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Saltimbanco
''Saltimbanco'' was a touring show by Cirque du Soleil. ''Saltimbanco'' ran from 1992 to 2006 in its original form, performed under a large circus tent called the Grand Chapiteau; its last performance in that form was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on December 10, 2006. A new adaptation of the show started touring North America on July 31, 2007, with its first stop in London, Ontario, Canada. The new version was staged in arenas with fewer performances in each city it visited. The new version closed at the end of 2012. The show was described by Cirque du Soleil as a celebration of life. Its creators say they developed it as an antidote to the violence and despair prevalent in the 20th century. Etymology English has lost the word ''saltimbank'' from current usage; but it is still familiar in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian as ''saltimbanco'', and in French as ''saltimbanque'', meaning ''street acrobat'' or ''entertainer''. According to the company's site, the word "saltimbanco" com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cirque Du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 June 1984 by former street performers Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix. Originating as a performing troupe called ''Les Échassiers'' (; "The Stilt Walkers"), they toured Quebec in various forms between 1979 and 1983. Their initial financial hardship was relieved in 1983 by a government grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to perform as part of the 450th anniversary celebrations of Jacques Cartier's voyage to Canada. Their first official production ''Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil'' was a success in 1984, and after securing a second year of funding, Laliberté hired Guy Caron from the École nationale de cirque, National Circus School to recreate it as a "proper circus". Its theatrical, character-driven approach and the absence of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
René Bazinet
René Bazinet (born 1955) is a German-Canadian clown, mime, and stage and film actor. He is known for his work with Cirque du Soleil, first as a performing artist touring extensively with ''Saltimbanco'', and later as the clown act creator and acting consultant for the show as well as for Cirque du Soleil's 2011 production '' Zarkana''. He has also starred in shows at the Berlin Wintergarten and the Circus Roncalli. Life and career Bazinet was born René Fiener (his mother's surname) in Bochum, West Germany. His father was Willy Dege, a cabaret and variety artist. When he was 14, his mother married a Canadian military police officer, Sgt. Major Bazinet, who adopted him, and the family emigrated to Canada. After completing high school in Montreal, Bazinet studied theatre at John Abbott College in Quebec. One of his teachers there, who had studied with Jacques Lecoq, recognized Bazinet's talent for mime and devised a one-man show for him.LeBank, Ezra and Bridel, David (2015)' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mystère (Cirque Du Soleil)
''Mystère'' (, , "mystery") is a resident Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Held in a custom theatre at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino, the show was first performed on 25 December 1993, making it the company's longest running show. As with many Cirque du Soleil productions, ''Mystère'' features a mixture of circus skills, dance, elaborate sets, opera, worldbeat music, and street theatre-style comedy. Featuring a musical score composed by René Dupéré and Benoît Jutras, the show was created under the direction of Franco Dragone. History The idea for ''Mystère'' started around 1990. It was originally planned for Caesars Palace with a theme based on Greek and Roman mythology. The plan, however, was scrapped by the casino executives, who thought the project would be too financially risky. ''Mystère'' was very different from the typical material they were used to in a Las Vegas show. According to ''Mystère'' set designer Michel Crête, "Vegas... was s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
René Dupéré
René Dupéré (born 1946) is a Canadian composer from Mont-Joli, Québec, Canada. Biography Dupéré is best known as the composer and arranger of music for contemporary circus productions by the Canadian entertainment company Cirque du Soleil. Among the Cirque du Soleil stage shows he has scored are: ''Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil'' (1984), ''La Magie Continue'' (1986), '' Le Cirque Réinventé'' (1987), '' Nouvelle Expérience'' (1990), ''Saltimbanco'' (1992), '' Mystère'' (1993), '' Alegría'' (1994), '' Kà'' (2004), and '' Zed'' (2009). According to press releases from Cirque du Soleil, "René Dupéré played a key role in shaping the artistic universe of Cirque du Soleil during its first ten years.""Cirque d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luc Lafortune
Luc Lafortune (born September 1958) is a Canadian lighting designer for the entertainment industry as well as one of the original designers of the Cirque du Soleil. Career Lafortune studied at Dawson College, and then McGill University, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in Arts. He later obtained a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from Concordia University (Quebec), Concordia University. Upon graduation, he went to work for Cirque du Soleil, embarking on their first tour, ''Le Grand Tour'', a 13-week stint across rural Quebec, organized in conjunction with the celebrations marking the 450th anniversary of the discovery of Canada by French explorer, Jacques Cartier. Since then, Lafortune has designed numerous Cirque du Soleil shows, including "Le Cirque Réinventé (We Reinvent the Circus)'', ''Cirque du Soleil#Saltimbanco, Fascination'', ''Nouvelle Expérience'', ''Saltimbanco'', ''Mystère (Cirque du Soleil), Mystère'', ''Alegría (Cirque du Soleil), Alegría'', ''Quidam' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franco Dragone
Franco Dragone (12 December 1952 – 30 September 2022) was an Italian-born Belgian theatre director. He was the founder and artistic director of Dragone, a creative company specializing in the creation of large-scale theatre shows. According to CNN, Dragone was "one of the key architects of Cirque du Soleil's unique theatrical style." He was also known for his work with Celine Dion. Dragone died from a severe chest infection in Cairo, Egypt, on 30 September 2022 at the age of 69. Early life Dragone was born in 1952 in Cairano, a small town in southern Italy. At the age of seven, he moved to the mining region of La Louvière in Belgium with his family so his parents could work in Belgium's coal mines. He remembers that being an "artist" was not treated seriously by the mining community in La Louvière. His father, however, was broad-minded and enrolled Dragone in a liberal '' lycée''. As a student, Dragone was taught a wide range of topics and was allowed to choose his fiel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nouvelle Expérience
''Nouvelle Expérience'' was Cirque du Soleil's fourth touring circus show, which premiered in 1990. Before the show's conception, Cirque du Soleil attempted to revive one of its previous shows, ''Le Cirque Réinventé''. The attempt was abandoned after a weak critical reception. Laliberté and Ste-Croix instead created a new show based on the plans that had originally been drawn up by Caron before his departure. Originally intended to be called ''Eclipse'', they renamed the show ''Nouvelle Expérience'' and launched it in 1990. Franco Dragone agreed to return—albeit reluctantly—but only if he had full creative control of the show's environment. One of the first things he did was to remove the curtain that separated the artist from the audience, so that they would both feel part of a larger show. Whereas in a traditional circus the artist could go past the curtain and drop his role, Dragone had created an environment where the artist had to remain in character for the full le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Pole
Chinese poles are vertical poles on which circus performers climb, slide down and hold poses. The poles are generally between in height and approximately in diameter. Some poles have a slightly larger pole that rotates around the static central pole using ball bearings. This rotating pole allows a performer to spin on the vertical axis, giving a performer the ability to incorporate rate of spin into a performance. Bringing the body closer into the pole causes the performer to spin faster. A few Chinese pole tricks have been incorporated with Pole dance, pole dancing techniques. The poles are sometimes covered with rubber to improve grip. However, the rubber can cause friction burns on parts of the Chinese pole artists' bodies. Acrobats often wear multiple layers of clothing to prevent such burns and bruises. The most famous trick is "human flag, the flag", where the artist hangs straight out from the pole with their hands. This requires a very strong upper body. A few people ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrea Conway
Andrea Conway, also known as Andrea Conway-Doba (born September 15, 1971), is a former Canadian gymnast, acrobat, actor, tap dancer and clown from Pointe-Claire, Quebec. Gymnastics Conway competed in artistic gymnastics on a national level, representing Quebec. In 1987, she represented Canada at the Pan American Games in Indianapolis, winning a bronze medal for team Canada. Stage career Conway toured with Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Jun ... from 1992–2000, performing on the Chinese poles and Russian swing. She was an original cast member in Cirque du Soleil's ''Saltimbanco''. In 2001, she was cast in Teatro ZinZanni, Teatro Zinzanni. She went on to collaborate in 18 Teatro Zinzanni productions in San Francisco and Seattle. She also co-wrote and c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Swing
A Russian swing is a large, floor-mounted Swing (seat), swing which is sometimes used in circus performances to make impressive high acrobatic jumps. Unlike ordinary playground swings, a Russian swing has steel bars instead of ropes, and its swinging platform is able to rotate 360 degrees around the horizontal bar from which it is suspended. Two or more acrobatics, acrobats stand on the swing platform, pumping it back and forth until it is swinging in high arcs. One acrobat (the flyer) then jumps upwards off the swing before it slows to a stationary speed at the peak of its arc. By jumping off the moving swing the flyer can increase their kinetic energy by more than the increase obtainable by jumping from the ground or other stationary surface. The flyer can achieve enough altitude to execute one of various aerial flips before landing at a distance from the swing. The flyer may land on a Mat (gymnastics), crash mat, in a vertically slanted net, in the arms of other acrobats (referre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marinelli Bend
Marinelli bend is a form of contortion posture in which the performer (most often female) supports their whole body weight only by biting onto a mouth grip attached to a short post in a backbend position with their buttocks sitting on their own head. It is considered to be one of the most difficult and dangerous contortion positions, and is usually the climax during a contortion performance. Etymology This name comes from the contortionist and international theatrical agent H.B. Marinelli (1864-1924). Double Marinelli bend This is a Marinelli bend in which the contortionist performs a Marinelli position with another contortionist doing a handstand on their top so that the former is holding the weight of two persons only by their mouth. This is considered to be an extremely difficult contortion act, and is exclusively performed by Mongolian or sometimes Chinese contortionists. The bend normally lasts for 5–6 seconds from the moment the Marinelli bend contortionist releases their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Handstand
A handstand is the act of supporting the body in a stable, inverted vertical position by balancing on the hands. In a basic handstand, the body is held straight with arms and legs fully extended, with hands spaced approximately shoulder-width apart and the legs together. There are many variations of handstands, all of which require the performer to possess adequate balance and upper body strength. Kinematics Handstands use the wrist flexor muscles as well as the anterior deltoid, pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, biceps brachii, and trapezius descendens. It is considered demanding in terms of both the muscle and joint requirement. According to a 2017 study most handbalancers use wrist movement to maintain balance in a handstand. Another study found that handbalancers who were also expert gymnasts had better coordination than those at an intermediate level of gymnastics. More advanced practitioners also altered their center of pressure less to change the center of mass wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
