ‘first love' Saltimbanco as Artistic Director.

  KOOZA showcases two major circus traditions: clowns and acrobatic performance. “They are very different,” says Serge Roy. “But it’s a marriage that goes back centuries. They come from the same world, the world of circus. This show as a whole brings us closer to the simplicity and humanity of an earlier circus – and closer to the audience. Very convivial. It reminds you of street performance. It’s a mixture of acrobatics and clowning that is really rooted in circus and in the origins of Cirque du Soleil.”

  Serge Roy was born in Montréal, in 1957.

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• Stéphane Roy

  Bühnenbildner

  A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Stéphane Roy has worked as both a set designer and artistic director on over 100 productions in Montreal and abroad. While mainly active in theatre and dance, he has also worked in film, television, advertising and variety shows.

  Over the years Stéphane’s career has led to close working relationships with a number of directors and arts companies: He created the sets for several plays presented at Espace Go and the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde in Montreal and since 1990 he has designed sets for dance productions by such internationally-acclaimed dance troupes as La La La Human Steps and O Vertigo.

  Given that professional background, plus an architect father, a mother active in theatre and a unique social and artistic approach to performance space, it was perhaps inevitable that Stéphane would gravitate toward Cirque du Soleil, a relationship that began with the creation of Dralion, and continued with Varekai, Zumanity, KOOZA and now, Zarkana.

  Since 2011, Stéphane has been one of three artists in residence appointed by the Montreal Nature Museums group to create organic links between the city’s four natural science museums. He also designed The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terra Cotta Army exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

  His achievements have earned him many awards and honors, including being named Revelation of the Year, All Categories Combined, by the Association Québécoise des Critiques de Théâtre in 1989. In 1992, the same association honored him with the award for best set design. His talent has also been recognized by the Conseil des Arts de la Communauté Urbaine de Montréal, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and the Académie Québécoise du Théâtre.

  "In the lyrical, fantastic world of Zarkana, the setting, an abandoned decrepit theatre, is a character in its own right,” says Stéphane Roy. “The walls breathe, move and sing. In terms of aesthetics, we are at the beginning of the last century, between 1910 and 1930, midway between Gaudí, Klimt and Art Nouveau. The organic shapes are a nod to the master French glassmaker and jeweler René Lalique."

  Stéphane Roy lives in Montreal.

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• Marie-Chantale Vaillancourt

  Costume Designer

  For the past 20 years Marie-Chantale Vaillancourt has designed costumes for a large number of theatre, dance, opera and film productions. Her work, which combines the two diciplines she has specialized in – set design as well as costume design – has been seen around the world.

  Since 1989 she has worked particularly closely with world-renowned writer, actor and director Robert Lepage, creating the costumes for many of his productions, including Les Sept Branches de la Rivière Ota, La Géométrie des Miracles, La Face Cachée de la Lune, Peter Gabriel's Growing Up tour, La Trilogie des Dragons and KÀ, for Cirque du Soleil.

  Through the years Marie-Chantale has won many major Canadian awards for her work, including two Masques de la Conception des Costumes, in 1995 and 2005. She has also received many award nominations – notably from the Genies and the Jutras for her work with Robert Lepage on the feature film Nô.

  "Even if KOOZA isn't specifically a clown show, a number of the characters are played by clowns," notes Marie-Chantale. "I needed to avoid clichés and caricature so I concentrated more on archetypes of universal and unchanging characters. There is a comic-book aesthetic to the designs, but it's filtered through the naïve point of view of the main character, The Innocent.

  My costumes draw on a wide variety of sources of inspiration: everything from graphic novels, the paintings of Gustav Klimt, Baron Münchhausen, the Mad Max movies, time-travel movies to India and Eastern Europe. This visually naïve, exotic and timeless universe evokes the world of toys, lead soldiers and children's books, with a wink toward Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz."

  Marie-Chantale Vaillancourt was born in Sept-Iles, Quebec in 1967.

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• Jean-François Côté

  Composer

  A self-taught keyboard player, composer and prolific electronic musician since the 80s, Jean-François Côté is very active on the LA music scene. He has also worked with many of Quebec's leading singers and trailblazing groups. He is known for mixing existing styles seamlessly with electronic music to invent new forms.

  Jean-François was a promising hockey player as an adolescent, but he discovered his true calling at the age of 16 when he started playing keyboards with rock and soul groups on the Montreal music scene, developing sounds and a style that were uniquely his own. At the same age he got a job as a security guard for the very first Cirque du Soleil show. "At night," he recalls, "I would sneak behind René Dupéré's keyboard to make music and polish my technique."

  Years later Jean-François was playing keyboards for singer Julie Masse and was noticed by Cirque du Soleil composer Benoit Jutras. That encounter led to his first formal association with the company as Musical Director and Conductor for the Cirque shows "O" and Mystère. He also created the sound design for the Taiko drum sequence in the Cirque Imax film Journey of Man.

  Jean-François says Cirque is one of the most stimulating environments in which to work as a composer. "In spite of its size, Cirque has remained true to its primary vocation: the creation of quality shows. The liberty they give to the creators is unequaled."

  To express the human and funny aspects of KOOZA Jean-François Côté says he was inspired by Western pop music, from 70s funk to orchestral music, adding, "I also drew upon traditional Indian music and film scores from the 40s and 50s, a period I'm particularly fond of."

  Jean-François Côté was born in 1968 in Montreal.

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• Clarence Ford

  Choreographer

  Clarence Ford is a prolific dancer, choreographer, teacher and film director from Toronto whose creations have been seen and enjoyed throughout Canada, the US and the rest of the world. He loves to collaborate with other artists and has worked alongside the legendary James Brown and stylized music videos for Robbie Williams and Barenaked Ladies to mention just a few.

  When he was five Clarence dreamed of becoming a pro hockey player. In High School he competed in track and field, breaking the Canadian Interscholastic record for the 100 meters, which attracted many athletic scholarships from the US. At the age of 17 he discovered dance and his career took off when he became a member of Soul Express, a troupe that undertook several cross-Canada tours, appeared on award shows and TV shows including their own special on CBC Television.

  From a stylistic point of view Clarence Ford is an innovator. He was one of the first choreographers in North America to incorporate street and hip hop choreography in Olympic figure skating and synchronized swimming. His work was so sensational that two Olympic skaters won gold medals with his choreography.

  Clarence has choreographed several figure skating specials such as Stars on Ice, and prize-winning routines for international skating stars including Kurt Browning, Scott Hamilton, Victor Kraatz and Shae-Lynn Bourne. He has also worked on Canadian award shows such as the Junos, the Genies and the Geminis.

  His work in film has taken him to Los Angeles, the West Indies and all over Europe, and includes choreography for such major studios as DreamWorks, Universal and Miramax. The feature films he has worked on include The Ladies Man, starring Will Ferrell, Tuxedo with Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Undercover Brother with Eddie Griffin and Billy Dee Williams. He has also choreographed around 40 television commercials, produced, directed and choreographed fashion shows and numerous special events such as the Reebok fashion show for Fashion Television. He has also produced, directed and choreographed concerts for Arrested Development, Soul Decision and Sugar Jones.

  Clarence Ford first worked with Cirque du Soleil in 1997, when Debra Brown invited him to take part in the studio workshops and contribute some of his choreographies for the Cirque show La Nouba. He followed that by joining the general training program at Cirque's International Headquarters in Montreal.

  Clarence says the choreography in KOOZA takes its inspiration from urban pop culture, vaudeville's "Eccentric Dance," jazz and street performance. "For me, it's about this fusion of choreography evolving into its own language," he says. "That provokes emotions, shows power and gives our audiences excitement!" 

  Clarence Ford was born in Toronto in 1956.

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• Martin Labrecque

  Lichtgestalter

  Martin Labrecque hat im Lauf seines Berufslebens unter anderem schon an über 100 Theaterproduktionen und Zirkusshows mitgewirkt. Bei mehreren von der Kritik gefeierten Shows, die in Quebec aufgeführt wurden, leistete er einen wichtigen Beitrag. Für seine Lichtgestaltung wurde er in Quebec mit vielen Preisen ausgezeichnet und für viele weitere nominiert. Martin Labrecque war für die Beleuchtung zweier gefeierter, von Cirque Éloize produzierter Zirkusshows, Rain und Nomade, sowie der Cirque du Soleil-Shows Corteo, KOOZA und Viva ELVIS zuständig. 2009 gestaltete Labrecque die Beleuchtung für eine elfstündige Show des kanadischen Autors, Regisseurs und Schauspielers Wajdi Mouawad, die im Hof des Papstpalastes von Avignon stattfand. Er arbeitete außerdem an der Show Paradis Perdu, die in Montreal unter Regie von Dominic Champagne aufgeführt wurde.

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• Jonathan Deans

  Tongestalter

  Jonathan Deans, einer der begehrtesten Tongestalter in der Welt des Musicals, ist der Mann, der für die Klangumgebung von Viva ELVIS verantwortlich ist. Jonathan hat die Klanglandschaften von Saltimbanco, Mystère, <<O>>, La Nouba, Zumanity, KÀ, Corteo, The Beatles LOVE, KOOZA, Wintuk, CRISS ANGEL Believe und vor kurzem von OVO geschaffen und findet den kreativen und teamorientierten Ansatz, der beim Cirque verfolgt wird, äußerst anregend.

  Schon früh begeisterte sich Jonathan für Elektronik. Mit 15 stieg er als Schauspieler in die Royal Shakespeare Company ein, wo sein großes Interesse an Sound nach und nach mit den Elementen des Theaters verschmolz. Zuerst arbeitete er eine Weile als Toningenieur in der Musikbranche, und zwar in den Morgan Studios, wo er Kontakt zu Künstlern wie Cat Stevens, Paul Simon und Rick Wakeman hatte. Einige Jahre später führte ihn sein Weg zurück in die Theaterwelt. Anfangs war er im Royal Opera House tätig, dann im Covent Garden und später mischte er den Sound für das Musical A Chorus Line. Er landete einen Erfolg nach dem anderen. Als Toningenieur hat er den Sound für über ein Dutzend Produktionen gemischt, zu denen Evita, Cats, Bugsy Malone und The Sound of Music zählen.

  Der Erfolg, den Jonathan Deans als Toningenieur beim Mischen von Sound erzielte, führte dazu, dass er für das Musical Marilyn als Tongestalter engagiert wurde. Danach arbeitete er an weiteren West End-Shows wie Time, Les Misérables, Mutiny und Jean Seberg, denen die Broadway-Shows Ragtime, Fosse, King David, Damn Yankees, Taboo, Brooklyn, Lestat, Pirate Queen und Young Frankenstein folgten.

  Für Jonathan Deans sind die normalen Theater und das Grand Chapiteau des Cirque in Sachen Tongestaltung zwei recht unterschiedliche Welten. „Es herrschen andere technische Anforderungen, im Hinblick auf die Beschaffenheit und Schichtung von Musik und Sound gibt es aber keine Unterschiede“, erklärt er. „Meine Aufgabe besteht darin, für jede einzelne Produktion eine ganz eigene Atmosphäre zu schaffen. Und unabhängig davon, wo die Show aufgeführt wird, muss das Publikum akustisch wahrnehmen, dass man in eine neue Welt vordringt.“

  „Elvis spielt in der Show zwar nicht mit, aber all unsere Handlungen haben einen Bezug zu ihm. Es ist daher von großer Bedeutung, dass mit dem Soundsystem etwas geschaffen wird, das sich akustisch genauso stark auswirkt wie es bei visuellen Effekten der Fall ist. Und es muss natürlich Elvis würdig sein“, sagt Jonathan Deans. „Das für Viva ELVIS erbaute Theater ist riesig und wird daher seiner Legende gerecht. Um einen Klang hervorzurufen, der dieser Herausforderung entspricht, haben wir Subwoofer in den Boden eingebaut. Dadurch können wir die niedrige Resonanzfrequenz des Betonbaus selbst nutzen, um Unterschallvibrationen hinzuzufügen, durch die sich der Zuschauerraum infolge der live dargebotenen Musik buchstäblich bewegt. Daneben entstehen natürlich auch Klangeffekte.“

  Jonathan Deans wurde in England geboren und lebt im Großraum New York.

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• Leon Rothenberg

  Sound Designer

  Leon Rothenberg brings an extensive and varied background in music composition and computer programming to his work as a sound designer. In 1995 he studied North Indian Classical Music at the Sangit Mahabharati School in Mumbai, India while a student at Oberlin College, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree as well as a B.A. in Computer Science. He earned his MFA in Sound Design from the California Institute of the Arts in 2002.

  “I like to think that my way of thinking about sound is very musical. Even as a kid I knew I wanted a career in music and I played many different instruments. But I had also done lots of sound experiments using a reel-to-reel machine, starting when I was about eight years old,” Leon recalls. “In college I started writing music for plays and I realized sound composition and sound design for theatre provided far more opportunities for collaboration, and that was exciting.”

  After completing graduate school Leon worked as a Production Engineer for college and community theatrical productions in Southern California. It wasn’t long before he found himself in demand for larger shows at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, New York and further afield. In 2003 he co-designed the sound for a large multi-building site-specific production of King Lear that was presented in Los Angeles and in France. He has also worked on a number of experimental animation films and taught courses in Creative Listening and Sound Design.

  Leon Rothenberg’s first experience on a Cirque du Soleil show was as the assistant to sound designer Jonathan Deans on KÀ. Their association continued with Corteo, LOVE at the Mirage, and the travelling show Kooza – for which Leon received his first Cirque credit as a sound designer.

  Leon summarizes his approach to Wintuk by observing, “You want to reconcile the auditory experience with the visual experience so that no matter where you sit you get something compelling and interesting.”

  Leon Rothenberg was born in 1974 in Boston, Massachusetts.

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• Rogé Francoeur

  Props Designer

  Rogé Francoeur dreamed of acting as a youngster, but it was behind the scenes rather than on stage that he was to make his mark. His studies in Fine Arts in Quebec and sculpture at York University in Toronto led him to a career creating props for film, theatre and television productions.

  Rogé started in film as a set decorator, model-maker and props designer. He worked on many features, including Emile Radok's Taming of the Demons (1985) which was instrumental in his choice of career. He also applied his three-dimensional point of view to Shadow of the Wolf (1992) directed by Jacques Dorfmann, the 1993 TV movie Zelda directed by Pat O'Connor, and Screamers (1995) directed by Christian Duguay.

  In 1996, Rogé Francoeur worked as a creative assistant, set decorator and model-maker for Cinema Avenue Japan, a major film exhibition in presented in Tokyo. For the past six years he has taught prop design and set painting at a college in Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec, and he is currently completing a Master's degree in teaching with a thesis on show creation.

  Rogé's first formal association with Cirque did not come until 1992 when he worked with the costume designer Dominique Lemieux on the creation of Saltimbanco. He went on to work with set designer Michel Crête, creating props for the shows Mystère and Alegría in 1993 and 1994. Since 2003 he has been a consultant on R&D projects for Cirque and has also worked closely with the costume department. He says it was his work on Alegría that really caught the attention of the company, which led to KOOZA – the first time he has worked on a Cirque show as a designer.

  "KOOZA is an exploration of the world of the clown, as imagined by David Shiner," he explains. "The performances of the comic actors are at a very high level and the props must never upstage their characters. My constant preoccupation is to keep things simple, ergonomic and compatible with the set design. My approach to prop design is impressionistic. Props are often only fully revealed when seen from a distance, or under lighting."

  Rogé Francoeur was born in 1963 in Macamic, Quebec.

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• Danny Zen

  Acrobatic Equipment and Rigging Designer

  Danny Zen first arrived at Cirque du Soleil in 1990 to work as a welder in the company's workshops. That same year he went on the first European tour of Le Cirque Réinventé, then moved on to Nouvelle Expérience on which he worked as a welder, assembler, mechanic and head usher. In 1992 he toured with Saltimbanco as a tent technician.

  Since 1993 Danny has worked in the continuing development of the Creative Studio at Cirque du Soleil. His innovations as head rigger and technical expert are largely responsible for establishing Cirque's demanding standards in training all its riggers, and maintaining the safety of the performers and technicians at all times.

  Danny has worked at the National Circus School in Montreal and has, over the years, contributed to the design of most of the aerial acrobatic equipment used in the Cirque du Soleil shows Alegría, Mystère, Quidam, Dralion, Varekai, "O", La Nouba and KÀ. He was also Head Rigger for Quidam in 1996. In 2008, he designed the rigging and equipment for the acrobatics show at the Quebec City 400th anniversary celebrations.

  Zarkana is Danny Zen’s third engagement as Acrobatic Equipment and Rigging Designer for a Cirque du Soleil show, following Corteo and KOOZA.

  “The acrobatic equipment on Zarkana was designed to blend in with the 1930s-inspired décor of the show,” he says. “The action of the show is set in the same period. I'm fascinated by the curves and organic shapes of that era and I've been inspired by the French Art Nouveau master glassmaker and jeweler Lalique and the Spanish architect and engineer Calatrava."

  Danny Zen was born in Saint-Luc, Québec.

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• André Simard

  Akrobatik-Choreograph

  André Simard arbeitete seit 1987 beim Cirque du Soleil, als er einen Akt am freischwingenden Trapez für Nouvelle Expérience entwarf, der bei der Trapezkunst in großer Höhe eine wahre Revolution auslöste. Seitdem hat Simard die meisten Trapezakte der 13 Shows des Cirque du Soleil, die momentan weltweit gezeigt werden, entworfen.

  Seit über 30 Jahren gelingt es André Simard, seine drei Fachgebiete harmonisch zu vereinen: bildende Kunst, Hochleistungssport und Zirkus. In den frühen 70er Jahren war er Mitglied der kanadischen Gymnastik-Nationalmannschaft, während er gleichzeitig am Institut des Arts Graphiques in Montreal studierte. Außerdem trainierte er Clowns und andere Unterhaltungskünstler am Centre Immaculée-Conception in Montreal, einem Vorläufer der École Nationale de Cirque in Montreal, während er sich für seine Teilnahme an den Olympischen Sommerspielen 1972 in München vorbereitete. Er sagt von sich, dass er ständig die Regeln der Biomechanik im Bereich des Sports mit der Ausdruckskraft der darstellenden Künste zu verschmelzen versucht. Dieser Ansatz spiegelt sich auch in seiner Lehrtätigkeit an der École Nationale de Cirque wie auch am Centre National des Arts du Cirque in Châlons-sur-Marne und an der École Nationale de Cirque de Rosny-sous-Bois, beide in Frankreich, wider.

  1995 gründete er das Studio de Création les Gens d’R in Montreal, ein künstlerisches Unternehmen, das ihm die Gelegenheit gab, an die Grenzen des gefühlsmäßigen Ausdrucks durch Trapezkunst vorzustoßen. Im Jahr 2001 stellte diese Truppe die Weltpremiere der Show „Échos“ in Wien vor. Die Vorführung wurde von den Organisatoren der berühmten Biennale in Wien in Auftrag gegeben.

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• Florence Cornet

  Maskenbildnerin

  Florence Cornet setzt sich seit mehr als zwei Jahrzehnten aktiv mit der Frage auseinander, wie sie die Zuschauer mit ihren Make-up-Designs in den Bann ziehen kann.

  Nach Abschluss ihres Studiums am Collège de Sainte-Foy in Quebec Anfang der 1980er Jahre besuchte Cornet Make-up-Kurse bei dem Bühnenbildner Yvan Gaudin. Diese Erfahrung erweckte ihre Leidenschaft für ihr künftiges Metier. Cornet setzte ihre Ausbildung an der Mytho Maquillages-Schule von Mikie Hamilton fort. Ihre überaus produktive berufliche Laufbahn begann, als sie noch keine 20 Jahre alt war.

  Cornet absolvierte 1985 ein Maskenbildner-Praktikum in Frankreich, das ihr unter anderem ein doppeltes Engagement als künstlerische Leiterin und Bühnenbildnerin einer multikulturellen Show beim internationalen Marionettenfestival einbrachte. Seitdem hat sie sich bei einer eindrucksvollen Vielfalt an Projekten in den Bereichen Make-up, Kostümdesign, künstlerische Leitung und Marionetten einen Namen gemacht. In Quebec hat sie an rund 200 Produktionen mitgewirkt. Cornets Werk war in Produktionen am Théâtre Petit à Petit, am Théâtre du Trident, am Théâtre de la Licorne und am Théâtre du Nouveau Monde zu sehen. Sie hat mit vielen namhaften Theaterregisseuren in Quebec zusammengearbeitet, z. B. Serge Denoncourt, Dominic Champagne, Claude Poissant, Wajdi Mouawad, Denise Guilbault, Michel Lemieux und Victor Pilon.

  Cornet erteilt seit mehr als 20 Jahren an verschiedenen Theaterschulen einschließlich der nationalen Zirkusschule in Montreal Unterricht für angehende Maskenbildner. Darüber hinaus hat sie in Film und Fernsehen gearbeitet, insbesondere als Hauptmaskenbildnerin bei der kanadischen Fernsehserie „Hommes en Quarantaine“. Im Jahr 2000 wurde sie für einen Gémeaux (Kategorie bestes Make-up) für ihre Arbeit an „Une Âme Immortelle“, einer Produktion der Cine Qua Non Film unter Regie von Bernar Hébert, ausgezeichnet.

  Florence Cornet hat bereits in der Vergangenheit für den Cirque du Soleil gearbeitet. Im Jahr 2004 wirkte sie bei KÀ und verschiedenen Sonderveranstaltungen als Maskenassistentin mit. Bei KOOZA arbeitete sie zum ersten Mal als Maskenbildnerin für das Unternehmen. „Ich habe mit Texturen experimentiert, die vom Nahen Osten und Afrika inspiriert, und von Gold, Juwelen, gleißendem Licht und Erde getragen sind. Ich habe mich für einen Stil entschieden, der spontane Gestik fördert, und asymmetrische Linien, das Instinktive und das Rituelle hervorhebt.“

  Florence Cornet lebt seit 20 Jahren in Montreal. Sie wurde 1963 in Toulon in Südfrankreich geboren. Im Alter von fünf Jahren zog sie nach Quebec.

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