By: Ricky Russo
Music is at the heart of this show and follows the timeless hits of the Divas whose songs shaped our lives. Songs that have guided us throughout the years, in moments of folly, of sadness, of celebration, and of joy; DIVA is a unique opportunity to rediscover them all. Roze, our venerable and omniscient protagonist, will lead the way in this journey through the music, all while unveiling the essence of what makes a true diva.
Immerse yourself in the unparalleled musical repertoire and the spirited, signature acrobatics of Cirque du Soleil. Experience a show like no other, where the celebrated hits of the past decades are played to the rhythms of neo-soul and pop, all showcased with a fresh modernity. Amazing acrobatics, the modernity and glamour of the dressing room, internationally acclaimed musical rhythms and incredible set design are just a glimpse of what awaits you in this edition of Cirque du Soleil in Andorra.
THE CONCEPT
As a passionate, vivid ode to the greatest female vocalists, DIVA explores the transformational power of music and dusts off musical favourites of yesteryear and today which have been immortalised by the undisputed queens of music. This magnificent work delves deep into the soul of a diva, Roze, an omniscient woman in her prime who reveals the innate qualities held by all great singers. She is strong-willed, unapologetic and irreverent, fierce and rebellious to her core, gushing with charisma. Despite her relentless nature she still has a vulnerable side and is disarmingly candid. Indeed, she is the archetypal diva. DIVA invites the audience into a bold, surreal yet modern world where they are taken on an emotional musical journey, emblazoned with neo soul, pop and hip hop. Replete with acrobatic flourishes and breathtaking choreography, DIVA presents the talents of twenty-four fabulously energetic artists, with two singers and a DJ drummer among their number. Discover the legacy of the great divas of music through the eyes of Cirque du Soleil.
SCENEOGRAPHY — Alexis Laurence returns to Andorra with a surprising scene interpretation. He has imagined a rose-tinted monochrome backdrop to evoke a contemporary, modern feel. To immerse the audience in Roze’s mind, the set designer plays with sizes and illusions, inventing a surreal world that magnifies the characters and carries the spectator from memory to memory.
MUSIC — Jean-Phi Goncalves has created an original score for DIVA showcasing some of the greatest hits to have left an indelible mark on the collective psyche and which form part of any female vocalist’s repertoire. The score is supported by a DJ drummer and two singers who infuse life into the music on stage, while exclusive covers coloured by soul, pop, hip hop and gospel are integrated into this powerful, rhythmic spectacle. ‘Diva’ starts with ‘La vie en rose’ by Edith Piaf, and in fact, the rose is the dominant color throughout the show. ‘Diamonds’ by Rihanna puts the climax on the show.
COSTUMES — The seasoned Nicholas Vaudelet is in charge of wardrobe for DIVA. His quasi-operatic interpretation marries fashion with streetwear, granting a modern, glamorous flavour to the show’s visual style. The fluid, floating dress he has designed for Roze underlines the diva’s elegance and inner strength.
LIGHTING — Fresh from his experience in circus performances, concerts and fashion shows, Christophe Brière, armed with his luminous palette, constructs a dynamic, raw visual in his use of angles, shadows and tangents. As a disciple of lighting suprematism, he bestows a striking angular dimension on the scenery which accentuates the body.
ACROBATICS — The acrobatic choreography in DIVA finds full reflection in Roze: dazzling, colourful, daring, sometimes fierce, sometimes understated, always with panache. The show is a fusion of acrobatic urban dance and high-flying circus acts. The arts of trampwall, aerial straps and contortion play out next to krumping and voguing among other dances; all tuned into the female form in which ferocity and strength is fully embraced.
CREATIVE TEAM
Allow us to introduce you to the people and artists who have made DIVA possible. A fantastic team whose tenacity, dedication and passion for their work have led to the creation of a spectacle that will leave you breathless. Not only will they enable you to relive the greatest hits of the most famous divas; they’ll also transport you to another era, to another time.
Executive Director, Creation — Daniel Fortin
Co-Director & Choreographer — Lydia Bouchard
Co-Director & Acrobatic Choreographer — Sonya St-Martin
Set Designer — Alexis Laurence
Music Composer — Jean-Phi Goncalves
Costume Designer — Nicholas Vaudelet
Lighting Designer — Christophe Brière
Makeup Designer — Audrey Toulouse
Now, let’s learn a bit more about them…
ALEXIS LAURENCE
SET DESIGNER
Merging art and technologies in his scenic and video designs, Alexis Laurence, creates, crafts, animates, generates and invents engaging visual environments. Specializing in media art and experiential design, Alexis has shaped innovative and creative solutions for nearly two decades. Namely, he has created dozens scenic designs for the Mexico City and Montreal editions of MUTEK International Festival of Digital Creativity. Alexis authored the video design on ID and CIRKOPOLIS by CIRQUE ÉLOIZE; the scenic and video design for VISION by Cirque du Soleil in Andorra; the video signature for Montreal’s QUARTIER DES SPECTACLES; the artistic and video direction on various TV shows VOTRE BEAU PROGRAMME, DANS LES MÉDIAS, BELLE & BUM, C’EST DU SPORT, PIMENT FORT, FORMULE DIAZ ) and contributed to a number of video environments such as IGLOOFEST, the Montreal Pavilion for the Shanghai International Exhibition (GSM) as well as the international tours for DJ Sasha and the Mexican band ZOE.
AUDREY TOULOUSE
MAKE-UP DESIGNER
Audrey Toulouse is a professional makeup artist with more than 14 years of experience in HD, artistic, airbrush and special effect makeups. Currently working at Cirque du Soleil, she specializes in makeup designs for new and upcoming shows. Her more recent designs can be seen in the show Reflekt, in the advertisement campaigns Skoda Spain and Skoda Prague as well as in multiple private events, each of these designs stamped by Cirque du Soleil. Audrey distinguishes herself by her outstanding makeup, hair and teaching skills, which she applies in both the theatrical and television sectors. Her talent has led her to take part in international productions, set in more than twenty countries. Creative, reliable, passionate and with an excellent capacity to adapt, she is extremely perceptive and receptive to any kind of creative guideline that comes her way. MOMENT FACTORY (Germany) – Cruise | SPECTRA – Star Water | LCQ PRODUCTION CANADA – Les Misérables| LCQ PRODUCTION CANADA – Elvis Story | and many more
CRISTOPHE BRIERE
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Christophe BRIERE started his career in lighting as an operator almost 15 years ago. After several years during which he worked for major events, he became the co-founder of Atelier V3, a company specializing in the creation of sound, light and video for shows and events. Since 2011, he has been collaborating with the director of photography Philippe CERCEAU in the lighting and scenography of fashion shows for the greatest fashion houses including Dior, and Louis Vuitton, where he built up strong technical and artistic knowledge. The multidisciplinary quality offered by Atelier V3, led him to work on interactive projects combining the sound and light, such as at the Cop22 in Marrakech, the Lyon Festival of Lights and several video mapping projects. In 2017, he accompanied Cirque du Soleil on the creation of REFLEKT as part of Expo Astana in Kazakhstan. As a passionate of lighting, he considers light as both visible and invisible, being able to offer a frame, to strike the material, to create an atmosphere and to punctuate the global concept.
DANIEL FORTIN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CREATION
A multidisciplinary visual artist, Daniel Fortin began his career in 1990 as Artistic Director and Graphic Designer at Tam Tam Publicité and MusiquePlus. In 1992, he founded the renowned EPOXY studio, and opened offices in Montreal and Paris, where he served as President and Creative Director for more than 15 years. On the international stage, Marc Foster entrusted him with the credits of the film STAY; The Sony company invited him to Tokyo in his research laboratory to develop user interfaces; And Disney mandated him to carry out advertising for his Space Mission at Epcot Disney World in Orlando. His work for Interactive Digital Snow, which he coproduced with the Daniel Langlois Foundation and was also in charge of creation, has been displayed in several museums around the world. He was awarded with the Olivier of Stage Direction for his work on the Mike Ward’s expose show and was then entrusted the staging, the artistic direction and the scenography of several shows and galas, notably Dans le champ (Claudine Mercier), Chien (Mike Ward), Pas trop catholique (Cathy Gauthier) and La soirés des Jutra 2014. Since September 2014, Daniel has been Executive Director, Creative at 45 DEGREES, where he directs creative teams on local and international projects such as: The Hommage Series in Trois-Rivières, the opening ceremony for the Pan American Games in Toronto, Storia in Andorra, the opening of the NBA All-Star Game and several others worldwide.
JEAN-PHI GONCALVES
MUSIC COMPOSER
Jean-Phi is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer from the Canadian music scene. He studied classical and jazz music at the Angoulême Conservatory in France, which he then followed with studies in jazz and pop from Dummondville College in Canada, and went on to perfect his craft by taking Master Classes in New York, USA. His extensive training and musical research pushed him progressively towards electronic music. He began his career accompanying many renowned French-Canadian artists, including Dumas, Ariane Moffatt, Martin Léon, Daniel Bélanger, as a touring musician. His undeniable experience, soon established him as a major talent in the music industry. He is a founding band member of Plaster (with Alex McMahon and François Plante – Félix Award for Electronic Album of The Year, 2006), as well as the musical group Beast, alongside Betty Bonifassi, whose album received a gold record certification in Canada and prodigious international acclaim. Beast received a nomination at the Grammy Awards in 2009, and continues to perform at some of the biggest international music festivals in the world. Jean-Phi pursued collaborations with Ariane Moffatt, Diane Dufresne, Jean-Pierre Ferland (adaptation/remix), and many more French-Canadian artists. He has also collaborated with international artists like INXS and Lauryn Hill. Jean-Phi was equally sought after to compose music for advertisements, films (Filière 13), documentaries (Urbania 1 & 2), shows (ID – Cirque Éloize), etc., which led him to discover his new passion. He started his own company: XS, La Petite Boîte à Musique, where he and his team are dedicated to writing musical scores. Recently, he worked on various TV series: he adapted and produced 5 songs for HBO’s Big Little Lies and created the whole musical theme of Radio Canada’s Hubert et Fanny. To this day, Jean-Phi continues to take on projects with great energy and enthusiasm, whether it be for his company or with his friends. For four consecutive years he has collaborated with 45 DEGREES, Cirque du Soleil’s events and special projects company, as Musical Director for the Série Hommage, a tribute show series presented in the city of Trois-Rivières, Canada.
LYDIA BOUCHARD
CO-DIRECTOR AND CHOREOGRAPHER
Lydia Bouchard’s artistic career is highly diverse and creative. Coming from the world of classical dance, she has worked with renowned chorographer Jean Grand-Maître of the Alberta Ballet Company and the illustrious opera creator Renaud Doucet. In 1998 she launched a successful career in performing arts that brought her into contact with many well-known artistic directors and choreographers. Driven by a desire to work professionally, she got into musical theatre and has worked with important Canadian companies like Mirvish and Jacobson Entertainment, Just For Laughs and Drayton Entertainment. Lydia Bouchart joined the Cirque du Soleil special events division (currently known as 45 DEGREES) in 2009, and there she discovered the passionate universe of circus arts. This has been an opportunity for her to bring together her talents as a dancer and interpret her take on adagio routines to delight spectators worldwide. Following her 17 years as an independent artist, Lydia has taken to staging and choreography with enthusiasm. She is involved with multiple projects and is now adding another production to her résumé as co-director and choreographer of the show DIVA, which Cirque du Soleil will be presenting in Andorra in summer 2018.
NICHOLAS VAUDELET
COSTUME DESIGNER
Nicholas Vaudelet was trained by the most prestigious fashion houses: Christian Lacroix, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Sonia Rykiel, and Jean Paul Gaultier. With the latter, he participated in the design and development of costumes for the “Confession Tour” of Madonna and flamenco dancer Joaquin Cortes. After a vast experience in Seville as art director of the century-old house “El Caballo”, where he won the L’Oreal award for the best collection in 2009, he created costumes of the Spanish National Ballet. For this work, he was named as “Best Costume Designer” in the Max of 2014. In the same year, he met the famous director, Franco Dragone. For him, he designed 600 costumes that made up the dressing room of the Parisian Cabaret Lido, and those of Taboo 3 and 4 in Macau, the Russian singer Philipp Kirkorov in the Kremlin in Moscow, the “Daï Show” in XiShuangBanna, Rixos World park and hotel in Turkey. This period, which runs to the end of 2016, clearly marks Nicolas’ predilection for the creation of stage costumes. As of January 2017, he continued this activity in Canada with Scéno-Plus for MGM Macau, Vallarta Adventures for “Savia” directed by Gilles Ste-Croix, Cirque du Soleil and 45 DEGREES for the European Tour 2017-2018 of the German singer, Helene Fischer, the inauguration and closing of the “Dubai World Cup” Nicolas has not abandoned the creation of his own collections and he continues to dress many cinema and show business celebrities.
SONYA ST-MARTIN
CO-DIRECTOR AND ACROBATIC CHOREOGRAPHER
Sonya St-Martin, who was born from parents performing in the same field, got passionate about circus arts from an early age. The scene had already been a part of her life by the time she was 11. She worked as an acrobat for Cirque du Soleil, first in the Saltimbanco show (1992), then in Alegria (1995 and 1996). Due to an injury, Sonya was forced to temporarily set her passion aside and look for other jobs. She went back to school and got a degree in cultural and corporative events from École du Show Business in Montreal. In 2000, she returned with the strong intention of devoting herself entirely to performing arts. Once she had her diploma, Sonya became the tour director, art director and then general manager of the Cirque Eloize’s RAIN show. Then, she became the art director of the Cavalia show created by the company of the same name. Her career then took her all around the world, where she had the chance to collaborate in several major events including the opening of the Place des Festivals in Montreal (live event), the opening ceremony of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Azerbaijan (2012), FIFA Istanbul, Allavita and Reflekt shows of Cirque du Soleil, respectively presented as part of the World Expo in Milan (Italy) and Astana (in Kazakhstan) and JOYA, the resident show of Cirque du Soleil in Mexico. In 2018, she added a new creation to her portfolio: she signed the production of the Diva show that Cirque du Soleil will be performing in the Principality of Andorra.
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DIVA, paying tribute to some of the greatest divas of all time, played in the principality of Andorra from June 30 – July 29, 2018.
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