Cirque Du Soleil Tickets : They Draw The Audience Into The Performance Through Continuous Live Music

Cirque du Soleil , is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberte and Daniel Gauthier.

Initially named Les Echassiers, they toured Quebec in 1980 as a performing troupe and encountered financial hardship that was relieved by a government grant in 1983 as part of the 450th anniversary celebrations of Jacques Cartier's discovery of Canada.

Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil was a success in 1984, and after securing a second year of funding, Laliberte hired Guy Caron from the National Circus School to re-create it as a "proper circus". Its theatrical, character-driven approach and the absence of performing animals helped define Cirque du Soleil as the contemporary circus that it remains today.

Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world, with its own central theme and storyline. They draw the audience into the performance through continuous live music, with performers rather than stagehands changing the props .

After financial successes and failures in the late 1980s, Nouvelle Experience was created with the direction of Franco Dragone which not only made Cirque profitable by 1990, but allowed it to create new shows.

Cirque's creations have received numerous prizes and distinctions, including a Bambi Award in 1997, a Rose d'Or in 1989, Drama Desk Awards in 1991 and 1998, three Gemini Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards,and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Originally intended to only be a one-year project, Cirque du Soleil was scheduled to perform in 11 towns in Quebec over the course of 13 weeks running concurrent with the third La Fete Foraine.

The first shows were riddled with difficulty, starting with the collapse of the big top after the increased weight of rainwater cause the central mast to snap. Working with a borrowed tent, Laliberte then had to contend with difficulties with the European performers who were so unhappy with the Quebec circus's inexperience, that they had at one point sent a letter to the media complaining about how they were being treated.

The problems were only transient, however, and by the time 1984 had come to a close, Le Grand Tour du Cirque Du Soleil was a success. Having only $60,000 left in the bank, Laliberte went back to the Canadian government to secure funding for a second year.

Unfortunately, while the Canadian federal government was enthusiastic, the Quebec provincial government was resistant to the idea. It was not until Quebec's Premier, Rene Levesque, intervened on their behalf that the provincial government relented.

The original big top tent that was used during the 1984 Le Grand Tour du Cirque Du Soleil tour can now be seen at Carnivale Lune Bleue, a 1930s-style carnival that is home to the Cirque Maroc acrobats.

An annual seasonal show called Zarkana will be performed at New York's Radio City Music Hall during the summer months for five years starting June 2011, directed by film/theatre director Francois Girard. The show will be a reinvention of the variety show, with a story about a magician in an abandoned theatre who has lost his love and with her, his magic has disappeared.

As he cries and begs the Gods for her return he is plunged into a world inhabited by surreal creatures.This US$57 million show is expected to spend half its time in New York and the other half in Moscow's Kremlin Palace in February 2012 for a nine-week period.

Iris, a movie-themed permanent show directed by Philippe Decoufle will debut at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California in the summer of 2011. The show takes spectators on a fantastic voyage through the history of cinema and its genres, taking them into the heart of the movie-making process and will run for 10 years, taking a six-week break during the city's Academy Award season.

Cirque is developing their third show based on the music of Michael Jackson, called Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour, directed by Jamie King. It is an arena show version scheduled to begin touring North America in October 2011 and the residency show scheduled to begin in 2013 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.