Contemplating Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Saltimbanco’
Olivier Samson Arcand
Adriana Peregoles and Luis Lopez in “Saltimbanco,” a 20-year-old Cirque du Soleil show that the troupe is retiring.
FROM: bostonglobe.com
By Patti Hartigan-Globe Correspondent
October 27, 2012
Gilles Ste-Croix grew up on a farm in Val-Paradis, a tiny village in northern Quebec. It was a sleepy place where nothing much happened, and he still remembers the day the circus came to town. The small troupe pitched a tent in an empty field and — voilà! — magic happened.
“I remember walking home to the farm thinking, ‘Wow, that’s what I want to do when I grow up. I want to be a clown,’ ’’ Ste-Croix says during a phone interview from Montreal.
Adriana Peregoles and Luis Lopez in “Saltimbanco,” a 20-year-old Cirque du Soleil show that the troupe is retiring.
FROM: bostonglobe.com
By Patti Hartigan-Globe Correspondent
October 27, 2012
Gilles Ste-Croix grew up on a farm in Val-Paradis, a tiny village in northern Quebec. It was a sleepy place where nothing much happened, and he still remembers the day the circus came to town. The small troupe pitched a tent in an empty field and — voilà! — magic happened.
“I remember walking home to the farm thinking, ‘Wow, that’s what I want to do when I grow up. I want to be a clown,’ ’’ Ste-Croix says during a phone interview from Montreal.
photo by Olivier Samson Arcand
“I followed a path that was right for me,” says Cirque cofounder Gilles Ste-Croix.
That little boy grew up to become a cofounder of Cirque du Soleil, the international artistic conglomerate that employs 5,000 people from close to 50 countries and currently presents some 21 shows all over the world. The very name Cirque du Soleil is synonymous with a certain kind of spectacle that blends storytelling, dance, music, and astonishing acrobatics.
But the company’s beginnings were modest. In the 1980s, Ste-Croix joined forces with fellow street performer Guy Laliberté and founded a scrappy circus troupe that toured Quebec. In the early days, Ste-Croix performed wacky stunts to garner publicity: parading through downtown Toronto in a monkey suit, walking 56 miles on stilts.
“I followed a path that was right for me,” says Cirque cofounder Gilles Ste-Croix.
That little boy grew up to become a cofounder of Cirque du Soleil, the international artistic conglomerate that employs 5,000 people from close to 50 countries and currently presents some 21 shows all over the world. The very name Cirque du Soleil is synonymous with a certain kind of spectacle that blends storytelling, dance, music, and astonishing acrobatics.
But the company’s beginnings were modest. In the 1980s, Ste-Croix joined forces with fellow street performer Guy Laliberté and founded a scrappy circus troupe that toured Quebec. In the early days, Ste-Croix performed wacky stunts to garner publicity: parading through downtown Toronto in a monkey suit, walking 56 miles on stilts.
In 1992, Cirque created “Saltimbanco,” its first show with a unified story line. When it debuted in Boston the following year, the late Globe critic Kevin Kelly left with his jaw in his lap and superlatives in his notepad. As a piece of theater, he wrote, “it’s impeccable. As circuses go, it’s extraordinaire.”
Now, almost two decades later, “Saltimbanco” is back for a final appearance, with performances running Wednesday through Nov. 4 at Boston University’s Agganis Arena. The troupe is retiring the show after this tour, which closes in Montreal at the end of the year.
Ste-Croix was intimately involved in the creation of “Saltimbanco,” which epitomizes the company’s style and spirit. “It’s sort of my first love,’’ he says. The show is a multicolored, multicultural celebration of cosmopolitan life.
read more at--
http://bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2012/10/27/contemplating-cirque-soleil-saltimbanco-and-decades-since-its-debut/Nlhpt9rxmQDDvKkU3vfKfJ/story.html
Ste-Croix was intimately involved in the creation of “Saltimbanco,” which epitomizes the company’s style and spirit. “It’s sort of my first love,’’ he says. The show is a multicolored, multicultural celebration of cosmopolitan life.
read more at--
http://bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2012/10/27/contemplating-cirque-soleil-saltimbanco-and-decades-since-its-debut/Nlhpt9rxmQDDvKkU3vfKfJ/story.html
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