Guy St-Amour has been involved in the performing arts for more than 30 years. He began his career in 1975 as a technician and has participated in an impressive number of projects in theatre, cinema, television and circus. In 2002, he was selected to contribute his talents to the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Royal Visit to Canada. And in 2005 he worked on the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan’s Centennial Celebration of the Arts.

St-Amour has been associated with Cirque du Soleil since the very beginning, working in a number of pioneering technical direction capacities between 1984 and 1995. He participated in the creation of rigging systems for aerial numbers, special effects, acrobatic equipment and set design elements. He has also been interested in audio since 1984, and created the sound design for Nouvelle Expérience in 1989. He also designed, created and supervised the installation of the big tops for Cirque’s European and North American tours between 1989 and 1995.

In 1987 he founded his own consulting company which has worked for scores of clients including Expo ‘98 in Portugal (for which he created a teleport simulator), the Montreal Casino, the National Film Board of Canada, the Just For Laughs comedy festival, Opéra de Montréal’s Carmen Sous les Étoiles and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. At the same time he is intensely involved in training the next generation of technicians in Quebec, teaching at the National Theatre School, the École Nationale de Cirque and the Montreal-based circus arts national network En Piste.

LOVE marks St-Amour’s return to Cirque du Soleil and the first time he has worked on a Cirque production as a Creator. He points out that the creative approach to the show is unusual because the acrobatic equipment and the set designs form a single element. “It imposes a rigorous approach,” he says. “Every detail is important, and it’s complicated by the complex timing of the show. A huge number of events have to happen precisely on cue throughout the performance. This calls for a collective effort. We are aiming for the highest technical and aesthetic refinement in the acrobatic equipment while maximizing the performance, comfort and safety of the artists.”

Guy St-Amour was born in Montreal in 1959.