Danny Zen first arrived at Cirque du Soleil in 1990 to work as a welder in the company's workshops. He brought with him several other qualifications: He's an accomplished hang glider, a fierce paintball competitor and he can sew just about anything.

Danny went on the first European tour of Cirque Réinventé in 1990, then moved on to Nouvelle Expérience the first show he worked on as a rigger. He toured with Saltimbanco in 1992 as a tent technician. He was Chief Rigger for Quidam in 1996, and as head technician for Cirque's Creation Studio he contributed his expertise to the creation of Alegría, Mystère, Quidam, Dralion, Varekai, "O", La Nouba and KÀ.

Because he is involved in the design and creation of the equipment, Danny Zen sees the work of the rigger as more than mechanical. "It is creative in its own way," he says. "We have to work closely with the set designer because although we're designing acrobatic equipment and devices, they often do double duty as set elements. That calls for a marriage between technological requirements and the artistic demands of the show."

Danny is constantly aware of the need for safety as the first priority for any piece of equipment or set element used by the artists and has worked to develop the safety standards in use throughout Cirque du Soleil's productions. He has also been active in the training of all riggers for the company. "The riggers are the people closest to the artists," he explains. "They've got the artists' lives in their hands."

KOOZA is the second Cirque du Soleil show Danny has worked on as the acrobatic rigging designer in addition to his regular duties as Director of Technical Research and Development at the Creation Studio.

He says the creative team have kept the manipulations of the stage to a minimum because they wanted to keep the audience's attention firmly focused on the performances: "In KOOZA the aerial acrobatics are of the highest caliber, and to put the emphasis on that I set out to establish the maximum simplicity, fluidity and lightness from every point of view."

Danny Zen was born in Saint-Luc, Québec in 1965.