Le Cirque Réinventé
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| Private company | |
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founder |
Guy Laliberté Gilles Ste-Croix Daniel Gauthier Rachel Vertus |
| Headquarters | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
|
Key people
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Daniel Lamarre, President and CEO |
| Revenue |  C$850 million (FY 2010) |
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Number of employees
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5,022 |
| Divisions | Cirque du Soleil Images, Cirque du Soleil's Merchandising |
| Subsidiaries | Cirque du Soleil Musique |
| Website | www.cirquedusoleil.com |
Cirque du Soleil (pronounced: [sɪʁk dzy sɔ.lɛj], "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company. It is the largest theatrical producer in the world. Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix.
Initially named Les Échassiers ([lez‿e.ʃa.sje], "The Waders"), they toured Quebec in 1980 as a performing troupe. Their initial financial hardship was relieved in 1983 by a government grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, as part of the 450th anniversary celebrations of Jacques Cartier's voyage to Canada.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 re-create it as a "proper circus". Its theatrical, character-driven approach and the absence of performing animals helped define Cirque du Soleil as the contemporary circus ("nouveau cirque") that it remains today.
Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world, with its own central theme and storyline. Shows employ continuous live music, with performers rather than stagehands changing the props. After financial successes and failures in the late 1980s, Nouvelle Expérience was created – with the direction of Franco Dragone – which not only made Cirque du Soleil profitable by 1990, but allowed it to create new shows.
Cirque du Soleil expanded rapidly through the 1990s and 2000s, going from one show to 19 shows in over 271 cities on every continent except Antarctica. The shows employ approximately 4,000 people from over 40 countries and generate an estimated annual revenue exceeding US$810 million. 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 90 million people who have experienced Cirque du Soleil's shows worldwide.
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Wikipedia