Cirque du Soleil Guy Laliberté was born in Quebec, Canada, in 1959. From childhood he dreamt of doing something risky in his life. He got out of his parents’ control very early and started earning money as a street performer. To amuse people, Guy played the accordion, danced and did fire eating. After several years of being on the road at the age of twenty three he decided to settle down.
In 1982 Guy Laliberté started a serious business that made him one of the richest Canadians. He began learning world circus techniques professionally. Additionally, his travel experience and his friends’ support helped him arrange the first national circus in Quebec. For the first time, Guy Laliberté managed to combine circus arts with street performance, which finally made his circus extremely popular.
When it was time to decide on a name, Guy Laliberté didn’t discuss it with anybody. He called his project Cirque du Soleil or Circus of the Sun. The decision was not made by chance, because the image of the sun reminded him of the youth and energy his artists personified.
Montreal authorities let Laliberté rent a piece of land far from the city centre. In 1984 the district was a waste land that needed major reconstruction. In spite of the high cost, the first Cirque du Soleil hall for eight hundred people was built in that area. The main office never changed its location and has become a new cultural centre in Quebec.
The main office is located in an unusual building that consists of the Studio and the Parlour, painted blue and yellow. The Studio is the place for training and the artists’ offices, while the Parlour is the home for set and costume designers. They always have a lot of work to do, because all the cloth bought for performances is initially white. To make the costumes bright, different colours are printed according to designers' sketches.
Initially the company had about seventy employees. Today it has more than four thousand artists, acrobats, divers, dancers and singers from about forty countries, speaking about twenty languages. It enables Cirque du Soleil to perform in different parts of the world at the same time. Its offices are also located in London, New York, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Singapore, Moscow and several other cities.
Since its foundation, Cirque du Soleil has visited more than one hundred and thirty cities and welcomed more than forty million spectators. The company offers a series of thematic shows. For example, Saltimbanco invites the audience on a city tour, Love tells the story of the Beatles, and Alegria creates an optimistic mood.
However, performing is not the only priority of the company. It has initiated an international program for teenagers who are at risk. The company also organizes training courses to support circus schools in Canada. This is how Guy Laliberté keeps the right balance between business, art and philanthropy. |