CBC News, Canada

Cirque touring new show

Last Updated Tue, 05 Apr 2005 16:54:47 EDT

CBC Arts

MONTREAL – Popular circus troupe Cirque du Soleil plans a new touring
show to premier April 21 in Montreal.

Titled Corteo, Italian for “cortege,” it will move on to tour other
Canadian cities and the United States.

The show pulls together the ideas of 14 creators, half of them working
for Cirque du Soleil for the first time.

Performers come from 14 countries and a host of clowning and acrobatic
traditions. The 50 performers are from: Armenia, Belarus, Brazil,
Bulgaria, Canada, France, Italy, Kenya, Romania, Russia, Spain,
Ukraine, the U.K. and the U.S.

As the name suggests, Corteo features “a grand procession, a festive
parade imagined by a clown,” according to a statement released
Tuesday announcing the tour. Clowning and its range of emotions from
friendship and wisdom to beauty and death, are a focus of the show,
which is based on 17th century styles of performance. Director Daniele
Finzi Pasca is promising to test “the very limits of acrobatics.”

Cirque du Soleil currently has 10 other productions touring the
world. The Montreal-based circus features human performance amid an
array of colourful costumes and original music.

Since 1984 almost 50 million people have seen Cirque du Soleil
performances. The circus employs more than 3,000 people.

After playing at Montreal’s Old Port from April 21 to June 19, Corteo
runs in Quebec City June 30 to July 17 and in Toronto on Aug. 4 to
28. From there it goes on to tour Minneapolis, San Francisco and
San Jose.

Cirque du Soleil has won an Emmy, a Gemini and other awards, including
Drama Desk, Bambi, ACE, Félix, and the Rose d’or de Montreux.

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