On Saturday night a black page was written in Cirque Du Soleil. The circus of the sun lost one of its top acrobats, 38-year-old Jan Arno, who went off during a show in Florida, when he lost his grip and fell to the ground from a height of several meters.
But who is the famous Cirque Du Soleil and who created it?
Cirque du Soleil was created by the Canadian Guy Laliberte who left college and toured Europe as a traveling musician, while on his travels he learned to do fire tricks.
Returning to his homeland in 1979, where he initially started working at a hydroelectric plant in James Bay, however his job did not last more than 3 days due to a strike. He eventually decided not to look for another job and instead helped organize a summer party in Baie-Saint-Paul with the help of friends Daniel Gothier and Jill Ste-Croix, who at the time ran Balcon Vert, a hostel for artists.
By the summer of 1979, Ste Croix had decided to turn Balcon Vert and its occupants into an organized troupe. In fact, in order to persuade the Quebec government to fund his idea, Ste Croix walked 90 kilometers from Baie-Saint-Paul in Quebec on stilts. His idea had the desired effect, giving the three men the money to create the "Les Échassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul" troupe, which featured many of the people who would later make up the Cirque du Soleil.
Les Échassiers toured during the summer of 1980 and received rave reviews from audiences and critics alike, but proved to be a financial failure. Laliberte spent the winter in Hawaii, while Ste Croix stayed in Quebec to start a nonprofit to make up for last summer's losses.
The group met again in 1981 and organized another summer party called "La Fête Foraine" which took place in July 1982. This festival held many workshops that taught the circus arts to the public and those who participated could take part in a performance. Over the next two years, the project proved to be a modest financial success, and in 1983, the Quebec government provided a $ 1,5 million grant to host a production the following year, as part of the 450th anniversary of the discovery of Canada by the French explorer. Jacques Cartier and it was the same year that Laliberte decided to christen his creation "Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil" (= The big tour of the Circus of the Sun).
Even as the official Sun Circus, Laliberte's venture faced several financial problems in the early years, with the Quebec government refusing to fund a second year of funding for the show. So Lalilberte decided to take the big step and despite their meager income to go to the show in Los Angeles, having money only for the trip there and not for the return. In the end, the show there fully compensated them financially but also in terms of fame, making the Circus of the Sun one of the most impressive spectacles of recent years.
However, it was not until 1992 that Cirque de Soleil decided to make organized performances with a specific theme. The first such show was Saltimbanco, which Laliberte himself described as a message of peace. The show had 47 performers and toured in more than 15 countries, even reaching Japan, and "closed its circle" in 1997 with a recent performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
The acrobats of the most famous circus in the world are athletes and artists who go through a difficult and demanding training.
The spectacle they offer is fascinating; it is a glittering blockbuster with magnificent sets, hundreds of handmade costumes, live music and an incomparable troupe.