Persmateriaal

KOOZA - Ontwerpers

• Guy Laliberté

  Oprichter en Creative Guide

  Guy Laliberté is in 1959 geboren in Québec. Deze accordeonist, steltloper en vuurvreter heeft met ondersteuning van een kleine groep mensen het allereerste internationaal vermaarde circus van Québec opgericht. Guy Laliberté, een dappere visionair, herkende en gebruikte de talenten van straatartiesten van het Fête foraine de Baie-Saint-Paul en richtte in 1984 Cirque du Soleil op.

  Guy Laliberté was de eerste die de mix van culturen en artistieke en acrobatische disciplines samenbracht, wat ook vandaag de dag nog kenmerkend is voor Cirque du Soleil. Sinds 1984 staat hij aan het hoofd van het creatieve team en helpt hij de medewerkers bij de ontwikkeling van elke show. Daarnaast heeft hij eraan bijgedragen dat circuskunsten tegenwoordig worden gezien als een belangrijke artistieke discipline.

  Cirque du Soleil is een internationale organisatie; zowel wat betreft de stijl en activiteiten als de invloed die het circus uitoefent. Guy Laliberté staat nu aan het hoofd van een organisatie met activiteiten die zich uitstrekken over vijf continenten.

  In oktober 2007 begon Guy Laliberté aan een tweede project: de ONE DROP Foundation, die tot doel heeft om wereldwijd armoede te bestrijden door mensen van schoon water te voorzien.  Deze nieuwe droom komt voort uit het gegeven dat het recht op water van essentieel belang is om te kunnen overleven en uit de normen en waarden die al sinds de oprichting een belangrijke rol spelen bij Cirque du Soleil:  de gedachte dat het leven alles wat iemand geeft ook weer teruggeeft en dat daarbij zelfs het kleinste gebaar een verschil maakt.

  In september 2009 werd Guy Laliberté de eerste Canadese privéruimtevaarder.  Zijn doel was om mensen bewust te maken van de waterproblemen waarmee de aarde en mensheid te maken hebben. Onder het motto Moving Stars and Earth for Water was de eerste poëtisch-sociale missie in de ruimte een feit. De bedoeling was mensen te raken vanuit een artistieke benadering: een speciale, 120 minuten durende webcast met verschillende optredens in veertien steden op vijf continenten, zelfs in het internationale ruimtestation ISS.

  Belangrijkste awards en onderscheidingen
  In 2011 werd Guy Laliberté opgenomen in de Order of the Canadian Business Hall of Fame. In 2010 kreeg Guy zijn eigen ster op de Hollywood Walk of Fame. In hetzelfde jaar werd Guy door de regering van Québec gepromoveerd van ridder (een titel die hij zes jaar eerder kreeg) tot officier in de Ordre de la Pléiade. De Université Laval (Québec) verleende Guy Laliberté in 2008 een eredoctoraat. Het jaar ervoor won Guy Laliberté de Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year-award in drie categorieën: Québec, Canada en Internationaal. In 2004 ontving hij de Order of Canada, de hoogste onderscheiding van het land, van de gouverneur-generaal van Canada.  In hetzelfde jaar werd hij door Time Magazine genoemd als een van de 100 meest invloedrijke personen ter wereld. In 2003 werd hij door de Condé Nast-groep geëerd als onderdeel van het Never Follow Program, een eerbetoon aan uitvinders en innovators. In 2001 werd hij door de Académie des Grands Montréalais uitgeroepen tot 'Great Montrealer'. In 1997 ontving Guy Laliberté de Ordre National du Québec, de hoogste onderscheiding die door de regering van Québec wordt uitgereikt.

  
  

  Andere awards en onderscheidingen

  2009
  Lifetime Achievement Award, uitgereikt door de Canadian Marketing Association

  2002
  Vereeuwiging in de Canadese Walk of Fame

  1998
  Visionary Award, uitgereikt door het American Craft Museum (nu het Museum of Arts and Design in New York)

  1996
  Vision nouvelle-award, uitgereikt op het 43e Gala du Commerce (Québec)

  1988
  Personality of the Year, Gala Excellence La Presse (Québec)

  1988
  Entrepreneur of the Year, Les Affaires magazine (Québec)

   

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• David Shiner

  Schrijver en regisseur

  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

  Creatief directeur

  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

  Set Designer

  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

  Kostuumontwerper

  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

  Componist

  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

  Choreograaf

  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

  Lighting Designer

  Martin Labrecque’s professional credits include more than a hundred theatrical productions, as well as circus shows. Martin contributed to the critical success of several Quebec shows. He has won many Quebec awards for his lighting design in addition to several nominations. Martin Labrecque created the lighting for two critically acclaimed circus shows produced by Cirque Éloize, Rain and Nomade, as well as Cirque du Soleil shows Corteo, KOOZA, Viva ELVIS and Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour. In 2009, Martin designed the lighting for an eleven-hour show by Canadian author, director and actor Wajdi Mouawad, which was presented in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes in Avignon, France. He also worked on the show Paradis Perdu, directed by Dominic Champagne and presented in Montreal.

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• Jonathan Deans

  Geluidsontwerper

  Jonathan Deans, een van de meest gewilde geluidsontwerpers in de wereld van het muziektheater, is de man achter de geluidswereld van Viva ELVIS. Jonathan vindt de voortdurende zoektocht naar verbetering en de teamgerichte creatieve aanpak van Cirque du Soleil uiterst inspirerend. Hij heeft dan ook de soundscapes gemaakt voor Saltimbanco, Mystère, “O”, La Nouba, ZUMANITY, KÀ, Corteo, The Beatles LOVE, KOOZA, Wintuk, CRISS ANGEL Believe en, onlangs, OVO.

  Jonathan was al op jonge leeftijd gefascineerd door elektronica. Als vijftienjarige ging hij als acteur aan de slag bij de Royal Shakespeare Company, waar zijn voorliefde voor geluid begon samen te smelten met de theateromgeving. Na enkele jaren als geluidstechnicus in de muziekindustrie te hebben gewerkt, met name bij Morgan Studios, waar hij zij aan zij werkte met artiesten als Cat Stevens, Paul Simon en Rick Wakeman, keerde hij terug naar het theater via de Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Daarna heeft hij de geluiden gemixt voor de musical A Chorus Line. De successen volgden elkaar snel op en hij werd verantwoordelijk voor het geluid van tientallen producties, waaronder Evita, Cats, Bugsy Malone en The Sound of Music.

  Dankzij zijn succes als geluidsmixer werd Jonathan aangetrokken als geluidsontwerper voor de musical Marilyn. West End wilde hem niet meer laten gaan en hij werkte aan shows als Time, Les Misérables, Mutiny en Jean Seberg, waarna ook Broadway trok met Ragtime, Fosse, King David, Damn Yankees, Taboo, Brooklyn, Lestat, Pirate Queen en Young Frankenstein.

  Voor Jonathan Deans zijn de vaste theaters en de Big Top van Cirque du Soleil twee compleet verschillende werelden als het aankomt op geluidsontwerp. “Technisch gezien vergen ze een totaal andere aanpak, maar wat betreft compositie en layering van de muziek en het geluid is er geen verschil”, zegt hij. “Mijn taak is om voor iedere productie een unieke omgeving te creëren. En waar de show ook wordt opgevoerd, ik moet ervoor zorgen dat het geluidstechnisch voor de mensen van het publiek lijkt alsof ze een andere wereld betreden.”

  “Elvis doet natuurlijk niet mee aan de show, maar alles wat we doen, draait om hem. Het is dus heel belangrijk dat het effect van het geluidssysteem net zo groot is als de visuele effecten, en alles moet Elvis-waardig zijn”, zegt Jonathan Deans. “Het Viva ELVIS-theater heeft een omvang die niet onderdoet voor de legende die Elvis is. Om deze geluidsuitdaging aan te gaan, hebben we subwoofers onder de vloer geplaatst. Zo kunnen we de laagtonige resonantie van de betonnen constructie gebruiken om niet alleen geluidseffecten te creëren, maar ook subsonische geluidstrillingen toe te voegen die het auditorium letterlijk doen schudden tijdens de livemuziek.”

  Jonathan Deans is geboren in Engeland en woont in de buurt van New York.

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• Leon Rothenberg

  Geluidsontwerper

  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

  Ontwerper rekwisieten

  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

  ontwerper acrobatiek

  André Simard has been working with Cirque du Soleil since 1987. That year, he created a swinging trapeze act for the show Nouvelle Expérience, sparking a genuine revolution in high-flying aerial movement. Under his direction, the acrobatic feats performed by artists in motion somewhere between Earth and sky, either in a theatre or under a big top, achieved the fluidity of ballet. Between 1989 and 2000, 13 of the acts he created for Cirque du Soleil, the National Circus School and his own company of artists, Studio de création les gens d'R, garnered accolades in festivals attended by the finest circus artists from all over the world.

  The new circus arts are indebted to Simard for his creation of the discipline of aerial silk acrobatics in 1995. Another example of technological and choreographic innovation, stemming from his collaboration with acrobatic apparatus designer Jaque Paquin, was the Boat act in "O". As well, Simard has designed most of the aerial acts in the shows that Cirque performs around the world.

  For over 30 years, André Simard has succeeded in striking a harmonious balance between his three areas of expertise: the fine arts, elite sports, and the circus. In the early 1970s, he was a member of Canada's national gymnastics team while a student at the Institut des arts graphiques de Montréal. In addition, while preparing to compete in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, he trained clowns and other public entertainers at the Centre Immaculée-Conception in Montréal, a forerunner of the National Circus School. In his own words, he is "constantly trying to meld the rules of biomechanics, as applied to athletic training, with the evocative power of the performing arts." This approach has also infused his teaching at the National Circus School, as well as at the Centre national des arts du cirque de Châlons-sur-Marne and the École nationale de Cirque de Rosny-sous-Bois, both in France.

  In 1995 he founded the Studio de création les gens d'R in Montréal, an artistic endeavor that affords him the opportunity to push the envelope of emotional expression through aerial movement. In 2001 this troupe gave the world premiere performance of Échos in Venice. The show was commissioned by the organizers of that city's celebrated Biennale arts festival.

  "For CRISS ANGEL Believe, I’ve come up with a way for the dervish characters to spin by hiding ropes inside their costumes," he says. "I've also introduced acrobatic elements into the stilt walkers’ dance numbers, and I’ve devised a motorized acrobatic mechanism for the character of Kayala: When she emerges from her flower to do her hoop routine, she grabs hold of the petals, which in reality are made out of transparent flexible PVC tubes built into her costume."

  André Simard was born in 1945 in Montreal.

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• Florence Cornet

  Makeup Designer

  Florence Cornet has been exploring ways to connect with the public through her makeup designs for over twenty-five years. In addition to having worked on numerous theatre, dance, opera and musical productions, her impressive résumé also includes costume, artistic direction and puppetry work, as she has been involved with over 200 productions in the course of her career. Her work has been featured in productions at some of Quebec’s leading venues, including Théâtre Petit à Petit, Théâtre du Trident, Théâtre de la Licorne and Théâtre du Nouveau Monde. She teaches make-up techniques in theatre and circus schools and has spent several years working in film and television. She has worked with renowned Quebec directors such as Serge Denoncourt, Dominic Champagne, Claude Poissant, Wajdi Mouawad, Denise Guilbault, Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, as well as Robert Lepage. In 2000, she was nominated for a Gémeaux Award for best make-up for Bernar Hébert’s film Une âme immortelle. After Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour, Florence Cornet is designing the make-up for her second Cirque du Soleil show following KOOZA.

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