Hello and good morning! My name is Amélie Robitaille
and I’m the Senior Manager, Social Media and Public Relations,
within the Touring Shows Division,
and I’m here this morning in the creation room for the new version of Alegría.
With me today are the members of the creative team,
and we’re ready to begin.
I’m going to speak in French and English for our fans all over the world.
Good morning.
I hope you’re doing well this morning.
My name is Amélie Robitaille
and I am the Senior Manager of Public Relations and Social Media
for the Touring Show division.
We are in the creation room of Alegría
and I am with members of the creation team
of this new version of Alegría.
- Good morning, Daniel. - Good morning.
Daniel is our Creation Director.
So, Daniel Ross, Director of Creation for the new version of Alegría.
How are you?
- Good. - Excellent.
Also with us today is Émilie Therrien. Émilie is with us.
She’s the Choreograph Acrobatic
- Choreographer - Choreographer.
- Sorry, my English. - It’s all good.
How are you? I’m very good. Excellent,
thanks for being with us.
And we are with Richard Lepage
who is the Director, Coaching and Performance.
So, we’ve asked our fans to ask us questions
about the acrobatic skeleton specifically this morning.
First of all, can you explain to me what is an acrobatic skeleton?
Sure. An acrobatic skeleton is a layout of acrobatics,
of different types of disciplines, basically,
that we line up to create our show
to be able to build a base,
and to be able to create a world that brings emotion
and a lineup through a storyline, basically,
through the show for the amount of time
that we need to build it.
So, it can vary, depending of the production.
If it’s a short show,
it will be only five acts,
but in our case it’s like around 10 acts
that we have in our show right now to build the full show.
So, we always try to go through different disciplines
to remake something that is balanced
and something that will bring the acrobatic level,
as well that is expected in a Cirque du Soleil show.
Awesome!
Just in general
for our audience and people who are not so familiar with acrobatics,
how many different types of acrobatics
or different genres of acrobatics are there?
Well, I would say there would be around maybe a big,
we would categorize them like a family,
meaning that we would have like
seven big types of acrobatic disciplines in the world,
so we would have like balancing acts,
we would have like juggling or manipulation that we call.
We have the rebound disciplines,
we have all the aerials
and we would say too that we would have
the traditional circus act
that we found like in traditional circus,
and all the gymnastic aspect
that we try to incorporate in our shows through the years,
that’s been Cirque du Soleil since 30 years now.
Speaking of since 30 years,
the first version of the show was created 25 years ago,
a long time has passed.
Have there been changes or have acrobatics evolved since then?
For sure, because I think every time through the years,
people always try to push the limits.
It’s the same thing in sports, it’s the same thing with circus acts,
so we always try to go further with human performances
and we try to really push the boundaries,
so for sure, every year we go one step further
and we try to really go someplace else with all the acrobatics.
So for sure, the Alegría show 25 years ago
wouldn’t be the same like now,
so right now we’re trying to go with the public’s expectations,
because they’ve been seeing a lot of shows through the years as well,
so for us it’s our challenge to step up the new creation in 2019.
Like Émilie is saying, I think the entire world has evolved for sure.
Like, you know, technology,
so the equipment that we’re using is something,
the way we’re training people has changed,
the way that the people behave with their own body has changed.
You know, the ownership of our performers has changed, as well,
so obviously that will reflect on the performance on stage, for sure.
Awesome, thank you.
All right, so, we’ve had a lot questions from our fans:
Zack, D.J., Green Ninja and Andrea were asking,
basically they want to know what is this new version going to be like?
The concept, are we,
do you guys have any surprises for us that we can reveal today?
Well, for sure, it’s gonna be quite different.
I mean, the best way to find out really
is to come to see the show.
Starting in April.
The process, what we are,
our big bet and our objective with Alegría right now;
we call it the “relecture” in French,
in English it would be a “rereading”, if you like.
We’re taking the show, its DNA, its roots and main themes,
and we’re trying to, we want to revisit it
through the lens of today, basically.
Like, we’re in 2019,
so all of these themes and this storyline,
as well as everything that’s in the show and the inspiration of the show,
how does it read today and how can we interpret it today?
So, we have a new director on board to put it together and everything.
We always keep that little tie, that little like “fil” I call it,
a little thread to the original,
and then we have people on the show that were there at the beginning,
like some of the creators,
among them the Costume Designer, Dominic,
who is redrawing our own concept,
basically, to fit the new idea, the new concept.
So, yes, there are going to be quite a lot of changes.
We are going to review the music, the original catalogue,
but there will be a re-arrangement,
and for sure we’ll be talking about that at some point on Facebook, I’m hoping,
and the same with the costumes and set design.
And also, you know, if I relate that to the acrobatic skeleton,
there are some surprises with acrobatic acts, as well,
which will come in due time,
so there’s very interesting material coming up, yeah.
Awesome.
So, I forgot to mention, we have some questions
on the previous tune-in post that we did,
but it’s time for you guys to think about your questions,
because we’re here for the next 10 to 20 minutes
to answer your questions today.
So, one question that one had was,
it was a little bit more on the set design and props design,
which we’ll talk again on another live,
but he wants to know
is it the same stage from the original Alegría?
Yes and no.
We looked at the original set design,
and from that and from that world, from that idea,
we kind of evolved it, if you like.
So, some parts of it are still there.
For example, because we’ll still have a bar track number in the show,
we kept the whole opening of the stage,
which we had 25 years ago already,
but then we are revisiting the whole upstage part of the show.
We used to have other things, you know,
a dome and everything,
and we ask ourselves what is our representation
of what power means in the world and all that,
and we kind of reviewed that
so yes, the stage will be different,
but still inspired from the original.
Awesome. Thank you.
We have Marie-Josée Ouellet, who is asking,
will there be artists performing in the 2019 version
who were there at the beginning of the show?
Well, the answer is yes.
Some of these artists will be part of the 2019 production,
including the amazing Elena Lev,
who will be a part of the cast,
alongside Lisiate Tuione Tovo,
a fire manipulator
who was also part of the very first Alegría show.
I was also working with these artists on stage 25 years ago;
time really flies!
But now I’m the Acrobatic Designer and Acrobatic Choreographer,
so it’s been a wonderful journey with the company
and a thrill to discover this side of the production.
I also see this version of Alegría
not only as a reinterpretation and an evolution,
but also as an opportunity to see this wonderful adaptation we’re doing.
We’re preserving the show’s spirit,
yet taking it a step further in 2019.
And at the end of the day,
we want to keep bringing the emotion that made Alegría what it was
and preserve that essence.
I believe that’s one of our core objectives:
keeping the magic of Alegría alive,
that little piece everyone has kept in their mind and heart.
I guess Shane that also answers your question.
You wanted to know if Elena Lev was coming back
with her hula-hoop act.
She is, but also Émilie was telling us
that she was one of the acrobats in the original creation of the show,
and she’s now part of the creation team,
which is an amazing story and she’s really excited to bring back
all the emotion that this show was giving people.
Also, we had Hector who was asking, well Hector asked 3 questions,
let’s start with: Who is the new singer?
I don’t know yet,
we are still in the casting process for the new singer, Hector.
You know, I’m sure you’ll like her, whoever we choose.
There are going to be two singers, that’s for sure,
there has always been two singers,
but in our case now, we’re gonna have two singers who will be characters
that will be imported to the show
and equally important to the show, so that’s one thing I can reveal
and it’s not that much,
but we don’t know who it is yet,
so we’re working on it.
And keep your music and singer questions for a next live
that we’ll have that will be specifically on this subject.
All right, Hector also wanted to know
if the aerial cube and Ibis song are back in the show.
Well, the cube, we won’t have the cube,
we have something else I think is gonna be a great surprise for everybody.
The Ibis song will be there,
so I think that’s the good news.
- Yeah. - Ok.
We’ll keep the act as a surprise.
Yeah, awesome.
Yeah, we do have to keep some surprises even though
we’re revealing a lot today in the creation process,
which we normally don’t do.
Before I keep on going, I’m already receiving a lot of hellos
from Japan, South Africa, India and Puerto Rico,
people are watching from all over the world.
Thank you guys, we’re really excited about this.
All right, so, next, well Hector was also asking,
his third question was
will there be any original acts.
So we’ve talked about hula-hoop,
what else will be back in this version?
Back in the show will be Power Track, for sure,
it’s one of the highlights of the show,
so it’s there for sure.
And I think Power Track is like,
I think you can imagine the dream team
and we truly believe that we cast the dream team of power tracks,
so we know that this act is gonna be super strong.
For the fans that have been following us for a while
and that have seen La Nouba a few times,
there are some artists that we went and got at La Nouba when it closed
to bring to Alegría.
Cool. Cécille was also asking if Power Track would be back,
because she says it was the best part of the show in her opinion.
Exactly, and we will have Jos Trapèze in the show, as well,
and a twist on the Russian bar act, as well, so.
Awesome. Cool.
We’re being true to Alegría in some aspects.
All right, so, back to more acrobatic questions.
There is someone who’s saying…
Oops! Not an acrobatic question guys, sorry.
People want to know actually is it only going to be touring in Montreal
and a lot of people are relating to their memory of the song, obviously.
So, Carmen’s daughter was born to that song,
so to answer your question Carmen,
the show is not only going to be in Montreal,
so far, we’ve announced that it’s gonna start in Montreal in April 2019
and then it will go to Gatineau.
We don’t know the rest of the cities yet,
but there will be a tour plan announced shortly,
and follow us on Club Cirque for more information.
All right, so I guess
tell me a little bit more about acrobatic challenges.
We had Aline who was wondering
what’s your biggest challenge
as far as making this new version?
I think the world is so dynamic now
that we also have to see how we can bring acts
maybe not as long as they used to be,
and bring as many things as we had in a shorter period of time,
so that’s a challenge that we have to be much more dynamic.
It has to be, you know, quick,
and so that’s the challenge that we have.
We truly believe that we will accomplish that,
so I think in a short period of time, it’s just gonna be more intense.
That’s, I think, one of the challenges that we have.
Awesome.
And we call this a creation
because it’s a new version of the show.
Is it for you guys less time or more time,
like what does it involve
like as far as creation process and rehearsals and staging,
as far as the acrobatic skeleton?
Well, as far as the show in general,
it requires as much time as a creation, I’d say,
there’s staging process…
It’s like we’re starting from scratch, you know.
You know if, I always think of opera, theatre and ballet, for example,
in the strictest sense, in what we’re doing.
If you’re taking Shakespeare, you know,
whether you do it in the pool or a classic way or on a skateboard,
you still need the time and you still need the inspiration to revisit it,
so it’s been the same thing for us.
As far as acrobatics is concerned,
you know, what’s the time involvement?
You know our first training day was July 3.
So, we already started,
so obviously there are some acts that require a lot of training, you know,
for performance-level reasons,
but also for safety reasons,
you know we need to train a lot,
so we’ve started already.
So, I think, we took the measures to be sure
that we’re gonna have an high-level show
and obviously we’re looking at having a new version.
There are big expectations of an iconic show,
so we know that the expectations are high, you know,
it has to be Cirque level but also Alegría level.
So, there’s lots of pressure.
Oh yeah, good challenges there.
And that’s it, it’s to keep the balance between what Alegría was
and where we want to go with it,
and to keep that level of expectation,
so it’s a good challenge.
Well, thank you guys.
That wraps up our questions from our fans for today.
Was there anything else that you wanted to reveal or tell us
on the acrobatic skeleton so far?
No, I think we round up pretty much what the surprises are
a little bit at the same time
and what is still there in the show that was there before.
We believe that we’ll have a much better Alegría.
Wow, challenge is up.
Challenge accepted.
So, basically, I guess we’ll keep some surprises,
because we want you guys to come and see the show for yourself
again starting in April.
In April, in the Old Port of Montreal.
It is very important that you click on the link in the post for more info
and stay tuned for future broadcasts.
Thanks, everyone.
Click on the link to watch this “live” again
and tune in next time.
Thank you so much! Thank you everybody for being here this morning
and I’ll leave you to your hard work,
I know you guys have a lot of meetings
according to this TV screen in the background,
so thank you. Thanks, everyone.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Bye.