At the start of the eighties, some young
public entertainers create the high heels Club.
Most of them walk on stilts - a habit they got their name from -
but there are also fire blowers, jugglers... It happens in Quebec, an area
which doesn't have any circus tradition yet.
These artists then decide to set up a celebration in order to gather every one
of them and to be able to swap their ideas and their talent.
They lastly decided to achieve every show in the same big top. And
in 1984, during the 450th year celebration of the arrival of Jacques Cartier in
Canada, the Cirque du Soleil is born.
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It travels around Quebec while offering a theatrical show which
mixes the arts of the circus and the street, and features original music, light
effects and costumes. It's slightly different from the traditional circus, as
the nonattendance of animals in the shows for example.
In 1986, the circus had previously traveled further: it went in Ontario and
Vancouver. The subsequent year, the circus goes to California. And the good
reaction of the public will egg on him to do a tour in the United States before
long after.
The big top, which could gather 800 people, also rise bigger: in
1990, 2500 people could seat in it. The Cirque du Soleil now goes to Europe and
offers new shows: New Experience and reinvented Circus.
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The Cirque du Soleil conducts several different shows throughout the world. In
1992, Fascination was first introduced in Japan.
New Experience is such a hit in Las Vegas that the Cirque du Soleil
decides to settle there the next year. Other shows are born: Mystery,
Saltimbanco and, to rejoice the tenth anniversary of the circus,
Algeria.
In 1996, the circus created its ninth magic: Quidam.
The 1998 autumn saw the spirit of a new everlasting show in Las
Vegas, on a marine scene, and another one appeared last winter in Disneyworld
in Florida.
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Florida theme park was thus made the arena of enjoyment. Disney discount
tickets were there to increase the craze. All these new findings are created in
Montréal, in the Studio.
In this 14.000 square meters building, there's practice rooms, a beautification
workshop, a costume workshop. The reason of the circus is to get past the
customary rules and to defy the realism restrictions. The goal was to show a
dream that would rejuvenate the circus world to make it brand new.
This brand new circus is due to the fact that the country had no
fun fair custom at all, so the ancestries are different from the conservative
ones, with some elements dating back to the middle Ages.
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