Cirque du Soleil (French for "Circus of the Sun", in English pronounced /sɜrk duː soʊˈleɪ/) is an entertainment company. Headquartered in Montréal, Quebec, Canada and located in the city center of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street artists, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier.[1]Initially called Les Échassiers, they toured Quebec in 1980 as a theater company and encountered financial difficulties which were alleviated by government funding in 1983 as part of the celebrations of the 450th anniversary 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, Laliberté hired Guy Caron of the National Circus School to recreate it as a "real circus". No ring and no animal helped make Cirque du Soleil the modern circus ("Cirque Nouveau"/New Circus) that it is today.[3]Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world, with its own central theme and its own plot. They draw the audience into the show through continuous live music, with performers rather than stagehands changing props, and without curtains. After critical and financial successes (Los Angeles Arts Festival) and failures in the late 1980s, Nouvelle Expérience was created – under the direction of Franco Dragone – which not only made Cirque profitable in 1990, but allowed it to create new shows.[4] Cirque expanded rapidly in the 1990s and 2000s, growing from one show with 73 employees in 1984 to approximately 3,500 employees from more than 40 countries producing 15 shows on every continent, with annual revenues estimated to exceed $600 million . The many permanent Las Vegas shows alone play to more than 9,000 people... middle of paper... so that both feel part of a bigger show. While in a traditional circus the performer could step behind the curtain and abandon his role, Dragone had created an environment in which the performer had to remain in character for the entire duration of the production.[4]Although Dragone was given full credit control of the show. , Laliberté oversaw the entire production. He was supportive of Dragone's new ideas. Inspired by Jules Verne's "La Chasse au Météore", Dragon's concept for the show was to have each of the performers play the parts of jewels scattered across the Earth.[4]Nouvelle Expérience proved to be Cirque du's most popular show Soleil until that point and would continue to operate until 1993. It spent one of those years at the Mirage Resort and Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. By the end of 1990, Cirque was profitable again and was ready to start a new show.[4]