THE BALLOON MAN

Every detail counts when setting up Cirque

Workers help build the set of the production of Cirque du Soleil, a company out of Quebec, Canada, playing this week at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates. January 25, 2011 Michael Smart~Sun-Times Media

By Mike Danahey, Jan 30, 2011
Alain Gauthier and Erin Sweeney can tell you from firsthand experience: It takes a lot to bring a modern version of the circus to town. And it might even help to have sports backgrounds to do so.
Gauthier, a former hockey player and coach, is an arena production manager for Cirque du Soleil, one of the world’s most critically and commercially successful entertainment enterprises. He has that role with the tour of the Montreal-based company’s “Dralion,” which ends a four-day run at Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates today.

Sweeney, who earned a master’s degree in sports management from Central Michigan University, is event manager at the venue. The Sears Centre contracts out running the venue to Sweeney’s employer, Global Spectrum. Sweeney had served an internship at the Chaifetz Arena (on the campus of Saint Louis University), which also is run by Global Spectrum. That led to a job there, then a move to the Sears Centre last summer.
Coincidentally, the Cirque show comes to Hoffman Estates from St. Louis in a way that Gauthier said is typical of how the company sets up its stops. Usually, there are shows Wednesday through Sunday in a town. Crews take down the elaborate set Sunday evening, and equipment is moved by 18 semitrailers to the next arena or hall, with another truck carrying catering equipment as part of the entourage. Meanwhile, performers and other staff head for the airport for a late-evening flight.

Workers work high above the stadium floor in preparation of Cirque du Soleil playing this week at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates. January 25, 2011 Michael Smart~Sun-Times Media

The last trucks packed have to be the first ones unloaded at the next performance space. That’s because they contain the rigging and set, which in the case of “Dralion” is quite elaborate.
“The weight of the show is 95,000 pounds,” Gauthier said.

read more at:http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/3503723-417/cirque-soleil-workers-centre-sears.html