Get in the ring: How Montréal became the circus capital of the world

If you thought Cirque du Soleil started on the Strip in Las Vegas, think again. In fact, the troupe only wound up there by accident in the late 1980s after attending a circus festival in California and running out of cash on the road.

“They were hoping to make some money to get back, so they found themselves in Las Vegas,” said circus historian Charles Batson of Union College. “They didn’t have enough money for return tickets.”

It was kismet, of course, with the troupe proving popular enough that it’s become a shorthand for Sin City. But home, and the company’s headquarters, remained far away: in Montréal, Canada.

And no wonder, as Québec’s biggest city is arguably the world’s contemporary circus capital, a place where you can attend school to study circus arts, perform with countless companies and even headline one of many circus festivals (including the chance to celebrate Cirque du Soleil’s 40th anniversary this year).

“It’s not a crazy idea to run away and join the circus, at least here,” said Nadia Drouin of En Piste, a non-profit that promotes circus arts based in the city. “There are career options and an amazing community, and circus all year long.”

Forget lion taming, though, or acrobats on elephants and baiting caged bears. Montreal specializes in what’s known as “nouveau cirque,” the acrobatic, gravity-defying, stunt-filled show for which Cirque du Soleil earned its fame. Nouveau cirque shows emphasize a storyline of some kind, rather than shunting between unconnected vignettes.

The concept emerged in France in the late 1970s, said academic Batson, but turbocharged in popularity in Quebec for several reasons. He points to the Summer Olympics of 1976, where MTL was the host city, as crucial.

“There were highly talented gymnasts training in the same space as other people developing circus skills and these energies started to meld into each other,” he explained, noting that North American nouveau cirque has a particular focus on physical prowess and near-impossible stunts as a result. “They took it one step further and then, there was the founding of what’s now the École Nationale de Cirque, which created a massively magical troupe led by hugely ambitious, talented humans.”

The funnel of talent was soon pumping out scores of young, flexible performers keen to display their skills, and the Québécois government’s willingness to offer grants to fledgling companies helped them take root and thrive.

One of the earliest such cirque nouveau troupes was Cirque Éloize. Jeannot Painchaud is among the founders. He pointed to the reassertion of French identity which took place after Québec independence advocates lost the referendum in 1980, as well as the upgrading of street theater from curbside to onstage via the likes of the Bread & Puppet Theater company. Painchaud, himself a juggler trainer and unicyclist, said that Eloize wanted to move circus from the big top to a theater proper.

“Besides being crazy and creative, we wanted to go much further in terms of performances,” Painchaud said.

And they did: Aerialist Daniel Cyr workshopped a brand-new piece of kit to help him with his stunts — and that metal hula-hoop, known as a Cyr wheel, is now widely used in cirque nouveau shows worldwide.

“I tried to do it, but was never that good — it takes a lot of time and patience. It’s for sure about balance and you can’t get dizzy, because you’re turning on yourself a lot,” Painchaud said.

The company remains one of the best in the city and has just opened a semi-permanent show, “Bon Voyage,” at a disused railway station which he dubbed “docu-cirque,” an immersive, hour-long piece telling the social history of Canada via the train heading westwards into the wilderness.

The other major company in town is 7 Fingers, co-founded by American expat Gypsy Snider, who’s herself the daughter of a pair of jugglers who ran the Pickle Family Circus in San Francisco. It operates multiple divisions, including a foundation bringing circus to marginalized communities, a commercial division that creates and casts the shows on Virgin Voyages and a team that works on shows like the current Broadway hit “Water for Elephants.”

“We wanted to address themes on a human scale, tell stories that are relatable to the audience,” she said. “Cirque du Soleil is always fantastical and dreamlike, but we almost don’t wear costumes. We want to show the body and the sweat and grit it takes.”

After inaugurating the only building constructed expressly for circus in North America, out in Montreal’s Cité des Arts du Cirque, 7 Fingers will bring its riff on “Romeo and Juliet,” called “Duel Reality,” back there this October. That building is the anchor of Tohu, the main circus complex in the city, which also stages other productions in its year-round schedule. Become a member, said Tohu’s Aaron Marquise (himself a trained clown) and you can see works in progress and go behind the scenes.

“In September, we have an event where artists present work not ready for an audience, then have a discussion afterwards,” he said.

The rest of Circus City includes the National Circus School, across the street from Tohu, which also has a spectacular library of books on circus — Snider recommended booking in to pore through its shelves, as it is open to the public. Cirque du Soleil’s global headquarters are there, too, but ironically, it rarely presents shows in situ.

Smaller companies worth checking out include Agathe & Adrien, known for reversing gender roles — think aerialists where it’s the women catching the men, rather than vice versa — and Cirque Alfonse, a more retro-accented troupe.

Shows from Foutoukours are primed for both kids and adults alike. If you’d like to try your hand at picking up a few skills, consider booking in with Académie de Cirque, which a trio of acrobats opened in January this year. It operates out of a facility with 35-foot-high ceilings, so you can truly hit the heights — prices start from around $7.50 per person, per class.

There are two prime times to come and catch the maximum excitement: the Montréal Complètement Cirque festival each July, where the city sidewalks teem with performers, especially in the Quartier Latin, and all the major venues program cirque nouveau shows (Tohu steers the programming each year). You’ll also see a glut of festive shows in the run up to the holidays, but performances continue via the Montréal en Lumière, a midwinter bash that combines performances, ice skating and a food festival. Whatever time of year, check the Destination Cirque website, run by Nadia Drouin’s En Piste, the most comprehensive round-up of whatever is on offer.

“What you get when you see a contemporary circus show is like a drug — you’ll get a very big high afterwards,” says Drouin. “It’s like real-life superheroes doing extraordinary things.”

Just remember that much of the storyline will unfold in French — Gypsy Snider from 7 Fingers promises you don’t need to be even half-fluent to follow along. The movement will help communicate the je ne sais quoi.