Dan
Worldwide, --
Male, 33
Lead artist, feature act and fire coach for Cirque Du Soleil. Recently for the ZAiA production in Macau from 2010 to 2012. Currently freelancing while between Cirque contracts.
I'm a fire dancer / fire manipulation specialist. I use flaming props such as fire swords, fire ropes, fire staffs, with special effects and pyrotechnics in a combination of dance and martial arts style movements. Ask me anything, and check my website... www.sparkfiredance.com
From 30K USD for new recruits in certain acts, up to 250K USD for established artists who hold exclusive rights to their act.
sources:
- Brian d Johnson, Macleans magazine, "cirque du soleil" July 27 1998
- Cirque_du_Soleil HRM Practices ICMR center for Management Research, Manasi Pawar 2007
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Dream job. hmm. No. That would be wingsuit basejumper or Dj superstar... or something that takes less work. When your on a contract the show takes up a very large part of your life. It does get easier as it goes, and you can be making good money, but your away from friends and family, often in a place you wouldn't choose to live for a resident show, or constantly unpacking/repacking for a touring show. When your not on a contract and freelancing your working all the time. 7 days a week your answering emails, fielding enquiries (if your lucky) pitching proposals. Otherwise your calling agents, sending out promo material, shooting new material, photoshopping, videoediting, fixing your website, designing costumes, debt collecting, fixing equipment, dealing with logistics and itineraries for gigs, and if your really lucky you get time to choreograph, rehearse and practice somewhere in there. There's often nothing dreamy about being a performer, but getting in with Cirque can make certain things easier, it shifts your focus to body and mind maintenance, which is what most want. You do have to learn how to adapt your performances for the long haul, night after night after night. As far as when I knew what i wanted to do? I haven't figured that out yet. This is just what I'm still doing in the meantime.
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From 30K USD for new recruits in certain acts, up to 250K USD for established artists who hold exclusive rights to their act.
Sources:
- Brian d Johnson, Macleans magazine, "cirque du soleil" July 27 1998
- Cirque_du_Soleil HRM Practices ICMR center for Management Research, Manasi Pawar 2007
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It took me 2 hours in the beginning. After quite a few months of doing the same makeup day after day I got it down to a comfortable 35 minutes. If I really need to I can do it in 22 minutes, but it's definitely cutting a few corners. I've seen an acrobat (who will go unnamed) do his in 15 minutes when he was really late, but you'd not want to get caught by the director looking like that. For photoshoots or media appearances they'll have the head makeup artist do alot on us and it can take several hours.
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The IT Guy
What's the the stupidest IT question you've every gotten?
Hollywood Executive Assistant
Does your boss ever have you lie on his behalf?
Nightclub Promoter
Is bottle service worth the money, or is it a total scam?
Group acts have rotations so different versions can be performed depending on whose out and there's always a contingency plan. The lead roles have backups. The acts can be modified, or if it's a specialty act there's often a backup act other artists can do. If not then the act can be cut. The backup artists and acts are usually rotated into the show once or twice a week to keep them practiced at it. Artists are also rotated through different show cues so they can be covered if necessary. Cirque encourages artists to continue to develop other skills that it can utilise for backup acts. If the injury happens during show the artist is assessed by the physios and the call is made to stage management as to whether they'll be out of the next show fully or on a modified track, for example cues only, no jumping etc. If you've gotten sick or injured outside of work, or an injury has worsened, you're expected to notify a minimum of 3 hours prior to show so stage management can modify the lineup accordingly. If an artist from a specialty act is out with a serious injury for quite awhile, i.e. surgery, then another temporary replacement act can be sourced and flown in. If an act is already out, and someone from a backup act gets sick there might be an emergency staging to modify the show as necessary. So really, there's quite a few variations that can occur on the shows, and we have to keep on our toes! As for myself, when I was too injured to perform at all (which was only once for a couple weeks) the two chinese dancers who I had been coaching fire performed a duo as replacement.
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Worst, Chinese. Very unresponsive. Different social backgrounds.
Best, to be honest I love performing at festivals best, when there's some fat dubstep or drum n bass rockin out and I can go wild and the crowds there with me for every drop... Like this:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=372227859566075
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No special training. My discipline is a self taught one. When I started there wasn't even youtube videos to learn from, which I think gives you a special something, to have to learn and discover the hard way from scratch.
I was performing at festivals from my early teens, during and after finishing high school. Work wise most jobs I've had felt like a waste of time compared. I prefer to spend my hours developing something that expands myself, my learning, abilities, or buisness acumen... and often that only comes from running your own buisness.
I certainly had much more of a home base and stable life before performing full time though. I had to give up a lot to follow the performance path, it's a tough choice to make, but lifes full of those.
Still on the lookout for what to do next. The toughest question for any performer as it's not a great career to grow old with!
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