The Circus Goes to Outer Space

Cited: NewsDaily

A billionaire from Canada who happens to be a circus entrepreneur, announced that he will host a live event from orbit on October 9 2 about the importance of access to clean water globally. This means that the circus is going outer space! The founder of the Montréal-based Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberte, is an environmental activist will host the event that will feature former US vice president Al Gore, Irish band U2, veteran rock musician Peter Gabriel and other celebrities from 14 cities around the world to promote clean water.

Laliberte, 50, is due to fly into space on September 30 aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule to travel to the orbiting International Space Station. He will pay $35 million for the 11-day trip, becoming the seventh private citizen to be a “space tourist.” Cirque du Soleil operates innovative circus shows.

“I just hope that as a citizen of Earth, this will inspire people in a new way,” said the former street performer, who became a billionaire after turning his traveling circus act into an entertainment powerhouse.

Laliberte told a webcast news conference from Moscow that he planned to host a two-hour live show from the space station promoting the importance of access to clean water and conserving the planet’s water resources. Millions of people in developing countries do not have access to clean water, and water-borne illnesses are a persistent problem in many impoverished regions.

Laliberte said the planned broadcast from space will link up with stages and theaters in: London, Paris, New York, Montreal; Moscow; Johannesburg; Mumbai; Marrakesh; Sydney; Tokyo; Mexico City; Rio de Janeiro; Santa Monica, California; and Tampa, Florida. The show will be coordinated by Laliberte’s environmental foundation One Drop. It is scheduled to be carried live on the Internet through the onedrop.org website in partnership with AOL.com.

Magical, joyous and overwhelmingly beautiful, more than 7 million people paid $650 million to see a selection of Cirque du Soleil’s breathtaking performances last year. With television licenses and corporate sponsorships in the millions, very little debt, and a pretax margin of around 25%, Cirque productions have successfully fused music, dance, theatre, and gee-whiz acrobatics into an enormous spectacle of highly-emotional whimsy.

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The story of Cirque du Soleil is a triumphant one. Born to a large middle-class family in Quebec City, Canada, and raised in the small town of St-Bruno, Guy Laliberté left home at age 18 to hitchhike across Europe working as a street performer. Certainly, he will never forget spending his first night in London on a public bench at the corner of Hyde Park with his backpack, two accordions, a mouth organ, spoons, a jew’s harp and less than $1,000 in his pocket.

During the course of his travels, although lean of cash, Laliberté became rich in experience. He met many other sidewalk showmen along the cobble-stoned alleyways around the major tourist attractions. He lived hand-to-mouth, and learned the art of fire-breathing and stilt-walking, working for small change to pay for the basics. But how Cirque du Soleil evolved from a bunch of unemployed kids trying to turn a buck on street corners into Quebec’s second largest cultural export (after Celine Dion) is the stuff of provincial legend.

Initially, “It was just an adventure, and I was planning to go back to school and have a regular life,” Laliberté recalled in a recent interview. But, he became so enthralled with the lifestyle that he perceived it as a perfect art form. Upon his return to Montreal, he began organizing parties and street festivals out of a youth hostel. Then in 1984, at age 24, and with hair down to his waist, he landed a contract from the Quebec government to stage a street show for Quebec’s 450th anniversary celebration.

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My Take: I have always loved the Circus! It would be fantastic to see a circus in outer space; however, I do not see that happening anytime soon. Some of the things those circus acts do would become absolutely amazing in a weightless atmosphere. Can you imagine the trapeze artists in outer space? And what about the jugglers? They may never have to worry about catching anything again!

Seriously, what Guy is trying to do I think is really good. The people of Earth have taken for granted their air and water for centuries. We have polluted it so much that we have to clean it before we can use it. Yes, even the air in some instances should be cleaned before we breathe it. All you have to do is watch the news and you get warnings of air quality in the summer and even in the winter. These warnings tell people to stay inside if they have any kind of a breathing problem.

It would be so nice to be able to go camping and drink the water from a stream like the pioneers used to. I would not do that now. It would be great to be able to walk outside and actually breathe fresh air, not all the carbon monoxide, and other pollutants that we breathe every day. I will probably never see that they come, but hopefully my descendents will.

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