I'm a humanist. I always believed, even with Cirque du Soliel, that this is my way to contribute to a better world. I believe I'm very privileged, but many people face the reality when they wake up in the morning of not having food or a glass of water. Life's been good to me, and I believe you have to feed the circle of life.
— Guy Laliberte
Business is difficult. But it could be approached two ways: Seriously, or with the same way you're doing your job, with entertainment aspect, with pleasure, with fun.
The creative brand of Cirque du Soleil is creativity.
Sometimes just being on a beach with my loved ones is all the adventure I need. I am a happy camper and continue to be a citizen of the world. I have yet to discover other cultures, other peoples' dreams and treasures. I will always be a traveler who is discovering beautiful Gaia.
I'm an artistic person and a creator. I'm not a scientific. I'm not an engineer.
I like people that challenge their art, not only in the purist way, but also in terms of how they could provoke and make something different.
Ironically, the opportunity to go into space brings you back down to Earth big time! My decision must also take into account my children, my family and my friends. I must be at peace with this decision. And I was. I weighed the risks without letting fear feed on fear. There is no room for fear in my life.
Trust the young. Young people have a lot to contribute, but generation after generation, those who reach power protect that power rather than teach others how to attain it. I resolved that if I ever became successful, I would trust the young.
I am blessed for what I have, but I believed in it from the beginning. Today, the dream is the same: I still want to travel, I still want to entertain, and I most certainly still want to have fun.
In life I've learned one thing; if you want to be good you have to connect with the best people. So I got very close to the high-stakes players here. I get to watch them and play with them a little bit.
Our approach was very simple. It was about creating a universal language. A show that will be attractive toward every people coming from all over the world. And that was a big thing.
We didn't reinvent the circus. We repackaged it in a much more modern way.
I like to not be too involved in the beginning and during the process so as to keep this fresh look and be able to give constructive recommendation on the final production.
Business is difficult. But it could be approached two ways: Seriously, or with the same way you're doing your job, with entertainment aspect, with pleasure, with fun. And we decided to try to make it as fun that we do our creativity.
Originally the dream was about traveling and developing a job that would permit me to travel. And I decided to go into street performing because it was a traveling job; it would let me go around the world.
Adaption of the human body in space is not yet mastered. As soon as you hit space, you feel your body is going through a period of mutation. There's no blood in your head; you have a hard time swallowing. We're not born to naturally be in space.
I always have traveled with a camera throughout my life, but I always had my old 35mm film camera. When I was training to go into space, the only equipment there was a digital camera. I went through a fast-track class on Earth. It actually was fun, though I'm basically a dinosaur with computers.
All my life I've been flirting. I'm no different. I still carry on the same way.
I do like the thrill of risk-taking, but it's always carefully calculated. I have done many high risk undertakings, but I have always measured the stakes. Not feeding the fear nor the doubt. But I also believe that you need to fuel passion in whatever you do. This is what I am trying to teach my children today.
Me? I'm going to grow backwards and be a kid again.
Of all the religions, I am most partial to Buddhism.
There are three capitals of entertainment in the world: Las Vegas, New York and London. So far the only one I truly conquered is Vegas. New York and London are still on my checklist.
Cirque du Soleil means Circus of the Sun. When I need to take time to reenergize, I go somewhere by the ocean to sit back and watch the sunsets. That is where the idea of 'Soleil' came from, on a beach in Hawaii, and because the sun is the symbol of youth and energy.
I believe there are so many other disciplines and themes that we still haven't explored yet. It's infinite what we can apply our creativity to.
Inside every adult there's still a child that lingers. We're happiness merchants - giving people the opportunity to dream like children.
I don't believe in pitfalls. I believe in taking risks and not doing the same thing twice.
We're not afraid of risking what was our success yesterday in order to explore some new field. We're adventurous. We like the challenge of unknown territory, unknown artistic field, and that's what stimulates us.
I believe in nurturing creativity and offering a haven for creators, enabling them to develop their ideas to the fullest. With more and more talented creators being drawn to Cirque in an environment that fulfills them, these are ideal to continue developing great new shows.
The sun stands for energy and youth, which is what I thought the circus should be about.
The planet will adapt to anything. Maybe we should start to use the heart and the brain that we've been given to organize ourselves. Because if we keep screwing up things, we may be just passing by in the history of the planet.
When you are up there, feeling infinite space, the earth looks like a fragile planet against the immense universe. We are just another fleeting species, passing by. I do believe there is life elsewhere, and we are not alone. But not having found an alternate place for now, it is crucial to take care of the one place we do have.
Life is full of adventure. There's no such thing as a clear pathway.
Actually, I was the seventh private explorer but the first Canadian 'space clown.' I never dreamed of going into space; I just dreamed of traveling. But I admit that space is an incredible destination and the absolute traveling experience.
Along the way, let's never forget that once we were children and that we were all playing together without distinction of skin color, society level, or where people come from. Adults need to remember to play and to be more childlike in our behavior. We've forgotten what that childlike experience was like.
I am an atheist. I was born a Catholic, but after I had traveled to Northern Ireland with some Catholic friends, and we had a horrible experience with the English Protestant police, I lost all taste for formal religion.
There are more and more products with fewer people able to consume them. We have to help those who don't have the economic stability to grow, or one day there will be very few who are able to buy what we're selling.
My first dream was to travel. I was attracted to different places, different colors of skin, different food. When I was 18 in 1977, I went to Europe with my accordion and discovered the pleasure of entertaining people.
Our biggest goal is to continue to force ourselves to always start our creative work on a white page and not take advantage of past successes and challenging ourselves.
We are in a position of financial and social power, and we could be agents of change in our society. Without pretension, I believe we could be a nice little gardener who takes care of the garden, and hopefully our neighbor will do the same. Then, maybe we'll achieve a better world.
I have seen many successful people fail after they start fearing they might lose what they have built.
We are each but a quarter note in a grand symphony.
I believe that the profits will come from the quality of your creative products. Since the beginning, I've always wanted to develop a self-feeding circle of creative productions: the positive financial returns from one show would be used to develop and create a new show, and so on.
We had every problems starting a big top could have. The tent fell down on the first day. We had problems getting people into the shows. It was only with the courage and arrogance of youth that we survived.
