SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2014 SPECIAL INFORMATION FEATURE THE ART OF THE CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS

How the spirit of risk- taking and a lack of respect for barriers inspired Quebec’s Cirque du Soleil to unheard-of aesthetic and commercial heights

little more than three decades ago, a group of A jugglers, stilt-walkers and accordion-players brought their start-up idea to a Quebec agency and asked for funding for a show about Jacques Cartier’s 1534 arrival in what would be- come Canada. Although turned down, the street performers behind Cirque du Soleil were undaunted, and went straight to then-premier René Lévesque. “That was gutsy and unexpect- ed,” says Louis Patrick Leroux, a playwright and director who holds joint appointments in Concordia University’s departments of Eng- lish and French, and is a leader in the burgeoning field of contempo- rary circus research. Valérie Remise et de l’École nationale de cirque Cirque got its funding, and made its point; this was a company cination of the contemporary enough. Training, preparation ists after Quebec rejected sover- much more in spinoffs including ready to push beyond the usual circus, as created by Cirque du and team-building are all vital, eignty in the 1980 referendum, 40 smaller circus companies, limits, whether in the creative Soleil, is in the way it combines she says. “I don’t mean just the Professor Leroux says. There was the National Circus School of process or in its approach to busi- theatre, dance and acrobatics. artists. I mean also putting the a reaction against the identity- Montreal — the only government- ness. That spirit would prove to His research focuses on, among technical team together, put- based art of the 1970s. “The 70s funded school of its kind in North be the foundation of a made-in- other things, the creation process ting the creative team together, mostly offered plays about ‘Que- America — not to mention that Quebec, worldwide success story of circuses. “Working on contem- building a working synergy be- becness’ — how we speak, how Quebec schools offer circus activi- that would break down the bar- porary circus for me is engaging tween those groups of people in we think.” Dance, acrobatics and ties through physical education or riers between art and commerce with a total art involving aes- order to create something which other art forms based in image after-school programs. and between the circus and other thetics, storytelling, acrobatics, is new and unique. Those are and movement became more Cirque was never apologetic performing arts. athletics—inevitable, ineluctable Cirque’s two big investments, prominent, providing an es- about trying to mix commerce “The guts of Cirque is their movement.” His research has identifying talent and nurturing cape from identity politics. “We and art, Professor Leroux says. ability to take risks and try to been funded by the Social Sci- talent.” needed this broadening of per- “From the start, Cirque du Soleil maximize the potential of that ences and Humanities Research Cirque also sought to break spective” that Cirque provided, had no qualms about creating risk,” says Lyn Heward, who was Council, the Québec Fonds de down barriers that might have he says. art that would also entertain vast head of Cirque’s content creation Recherche Société et Culture prevented a gymnast, say, from The company has grown expo- amounts of people.” division from 2000 to 2005, over- and, for a new project on social learning to become a clown, too. nentially, producing eight shows And Montreal’s reputation as seeing the development of such circus (the use of circus arts for It did not assume that people simultaneously in Las Vegas and the capital of circus arts has be- groundbreaking shows as Varekai, social good), the Canadian Insti- were limited to the one big talent 10 touring shows. It has done come entrenched, as Professor La Nouba, O, Dralion, Zumanity tutes of Health Research. they had demonstrated in their for Montreal what Research in Leroux learned while in Chicago and KA. She is now a goodwill To create a total art, the com- lives. “You want versatile talent, Motion and Blackberry did for at a meeting of circus research- ambassador for the company. pany, while centred in Montreal, people who can learn to sing even Ontario’s Waterloo region: spur ers and performers. “The circus Professor Leroux and Ms. needed to go to the ends of the if they’re gymnasts or learn to the creation of a hub of industry people in the U.S. saw Montreal Heward will be featured in the Earth to recruit talent, says Ms. dance even though they’re divers employing thousands in the local as a Mecca of the circus. They had Concordia University Thinking Heward, whose duties at Cirque or synchronized swimmers,” Ms. community. the sense that it was a place where Out Loud conversation series on included recruitment. “One of the Heward says. “They have to be Although it has retrenched of everything was possible.” creativity, held in partnership great strengths of Cirque du Soleil polyvalent. They can do different late, laying off hundreds of em- with the Globe and Mail. Their is realizing that talent exists ev- things if they’re given access to ployees, Cirque’s economic im- To register for the talk by Louis session, on March 12, will focus erywhere. You’ve just got to spend the proper training.” pact remains extraordinary: over Patrick Leroux and Lyn Heward, on circus research and creativity. the time and the energy to find it.” Cirque got its start amidst a $1-billion in direct revenue an- visit Concordia.ca/talks. The For Professor Leroux, the fas- But identifying talent is not gloomy environment among art- nually flowing into Montreal, and event is free but space is limited.

JUST TALKING Talent without borders At the heart of Cirque du Soleil’s success is a multi-faceted art form, nurtured by a philosophy that encourages creative people from around the globe to bring out the best in themselves, say Concordia researcher Louis Patrick Leroux and Cirque ambassador Lyn Heward

Q: What can we learn about creativity from Q: What’s a key lesson in managing the circus? talented people from your years at Cirque? Louis Patrick: The first thing that comes to mind is the fundamental interdisciplinarity Lyn: Just because somebody is a of circus, the hybridity of the genre. Circus is good musician doesn’t mean that he something that brings just about every aca- or she can’t learn to dance or be a demic and practical discipline that I can think clown. The same thing exists in real of. I’d been working on theatre my entire life life. You can have a creative accoun- and one could argue that theatre can bring tant. You can have people who go far all this together — but somehow it doesn’t. beyond the borderlines of what their The study of theatre has become hyper- art linked to Quebec’s distinct identity. Then traditional job is. Don’t put your em- the late 1980s, and in the 90s — where specialized. along came contemporary circus which was ployees in a box. Listen to their ideas. I came into the picture — they were all about the performative body doing seem- How can they extend themselves in the interested in a broader range of talent. Q: How has the circus in Quebec created such ingly impossible feats. Being close to the process while also helping you build Gymnastics, synchronized swimming, dynamism? theatre world, I could talk to people who went your product? great musicians, great dancers. But to work in Vegas, who came back with a world Cirque also has a cultural spirit, a cul- Louis Patrick: What I’m finding in the of possibilities. You could imagine amazing Q: Could you give me an example from tural depth, which means going to the circus world is that you have engineers talk- things and actually get them done with the Cirque? far corners of the world to identify those ing to historians. You have physical literacy recently acquired expertise and international unique talents. specialists engaging with medical doctors and contacts. Lyn: Very often I’ve seen an acrobat physiotherapists. You have marketing people or gymnast who says he does a great Q: How do you help create a team, so engaging with archivists. I’d never seen this Q: What should be said about the marriage of double or triple somersault, but he’s as the sum is greater than the parts? sheer openness before working on contempo- art and commerce that Cirque has achieved? funny as a clown. Don’t limit the limits rary circus and it’s probably because it’s such of talent. People very often have other Lyn: An investment in time. A Cirque a new field of inquiry. Louis Patrick: Creativity in this case is both skills and talents that they can bring show doesn’t take a month or two to artistic and commercial, and it’s unapologeti- to the table but you have to give them build. Once the ideas come, it takes Q: What first drew you to the circus as a re- cally so. For something to be good, it doesn’t an opportunity to show it off. Terry about a year, realistically, to work with searcher? have to be so obscure and refined that no Bartlett was in several Olympic Games artists. It’s not easy to bring in 55 peo- one actually gets it. This emerging art offers in gymnastics for Great Britain. We ple for a touring show and 75 to 80 for Louis Patrick: I come from theatre. My in- in Quebec and internationally an interesting hired him in 1992 and he’s now one of a big show in Las Vegas. It takes time to terest in theatre was in dramaturgy — analyz- alternative to other arts, something that can the clowns in O. He’s also a great musi- allow those people to work together. ing how stories are told. It’s very word-based. touch the soul but also literally keep you on cian. To see him on stage as a clown I saw Cirque du Soleil grow in the 1980s. I the edge of your seat. —wow. Part of it was Cirque, but part of Lyn Heward joined Cirque du Soleil in was never attuned to it until they started play- it was him finding it in himself. 1992, and from 2000 to 2005 was the ing in Las Vegas and hiring Quebec theatre Louis Patrick Leroux, a director and play- president and chief operating officer directors, designers and actors. There were wright, is a professor in Concordia Univer- Q: How do you recruit talented people? of the creative content division. She is suddenly Quebec-developed and -conceived sity’s English and French departments. He the author of The Spark: Igniting the and -produced shows taking over Las Vegas, is also scholar-in-residence at the National Lyn: You sit on a lot of planes. You Creative Fire That Lives Within Us All. which seemed like the most unlikely scenario. Circus School in Montreal and a collaborator have to know what sorts of talent you’re Quebec had been promoting for the last 30 with the Canada Industrial Research Chair looking for. Cirque started off as street to 40 years a very word- and discourse-based for Colleges in Circus Arts. performers and then as circus artists in