ZAIA

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(Cirque Du Soleil “ZAIA” photos – click bottom three for full size image)

Information here released publicly on May 29, 2008 by Cirque Du Soleil with live performance excerpts at their new theater in Macau, China at the Sands Venetian.

ZAIA (“Zai-Yah”)is the name of our new Cirque Du Soleil show in Macau, China. Former working titles included “Macao 2008”, “Macao One” and “Cosmos”.

There are several preview videos on YouTube.com of the CIRQUE ZAIA press conference and previews.

Continue reading “ZAIA” →

Cirque Macao 2008

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Cirque du Soleil will see its first resident show in Asia debut at The Venetian® Macao-Resort-Hotel next summer.

This brand new 90-minute mega-production brings together 75 high-calibre artists from all four corners of the globe. Presented in one of the most impressive theatres ever created by Cirque du Soleil, the show will immerse its 1,800 spectators in an unforgettable experience.

Keep your eyes and ears open, the adventure will soon commence …

(“Macao” is also spelled as “Macau”. Show is on the Cotai Strip between the islands of Macau and Taipa.)

Visit http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/World/en/au/shows/macau2008.asp

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Visit the Sands Venetian Macau website at http://www.venetianmacao.com

Cirque Macau – Alice in the Cosmos

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This is very ironic. Here’s a news release about the overall concept of the new Cirque Macau show at the Sands Venetian that I’m working on (I knew about it, but won’t release any info on the show until it’s released to the media).

The ironic part is that one of the projects I had to cancel when I joined Cirque Du Soleil was writing my new musical version of Alice in Wonderland. It was scheduled for performance in April of 2008. Mmmm…..coincidental don’t you think?

Stéphane Baillargeon
Édition du mardi 19 février 2008

Article on Cirque Macau I released in French by Ledevoir.com at http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/02/19/176805.html?fe=3176&fp=242761&fr=68506

You can translate the original article from French to English at: http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Partial English Translation:

The director Gilles Maheu prepares an original production described in the documents of the company like “Alice with the country of the wonders, but in cosmos”. The spectacle of Venetian Hotel, inaugurated next October, will use seven lifting performances, including three calling upon about fifteen dancers. Gilles Maheu, well-known for his work of dance-theatre within the late troop Carbon-14, called upon Martino Müller, the choreographer who worked already with him on the musical Our-injury of Paris.

The CDS quickly hopes to propose “at least five” spectacles with Macao, according to an internal source. In fact, the company wishes to reproduce there with identical the model of development of Las Vegas where it is about to offer its sixth production and aims programming at ten spectacles from here 2015.

– With reading tomorrow: Will the CDS settle in London and New York?

Excerpt in French:

Le metteur en scène Gilles Maheu prépare une production originale décrite dans les documents de la compagnie comme «Alice au pays des merveilles, mais dans le cosmos». Le spectacle du Venetian Hotel, inauguré en octobre prochain, utilisera sept performances acrobatiques, dont trois faisant appel à une quinzaine de danseurs. Gilles Maheu, bien connu pour son travail de danse-théâtre au sein de la défunte troupe Carbone 14, a fait appel à Martino Müller, le chorégraphe qui travaillait déjà avec lui sur la comédie musicale Notre-Dame de Paris.

Le CDS espère rapidement proposer «au moins cinq» spectacles à Macao, selon une source interne. En fait, la compagnie souhaite y reproduire à l’identique le modèle de développement de Las Vegas où elle est sur le point d’offrir sa sixième production et vise une programmation à dix spectacles d’ici 2015.

– À lire demain: Le CDS s’installera-t-il à Londres et à New York?

Montreal with Cirque – Week 3

Email received:

Thanks for the update! The Conrad I have come to know is a fairly private man and I respect this. I guess when you are dealing with a first class outfit, its first class all the way around.  If I can read between the lines, it looks like they foster a culture that allows all participants to move forward, not feeling compelled to stay in the box. Allowing musicians to create yet move as one.

You are a well traveled man from previous experiences. I suspect much of what you are experiencing is not foreign; different form and culture, but relative to traveling with Freddy and alike. The other things I am curious about are simply the place you are staying, is it an apartment or hotel? How is the food? What is grocery shopping like? I suspect you enjoy dinning out, expensive, a luxury you desire but relish this experience and are trying to take it all in at once. I appreciate the dialogue. Take care.

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Hi all!

I’ve received several emails wondering why I haven’t been posting on my blog much. Believe me, there are so many things I’d love to post about – but trying to remain true to keeping all the details of my current project under wraps.

I’ve been in Montreal for several weeks now at the Cirque Du Soleil headquarters rehearsing for their new show in Macao, China.

We’re staying in the heart of Montreal just a few blocks from St. Catherine street – a central party and shopping district. We each have our own apartment and they are very nice with a gym and swimming pool. I’ve been trying to hit the gym and pool on a regular basis (with varying degrees of success).

Within just a few blocks of us are dozens and dozens of restaurants from a wide variety of nationalities. Tonight we had Indian, a couple nights ago Thai – pretty much anything you can image – it’s very international.

In the downtown area merchants are very accomadating about speaking English – especially in the restaurants. The further away you get from downtown, it gets a little more difficult. But so far I’ve only had one person be outright rude that I wasn’t speaking French. Walking down the street and hearing people talk it seems about 80% French and 20% English.

What amuses me is that people seem to automatically know if you’re English – and will say “Excuse me” instead of speaking in French. (Maybe the Levi jeans are a giveaway and the “New York” winter hat). Black seems the popular color for Montreal winter wear. Seems that EVERYONE is wearing black. Maybe because it’s easier to see against the snow, or maybe everyone is just ultimately cool.

My personal opinion is that the people in Montreal are very easy on the eyes. A very good looking bunch of people. And of course they all seem sophisticated to me because they have French accents. So there you go – my superficial take on Montreal.

There are lots of smaller Mom and Pop type markets where we can buy fresh food to make at the apartment. Many of the normal brands you would see in the states with a little more international variety.

The musicians I’ve heard here are top notch. Last week I heard a band at Bistro JoJo with a guitar player that struck me as an up and coming SRV – and a B3 player that gave an incredible show. And this was just a local bar band. Maybe I got lucky – some local musicians turned me on to the club.

The whole Cirque experience has been very enjoyable so far. I really love my fellow band mates – players from the US, Australia, Sweden and Armenia. A great family to play in China with.

Many of the artists are planning on moving their families to China – and it turns out there were a lot of last minute marriages so people could immigrate their partners to China. Being single, I’m just looking forward to working hard for Cirque and I’ll see where my time and creativity lead me down the road.

Several people have asked me, “Won’t it be hard for you to do the same show night after night?”. Not at all. Every show is a brand new opening night and a chance to give your ultimate focus and passion. What’s greater than that? My interest is in the experience of people in the audience, not my own. I want each person in the audience to experience the opening night magic of Cirque. I would guess that most artists share that passion.

A shout out to my friends in Mount Vernon, WA and Southern California. This sure has been a fun ride so far…

Cirque Du Soleil in China – Our Way or No Way

Cirque Du Soleil uses it’s leverage in China to create acceptable working conditions in surrounding areas. The full article from Canada.com can be read at:

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=d2c2a907-5ae0-433d-a4db-0f357b041f86&k=42608

Excerpt:

“It’s important to promote our values and to make sure that the people we work with respect them,” said Gaetan Morency, vice-president of Public and Social Affairs at the Cirque.

He acknowledged that the Cirque — arguably one of Canada’s most recognized global brands — has a lot of leverage since countries are lining up to convince the circus to come to their towns.

GeoDezik Projection Design for Macao Cirque Show

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News Release from GeoDezik.com:

Cirque Du Soleil – Macao, China / Chine

(French) – Geodezik conçoit présentement les projections vidéo d’un nouveau spectacle permanent du Cirque du Soleil qui sera présenté � partir de 2008 � Macao en Chine. Sous la direction du metteur en scène Gilles Maheu et en collaboration avec le scénographe Guillaume Lord, Geodezik développe un dispositif de projection unique en son genre (� suivre!).

(English) – Geodezik is currently working on the content and setup design for a new permanent Cirque Du Soleil show in Macao, China. Working with show director Gilles Maheu and scenographer Guillaume Lord, Geodezik is developping a unique projection device (more to come !).

� Photo above – Battle sequence from Delirium

РConception de la r̩gie et de la diffusion vid̩o
– Montage en-ligne
РInt̩gration de la vid̩o capt̩e en direct et des effets vid̩o en temps r̩el

– Video control and projection set-up design
– On-line editing
– Live video and realtime video FX integration
Delirium – Cirque Du Soleil
Conception Video / Video Designers : Michel Lemieux + Victor Pilon
Conception Éclairage / Lighting Design : Alain Lortie
Conception Décors / Set Design : Anne-Séguin Poirier

ABOUT GEODEZIK

Geodezik design and produce video content for projection. Geodezik creates images for a variety of projects such as public performances, televised performances, theatre, dance, museum and architectural installations. Our content is original and exclusive and we are present every step of the creative and technical process.

Around the four member core of Geodezik, there are a variety of artists and technicians that make up the Geodezik team : our distinctive edge. With this highly experimented and talented group of people, Geodezik can make the best of the creative and technical ressources for every project.

Cirque Du Soleil

My first official Cirque Du Soleil post in plain english (I’ve done several posts in binary code, much to the delight of my fellow geek friends). So here’s the quick run down. Yes, I will be joining Cirque Du Soleil to open their new resident show in Macau, China at the Sands Venetian (Macao I) . I leave in January 2008. Scheduled opening for the show is May 2008.

Many people have trouble enunciating the company name – it’s “SIHRK DOO SOHLAY”, for regular English speaking folk. In French it means Circus of the Sun. There are a lot of knock-off companies that have chosen similiar sounding names – Cirque Du Soleil is the “real” one.

When people find out I’m joining CDS, I know immediately if they have seen a Cirque show before or not. The ones that haven’t seen CDS say something like “Oh, that’s cool”. The ones that HAVE seen a Cirque show before go into an uncontrolled frenzy and froth at the mouth, they go crazy. I’m not joking. I’ll tell you why: Cirque Du Soleil is the absolute coolest thing in the whole entire world. In this great wild world, there is nothing I would rather do more than work on one of their resident shows. To me, it is also the best music in the world – period.

Cirque Du Soleil is absolutely intense and ultimately demanding. It is the one thing I have seen in performance that eliminates all cultural boundaries and expresses takes on the human condition like no other art can. It is the ultimate voice of the artist demanding sense in the midst of insanity.

I have always loved the CDS music, and in the studio often used elements of their production styles in my work. But several years ago I saw Mystere and “O” live in Las Vegas with my mother and sister. After the Mystere show my mother asked me what I thought – I paused for a good while and said “I feel like my life has been changed, but I don’t know how.” I have never said anything like that about any other show. It woke me up. And since then it raised my bar of expectation for what can be.

So how did I get the gig? I auditioned in Las Vegas back when I was touring with Freddy Fender and producing for Road Records. We’ve gone back and forth on several different shows and productions, but nothing was quite the right timing or fit. This show is the perfect timing and the perfect fit.

I’ll tell you how perfect it is for me. My preference is to work for a resident show, meaning it has a theater built for it and stays in one place. My preference is also to work overseas (I spent MANY years playing in Vegas, it was fun but I already did that). The other great element is I get to experience the show in development from the beginning – to me that is the greatest part of it all – to see the Cirque magic unfold.

Theology aside – I think Cirque Du Soleil is the greatest thing this world has to offer. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

CHECK OUT INFO ABOUT CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL OVERVIEW

Cirque du Soleil (French for “Circus of the Sun”) is an entertainment empire based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier. The current head choreographer is Debra Brown.

Initially named Les Échassiers they toured Quebec in 1980 as a performing troupe and encountered financial hardship that was relieved by a government grant in 1983 as part of 450th celebrations of Jacques Cartier’s discovery of Canada. The 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 National Circus School to recreate it as a “proper circus.” No ring and no animals helped make Cirque du Soleil the modern circus (“Cirque Nouveau” / New Circus) it is described as today. Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world and has its own central theme and storyline which brings the audience into the performance by having no curtains, continuous live music and performers change the props/sets. After critical and financial successes (Los Angeles Arts Festival) and failures in the late 1980s, Nouvelle Expérience was created with the direction of Franco Dragone that not only made Cirque profitable by 1990 but allowed it to create new shows.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s Cirque expanded rapidly and went from one show with 73 employees in 1984 to currently 3,500 employees from over 40 countries doing fifteen shows touring every continent and have an estimated annual revenue exceeding $600 million USD. The multiple permanent Las Vegas shows alone play to more than 9,000 people a night – 5% of the city’s visitors – adding to the 70+ million people who have experienced Cirque. In 2000, Laliberté bought out Gauthier and with 95% ownership has continued to expand the brand. Several more shows are in development around the world, along with a television deal, women’s clothing line and perhaps in other mediums such as spas, restaurants and nightclubs. Cirque’s creations have been awarded numerous prizes and distinctions, including Bambi, Rose d’Or, three Gemini Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards In 2004, Interbrand’s poll of brand names with the highest global impact ranked Cirque du Soleil as number 22.