Montreal Circus Arts


Montreal is a city that vibrates with quirkiness. You'll see evidence of this everywhere from the edgy public art to the funky fashion. I'll have posts on both of those things but another quirky example that really struck me was the prevalence of circus arts. I know that this is the city that birthed Cirque du Soleil but I was caught off guard. My first vision upon entering the acclaimed Montreal Jazz Festival  was the pair of hula hoopers, above.



I was just not prepared for this sight or the mimes, stilt walkers and jugglers that I also saw everywhere I turned. I've attended lots of jazz festivals but I've never witnessed any circus performers during them.


By the time I saw these aerialists, I had discovered that Montreal takes its circus arts very seriously. It's treated like any other art form and admittance to the National Circus Performers School Montreal carries as much prestige as entrance into an Ivy League college.


Cirque du Soleil is just the most famous, there are dozens of similar troupes in Montreal and I enjoyed a taste  of their dramatic attributes for most of the time that I visited Montreal.

Comments

MinnieRunner said…
No I know where Cirque du Soleil came from. The same art had been brought to the Philippines as well.
August 7, 2011 at 12:54 PM
Fly Girl said…
Minnie, circus arts is very old but Montreal popularized the modern form with Cirque du Soleil.
August 7, 2011 at 8:32 PM
katie said…
Monteal looks so exciting! (Had no clue that Cirque du Soleil came from there.) There were a lot of street performers in Hawaii as well, but a completely different style.
August 8, 2011 at 12:05 PM
Fly Girl said…
Katie, a lot of people don't realize Cirque is from Montreal but once you go, you know. I saw lots of performers in Kaua'i too but the style was traditional--hula, ukulele, traditional songs.
August 8, 2011 at 12:19 PM
Lily said…
Awesome article!I definitely didn't associate Montreal with Cirque until I was there and saw it.. this article brought back the memories of that :)
August 9, 2011 at 2:30 PM
Catherine said…
what a wonderful tradition - and such liveliness on the streets too...Greetings from London..
August 9, 2011 at 2:45 PM
Fly Girl said…
Lilly, thanks.

Catherine, the liveliness is everywhere in Montreal.
August 9, 2011 at 3:46 PM
Candace said…
Nice stuff! I'm enjoying reading your blog here!
August 10, 2011 at 1:37 AM
Fly Girl said…
Candace, thanks so much for dropping by.
August 10, 2011 at 7:12 AM
Andrew Graeme Gould said…
How wonderful this looks in your great series of shots, Rosalind! Going back and finding this post of yours right now while I'm on the west coast of Canada on my first trip to this country, makes me really want to see the east and Quebec next time, in particular.
August 29, 2011 at 11:50 PM
Fly Girl said…
Andrew, thanks so much. I really hope you to get to Montreal sometime, it really is unlike any place in Canada.
August 30, 2011 at 5:28 AM
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