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The Original Vision • I Am One, I Am Many...
Soaring, Teetering, Slithering...
Eternal, or Out of Time? • I am Legion

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The Original Vision

"In the city there are men, women and children. In the city there are those who have much and those who have nothing; those who get by, unnoticed, and those who disturb. In the city there are those who have eyes but can't see; ears but can't hear. In the city there are those who are not accounted for and the heroes of the daily struggle. In the city there is wildlife, from the beggar to the painter and the street entertainer that brings enchantment to our world on the road to disenchantment. And, in the city, there is Saltimbanco."

When Saltimbanco was created in 1991 it was estimated that 60% of the world population would live in cities by 2020. This idea – “urbanism” -is the premise on which the show is based. Cities are public places, networks of inter-relationships, but they are also networks of paradoxes. And these paradoxes are precisely what the shows characters, acts and costumes evoke in order to restore the human dimension to the city. Given the multi-cultural and rootless cosmopolitan nature of Cirque du Soleil, it's not surprising that the creative team chose to examine the potential of increasing urbanization.

During a visit to New York, the Director of Creation Gilles Ste- Croix and the Set Designer Michel Crête came across a tree emerging from the top of a skyscraper. Imagining that the tree had grown through the building, they contemplated the influence of nature on life and the importance of life in the city. "We wanted to shed a new perspective on urban life and explore a territory that was unfamiliar up until that point," said Michel Crête, Set Designer. "The visions of urbanity that were around at the time were all variations on future dystopias, with echoes of the cold war, visions of the - planet in danger. There weren't many reasons given for hope in a better tomorrow." But Cirque du Soleil wanted Saltimbanco to be a show about the future of the city in a more positive light. “We said: You’ve got to believe that you’re going to live in a better future and that you can be part of that future," said Gilles Ste. Croix. “You’ve got to have hope."

From these ideas Saltimbanco began to take shape, and Franco Dragone, the show’s Director, looked upon his own very positive experiences of what modern cosmopolitan life could be like. “Cirque was becoming more and more international,” he remembered. “And we all had to learn to speak one another's languages: French, English, Russian, and Italian... all coming together to create something unique and beautiful. The show reflects that experience. The costumes, sets and lighting are all in primary colors. Taken alone, they would be flat. But they work together to reveal many shadings."

Even the music took on this form. "The idea that I had was this," composer René Dupéré recalls. "What would it sound like if I rode from one end of the city to another with the car window rolled down? I would hear everything from Jamaican to Classical music." Therefore, urban life meant the democratization of music, that everything is available.

Dominique Lemieux, who designed the costumes for the show, thought Saltimbanco was all about humanity and individuals coming together. “Naked Man, Social Man, the seven deadly sins... it’s a baroque experience.” From Franco Dragone's point of view, Saltimbanco was "baroque" in the sense described by a twentieth-century Italian poet named Giuseppe Ungaretti. "To Ungaretti," says Dragone, "'baroque' meant a desire to confront the Void, and to fill it so much that you feel life will never end. I wanted to fill the stage because I was afraid of the Void, of the Nothingness."

I am One, I am Many...

Saltimbanco, from the Italian "saltare in banco", which according to the French historian Etienne Pasquier (1529-1615) is an Italian word that, when studied from a French perspective, literally means “to jump on a bench” – the bench being a slightly elevated platform or, in other words, the stage - explores the urban experience in all its myriad forms: the people who live there, their idiosyncrasies and likenesses, families and groups, the hustle and bustle of the street and the towering heights of skyscrapers. Between whirlwind and lull, prowess and poetry, Saltimbanco takes spectators on an allegorical and acrobatic journey into the heart of the city. Decidedly baroque in its visual vocabulary, the show's eclectic cast of characters draws spectators into a fanciful, dreamlike world, an imaginary city where diversity is a cause for hope.

The cosmopolitan and allegorical characters of Saltimbanco – the very framework of the show - epitomize the diversity of groups that make up the city. At first glance they seem identical, but a closer look reveals their uniqueness and their individual identity. With them you travel to an imaginary city overflowing with hope and optimism. These are the Worms, at the very base of society. All similar in appearance yet different one from the other, they must with time adapt themselves to their environment. Thus, as the show evolves, they embody various types of social characters, hoping to one day accede to the rank of Baroque, a cast of visionaries.

There are two classes of Worms within the framework of Saltimbanco, those referred to as the Urban Worms (the Vers Masqués), the faceless masses, those who follow the status quo, never to risk, to express, to gain; and the Multicolored Worms (Vers Multicolores), the simplest of all, who follow their most primal urges and concern themselves only with survival. The Baroques constitute the most important family in the world of Saltimbanco. The Baroques sleep under bridges and emerge to celebrate life. Defiant, rebellious, explosive, they are enlightened beings whose free spirits run wild. Armed with a deeply perceptive vision of the world, the Baroques, throughout the fable, reveal the countless contradictions of our civilization where imagination has not yet taken power and reflect upon the extreme personalities of urban dwelling - both in their beauty and wretchedness.

Therefore, Saltimbanco is not linear; rather, it is a kaleidoscope, an adventure in which anything can happen, expressed through its own language, a soul of voice, body and music in nine acrobatic acts and interludes: Adagio Trio, Chinese Poles, Double Wire, Juggling, Boledoras, Russian Swing, Vertical Rope, Duo/Solo Trapeze, Hand-to- Hand, and Bungees.

Soaring, Teetering, Slithering...

As with any Cirque du Soleil show, changes abound from the very moment it premieres and last until the final curtain has been called. Saltimbanco was and is no different. By the end of the first tour’s run, a two-year fourteen city tour across North America (1992-1993), the show retained much of its original acrobatic line-up, but a few of the artist’s costumes had evolved.

The most dramatic of these were reflected in the Bungee and Hand-to- Hand costumes: during the first year, the Bungee artists sported multi-colored outfits – one red, one green, one yellow, and one blue – rather than the sweeping white angelic creations seen by the time the show was filmed (in Atlanta, at the end of the North American Tour). And the Lorador Brothers (known professionally as the Alexis Brothers) wore distinctly white outfits rather than the leathery ensembles we came to know (and love) by tours end.

But perhaps the most dramatic changes to Saltimbanco came after the show left North America for Europe (1995-1997) by way of Japan (1994): two of Saltimbanco’s original acrobatic acts were replaced.

The first, the Boledoras Flamenco dancers, didn’t make the jump across the pond; they were replaced with an energetic Contortion act featuring four of the Cirque’s signature contortionists, the very same team from Nouvelle Expérience: Jinny Jacinto, Isabelle Chasé, Laurence Racine and Nadine Birnette. With new costumes, new choreography and rockin’ new music, the Contortionists closed out the first half of Saltimbanco with a bang.

The second number missing from the European Tour was the Vertical Rope, which is as it sounds: an act performed on a single vertical rope. Similar to Spanish Webs that would later appear in 1996’s Quidam, this act featured a performance by Nicolai Tchelnokov, Galina Karableva, and Nicolai’s son Anton (who most know moved on to perform “Aerial Net” in 2002’s Varekai) in which contortion-like moves, spins and other feats were performed. It is unclear why the Vertical Rope act was removed from the show; however, it might have been simply for time or because of the addition of a Solo Trapeze performance, added because the creators wanted to ensure at least one trapeze act per performance due to the strenuous physical demands of the discipline.

Saltimbanco would go on to stop at eleven different European cities (two of them twice) for a total of thirteen stops – Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Vienna, London, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Stuttgart, Angers, Zurich, and Frankfort before giving what was advertised as its final bow, on February 1, 1997.

The night came, the show went on, and Saltimbanco walked quietly into the shadows. Or so the world thought...

With the success Cirque du Soleil found opening up the European market with Saltimbanco, and later with Alegría, by late 1998 the company decided to re-stage Saltimbanco under the Grand Chapiteau and experiment with opening up other brand-new territories: the Asia- Pacific region, namely Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

With the re-staging came some changes.

The Lorador brothers had already been integrated into Mystère (which had also gone through some changes to help stage 1996’s Quidam – Fascination will re-explore this topic at a later date), therefore, the duo of Daniel and Jacek Gutszmit from Poland were thrust in the spotlight (though others went on to continue the tradition of this fine, strength-filled act as the tour continued); however, the contortion act did not survive the show’s restaging.

In its place, for a time (1998-2001) was a Manipulation number performed by three women “swathed in richly colored velvet come to provoke our senses. At times, the three women move the wind, while the movement of the spheres and their perfect shapes bring subtle visions of the planets and infinity. And breathe as one, only to disperse, each flaunting her individuality. With the utmost dexterity, the women manipulate silk ribbons and perfect spheres in alternation. The complex and supple patterns created by the silk emphasize the women’s sensuality and evoke in us sensations of the wind, while the movement of the spheres and their perfect shapes bring subtle visions of the planets and infinity.” There was also a solo Diabolo number (from 2002-2005).

With costumes updated, new acrobatic acts in place, and the music refreshed, Cirque du Soleil opened the new Saltimbanco for previews in Ottawa, Ontario on October 19, 1998 – and the crowds went wild.

Over the next eight years, Saltimbanco would travel to an amazing forty-four (44) cities, fourteen (14) on an Asia-Pacific Tour (1999- 2001; visiting Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Pacific Coastal Region of North America), twenty-two (22) on its Second European Tour (2002-2005; visiting cities in the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Italy, and Germany) and eight (8) on Cirque’s first-ever Latin America Tour (2005-2006; visiting Mexico, Chile, and Brazil) to rousing successes.

But then, on November 22, 2005, Michael Bolingbroke, Senior Vice- President Shows, made the following announcement, shocking the Cirque du Soleil community:

Hello everyone,

Announcing Saltimbanco’s retirement is not an easy thing to do. This Sunday we told the tour that the final performance of Cirque’s oldest show sill running, one that began life in Montreal in the spring of 1992, will take place in Brazil in December 2006. Please allow me to share with you the reasons why we concluded that it was time for Saltimbanco to say goodbye after 15 years.

Our decision to retire Saltimbanco has nothing to do with its artistic merit. Long considered to be Cirque’s ideal ambassador to new markets, it once again proved worthy of that reputation last spring when it wowed over 200,000 spectators in Paris. Instead, our choice was first and foremost a business decision related to market development. Our research and field experience have shown that up to six touring shows can currently be presented at the same time before our markets are saturated. By retiring in December 2006, Saltimbanco leaves the way free for Cirque 2007.

The reason why we are announcing Saltimbanco’s retirement over a year in advance is to ensure that we can properly plan for the redeployment of the maximum number of people possible working on or for the tour. A redeployment procedure has been developed to coordinate activities throughout Cirque, and a committee is already working on reassigning the talent and expertise currently serving Saltimbanco to our other projects and shows.

Curiously, this is not the first time that Saltimbanco’s retirement has been announced. In February 1997, we marked the occasion of its last ever performance in London, at Royal Albert Hall... at least until it headed off again the next year for Australia, with a stopover in Ottawa along the way. That fact, however, should not lead anyone to believe that Saltimbanco is likely to start touring again after 2006. But it is certain to shine in the hearts of millions of delighted spectators forever.

Saltimbanco is a celebration of life. Conceived as an antidote to violence and despair, its message is just as relevant now as it ever was. We will miss it, and we will be sure to bid the show a proper goodbye when it leaves us for good at the end of 2006. For the time being, it will continue to work its magic in South America and do what it has always done best for nearly 15 years: introducing new fans to the world of Cirque du Soleil.

Bravo, Saltimbanco!

On Sunday, December 3, 2006, an end to a fantastic era came; Saltimbanco had its final curtain call in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

During its 14-year run under the big top, Saltimbanco played to an audience of 9.5 million, for a total of more than 4,000 performances in some 75 cities on five continents.

Out of Time?

That should have been the end of Saltimbanco’s amazing story. Cirque du Soleil made it abundantly clear in their announcement that closing the show would help pave the way for 2007’s Koozå tour (it would place Saltimbanco’s Grand Chapiteau in play), not to mention help fuel Cirque’s other entertainment interests (by this time The Beatles LOVE had premiered, and ZED, ZAIA, and Criss Angel BELIEVE were in active development), but amidst the plethora of new and interesting endeavors for Cirque there was a change of heart.

Thanks in large part to DELIRIUM (Cirque du Soleil’s “In Concert” experiment, which began touring arenas throughout North America in January 2006), it seemed a great opportunity to extend Saltimbanco’s run was on the horizon. And on August 11, 2006, Michael Bolingbroke, then SVP of Shows, brought news of Saltimbanco’s future that would once again shock the community:

Today, Cirque has a unique opportunity to pursue Saltimbanco’s amazing adventure.

As some of you will remember, we have already announced the retirement of the oldest of Cirque’s shows twice, notably in 1997 and most recently in last November. Well, history seems bound to repeat itself. With a third life opening up for the show, it appears that Saltimbanco is not yet ready to bid audiences a final adieu!

In order to let Saltimbanco continue to open up new markets, we are preparing an arena tour. Presenting shows in arenas will give Cirque a presence in places where our usual big top performances are impracticable, in North America to begin with and then in Europe.

The tour is slated to visit arenas in over 50 North American cities, introducing thousands of new spectators to the world of Cirque du Soleil.

On August 8, we presented the conditions specific to this type of tour to troupe members in São Paulo. We hope to be able to confirm the entire team’s participation in the new tour by September 10. We will then be in a position to decide on a premiere date.

Arena shows offer significant potential for Cirque. We can now set our sights on extending the life expectancy of our productions and offering artists brand new venues where they can showcase their skills.

Mr. Bolingbroke ended his announcement with, “we will keep you informed of any developments” and although it would be a few more weeks before any news regarding Saltimbanco’s future would be heard, he was true to his word. On December 22, 2006 the word was finally given:

Our classic show Saltimbanco now has a unique opportunity to continue its marvelous adventure, reaching into markets hitherto unexplored by Cirque.

The go-ahead has been given! Saltimbanco will have a third life, beginning an arena tour in the summer of 2007. The show’s new version – lasting 90 minutes excluding the interval - will open in London, Ontario, on July 31st, and will go on to visit arenas in over 40 cities in North America. These are cities that are unable to host our traditional big top shows.

On its way, Saltimbanco will exceptionally be visiting Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto, where it will be staged in arenas by way of a farewell tour. This format of show also gives us possibilities to perform in countries where we have not been able to go thus far, in particular, countries in South America and Asia.

“I am very happy to confirm that new spectators will get a chance to discover this magical, colorful and adventure-filled universe,” said Aldo Giampaolo, Saltimbanco’s new Executive Producer.

“We have here a fabulous opportunity to keep alive a show that has been a huge success since it started. Saltimbanco really is a hymn to life,” Michael Bolingbroke added.

For 24 months, visiting each city for [the] duration of one week, the 45 artists and 35 employees will bring the world of Saltimbanco, [our] urban universe brimming over with joy and optimism, to arenas seating between 4,000 and 5,000 spectators.

And the adventure of Saltimbanco would live on!

The remount gathered speed day by day from the moment the green light was given – the adventure of Saltimbanco would live on! But there was plenty of work to be done for the heads of Sound, Carpentry, Rigging and Lighting before the tour ever saw its first city.

The greatest challenge for the production crew had to do with setting up and tearing down the set. For a show under the big top, these operations usually take nine days (for setup) and two and a half days (for tear-down). But for the Saltimbanco arena show, setup has to be done in nine hours and tear-down in only two hours! But they weren’t the only issues to solve:

• Sound: They needed to replicate the surround sound effects heard in the big top in an arena setting. This required a completely new sound system and the sounds to be redesigned.
• Lighting: In the big top, there were 241 individual light fixtures. Cirque needed to simplify this for the arena setup. A first draft dictated a need for around 80 moving lights in order to replicate the same lighting effects seen under the Grand Chapiteau. And without tent masts those lights had to be hung in the arena off grids in the ceiling.
• Carpentry & Rigging: The entire stage, the rostrum and the acrobatic grid had to be completely rebuilt, not to mention coming up with new rigging techniques to span over 44 different venues – all in three months!

Besides making the stage and other set pieces easier to setup and tear down, they also needed to be lighter (to solve that Cirque re-made the stage out of aluminum instead of steel, which is much lighter), height also had to be taken into consideration and it all came down to seven inches. How much difference does seven inches make? Cirque explains:

It’s not even a foot, but seven inches can make a big difference when you are talking about stage height in an arena! At Cirque, our stages in the big top are traditionally set at around 31 inches high, with adjustments made to accommodate for uneven sites. But in the big tops, our bleachers are angled so that everyone can clearly see the performance.

When we are performing in arenas we seat a lot of people on the floor (what is normally the ice surface). These seats will be flat so we need to raise the stage so that everyone can see.

When deciding how high to raise our stage, we are able to get a better idea of the spectators perspective by using 3D imaging to simulate the spectator’s view according to different stage heights. This can save us a lot of time before we begin construction.

Saltimbanco began its third life on July 31, 2007, which so far has taken it all across North America, Europe, Australia, Russia, the Baltics and even China and Africa. As a pioneer of the Arena model (as of this writing Alegría, Quidam and Dralion have followed Saltimbanco into this touring format), the show continues to break records wherever it goes.

But the conversion isn’t without its detractors. Arenas tend to be massive spaces filled with cavernous voids that a small stage and set could hardly begin to fill; therefore, much of the intimacy found under the Grand Chapiteau is lost. Seating and its arrangement continue to be a problem. Because the stage is elevated for the benefit of those seated on the floor (in folding chairs no less), unless you’re in the front row or on the of the isle ends, sightlines are virtually non-existent. (Would a small set of bleachers on the “floor” be such a bad suggestion?) And with the placement of seats far away from the stage (for those seated throughout the arena’s built-in seating), spectators as a result become removed from the action, making the performance seem distant and small.

But these limitations can be overcome and the show enjoyed just as much now as it was then.

I Am Legion

"This production leaves the audience with the same lasting impression as one would have looking at a wheatfield after discovering Van Gogh's work." — Franco Dragone, Director

If Alegría is Cirque's signature show - the one that pulled together all of the various elements into one seamless, fantastic production – then Saltimbanco is the progenitor of what would become the essence of the modern Cirque du Soleil. By taking a giant leap from the literal- mindedness of Le Cirque Réinventé, and to some extent Nouvelle Expérience, it laid the groundwork for the true exploration of what these shows had already begun. It is much less literal than any of the shows that came before it, relying more on thematic structure and image than on a strict set of rules.

To look at Saltimbanco, coming where it does in the evolution of Cirque's history, is to see the basis of what came after it. In our opinion, with Saltimbanco, the productions became less about pretty pictures that tied the acts together, and more about a total experience, in which the circus acts became an integral part. In other words, it became one complete theatrical experience. The acts come out of an impulse in the story-line; they blend together in one seamless totality of fantasy.

The characters, then - the Worms, the Baroques, the Baron - become not just plot devices or wonderful costume pieces that add to the visual excitement, but archetypes of personality and emotions. The Baroques are vividly different from the Worms, and the nature of their performance (most pointedly in the Russian Swing) is vastly different (compared to the Worms on the Chinese Poles). The music of the show is expertly integrated to underlie the thematic structure. Indeed, the signature song of the show - Kumbalawé - is one of the lightest, most lyrical pieces in Cirque's repertoire. Think of it in comparison to the bright colors, the high energy of the set and the design, and it is a simple, almost child-like tune, reminiscent of innocence and joy.

On December 31, 2012, Saltimbanco came home to Montreal to retire, not to expire, as Cirque du Soleil Creative Guide Gilles Ste-Croix wished to be made clear. “I don’t like the idea that it dies,” Ste-Croix said. “I think it retires. Maybe, you know, in 10 years – 15 years – some young artists will say: ‘Hey, let’s do Saltimbanco again!’” But for all intents and purposes, the show has seen its last spectator. Since 1992, Saltimbanco has visited 205 cities across 41 countries to a total of 14 million spectators. The only show (as of this writing) to have spanned five continents, it was performed in more than 150 cities that hadn’t previously played host to a Cirque du Soleil show. Though the show had lost a little something in its conversion from Grand Chapiteau to Arena (the inclusion of “Artistic Bicycle” and “Hand-balancing on Canes” in place of “Double Wire” for instance) there is no denying its rightful place in the pantheon of amazing Cirque du Soleil spectacles.

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Spirit and body, shadow and light, between earth and sky I tumble, spinning arabesques, kaleidoscope fantasy. I am noble and rogue, mortal and sorcerer, fire and water, power and grace. Sublime and grotesque, somber and afire, I entrance, mesmerize, fusing madness and wisdom, primordial chaos. ~~ I am celestial, and eerie, playful and mischievous, subtle and striking, magnificent, androgynous. Soaring, teetering, slithering, I am fluid, poetic, hypnotic. Dancing, whirling, flying, I am rebellious, defiant, and explosive. ~~ I am one, I am many, I am as we are - eternal, out of time. I am science and magic, chimeric, ethereal. I come from nowhere. I come from everywhere. ~~ But... I am creature of neither fantasy nor reality, neither incantation nor dream. I am neither man nor woman, god nor demon, song nor story.

I am no one, I am legion.

I AM SALTIMBANCO.