Saturday, October 07, 2006

"Take comfort in the chaos"

This article from Slate on the magic of Cirque du Soleil is a bit dated, but it’s still good as it describes a classic “blue ocean” enterprise that has no real competitors. An excerpt:

Why does Cirque du Soleil endure? It is often claimed that Guy Laliberté created a revolutionary new art form from scratch. This ignores not only a few hundred years of European performances but the recent history of the American circus, which has over the last few decades divided into two opposing camps. The first, exemplified by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, consists of the robust sideshow that rumbles into town trailing clowns, tumblers, a menagerie, and a thriving community of midway creeps. Spread across three rings, the performances are hectic and diffuse; the goal is for nonstop wonders. In response, outfits like San Francisco's Pickle Family Circus had by the mid-1970s begun to experiment with a more artistically minded show. They freed the animals, reduced three rings to one, and highlighted the athletic and comic skills of the troupe. Channeling the intimacy of street performers and the Italian commedia dell'arte, the Pickles and others created more modest spectacles—a "New American Circus"—that forswore spectacle in favor of an emotional connection with the audience.

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