Cirque du Soleil to create Opening Ceremony for TORONTO 2015 Pan Am Games

Canada’s globally celebrated cultural icon, Cirque du Soleil, is bringing its special blend of stagecraft, thrilling acrobatic athleticism and colourful cultural pageantry to an original production created especially for the Opening Ceremony of the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am Games.

The one-night-only performance, which will be broadcast to hundreds of millions of households throughout the Americas and Caribbean, will take place on July 10, 2015, under downtown Toronto’s favourite domed stadium, known at Games time as the Pan Am Dome.

“Cirque du Soleil is proud and deeply honoured to join TO2015 as a sponsor and Official Creative Partner for the Opening Ceremony of the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am Games,” said Yasmine Khalil, director of Cirque du Soleil’s events and special projects division. “We are excited to create an original production for this special occasion.”

For nearly 30 years, Montreal-headquartered Cirque du Soleil has created 34 shows, attended by more than 100 million people around the world.

Together, Cirque du Soleil and the TORONTO 2015 Pan American/Parapan American Games Organizing Committee (TO2015) will design the Opening Ceremony. It will showcase not only the Cirque’s outstanding troupe of performers, but also Ontario artists and volunteers, who will be recruited from local schools and community organizations closer to Games time.

“Cirque du Soleil has an unmatched international reputation for staging some of the most imaginative and mesmerizing shows ever performed,” said Ian Troop, CEO of TO2015.

“That magic, along with their world-class performers — many former athletes themselves — promises a thrilling Opening Ceremony for the Games that celebrates the wonderful diversity of the Toronto region and all of Canada, as well as the vibrant cultures of the Americas and Caribbean,” he added.

Read more: http://www.webwire.com