The History of Cirque Du Soleil
The history of Cirque du Soleil traces back to the 1980s. That was when Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier decided to gather a group of young street performers in Quebec and founded Le Club des Talons Hauts. In 1981, they organized the Fête foraine of Baie-Saint-Paul, a cultural event in which street artists from all over met to exchange ideas and enliven the streets of the city.
Encouraged by public enthusiasm, Circus itself first saw light in 1984 with the support of the Government of Québec. They based the circus in a way that was completely new and far from the usual circus model; their goal was to create a circus full of astonishing acrobatics, creativity, magic light and sound effects, scenery and music. They envisioned all this without the involvement of animals.
Cirque du Soleil began touring with his first production, Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil and then the show La Magie Continue. In the midst of these financial difficulties, the Cirque du Soleil was invited in 1987 to the Los Angeles Festival of the Arts, where they were a total success. Their fame began to be known in artistic circles and circuses around the world, especially after the show "Cirque reinvented" which was very successful at the Festival. Thanks to their success in Los Angeles, they had enough money to return to Quebec.
The magic, innovation and creativity of their shows caused that many producers became interested in the company, being among them Columbia Pictures, who wanted Laliberté and Gauthier to agree to the production of a movie about Cirque du Soleil. However, Laliberté was not satisfied with the contract, as Columbia would get so many rights. Laliberté rejected the deal before it concretized. From that moment on, one of the objectives of the Cirque is to remain a private company in its entirety.
At Los Angeles festival they first met with Michael Eisner, Disney's executive director, who from the outset was impressed with the innovative proposal of
Encouraged by public enthusiasm, Circus itself first saw light in 1984 with the support of the Government of Québec. They based the circus in a way that was completely new and far from the usual circus model; their goal was to create a circus full of astonishing acrobatics, creativity, magic light and sound effects, scenery and music. They envisioned all this without the involvement of animals.
Cirque du Soleil began touring with his first production, Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil and then the show La Magie Continue. In the midst of these financial difficulties, the Cirque du Soleil was invited in 1987 to the Los Angeles Festival of the Arts, where they were a total success. Their fame began to be known in artistic circles and circuses around the world, especially after the show "Cirque reinvented" which was very successful at the Festival. Thanks to their success in Los Angeles, they had enough money to return to Quebec.
The magic, innovation and creativity of their shows caused that many producers became interested in the company, being among them Columbia Pictures, who wanted Laliberté and Gauthier to agree to the production of a movie about Cirque du Soleil. However, Laliberté was not satisfied with the contract, as Columbia would get so many rights. Laliberté rejected the deal before it concretized. From that moment on, one of the objectives of the Cirque is to remain a private company in its entirety.
At Los Angeles festival they first met with Michael Eisner, Disney's executive director, who from the outset was impressed with the innovative proposal of