The tech inside Cirque's big tent

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In 1992, the oldest of its still-existing shows, "Saltimbanco," hit the road. Since then, the company has built out its full roster to include 11 different shows, and it has performed in front of more than 50 million people.

Each Cirque show has its own theme, and "Corteo" is no different.

The show, which has also played in Toronto and Minneapolis, is a "joyous procession, a festive parade imagined by a clown," according to the Cirque du Soleil Web site. The show, the site says, plunges audiences into "a theatrical world of fun, comedy and spontaneity situated in a mysterious space between heaven and earth."

Space between heaven and earth
But for all its whimsy and nostalgia, Cirque du Soleil has always tried to stay ahead of the innovation curve, Wilder said. And by continually developing new touring shows, it's no accident that many pieces of successful technology it discovers along the way are later brought together under a single big top.

"What makes 'Corteo' the most advanced (show)," Wilder said, "is that we've taken pieces of technology from this show and that show and put it together in one show."

At the same time, he explained, "Corteo" is serving as a test bed for new technologies that Cirque du Soleil wants to implement in its older touring shows. For example, as the "Corteo" team has seen the value of incorporating functions like fully digital sound mixing, that message is spreading to the older shows.

Now, the other touring shows are slowly switching over from analog sound mixing systems to digital. Thus, Cirque's other traveling shows may soon include sound rooms similar to that of "Corteo" that are brimming with racks of digital mixing equipment and a massive digital mixing board.

But it takes time to work out the kinks that come from introducing new technologies into older regimens, Wilder explained.

And with acts like the chandelier piece, in which many hundreds of pounds of equipment and performers are suspended in midair and counting on precision movements, the computer program that runs the dolly system--it was written specifically for "Corteo" by Montreal-based automation company Microtrol--is invaluable, just as are the people who run the computers, Wilder said.

That's especially true during acts like "Paradise," the opening sequence after the show's intermission, when around a dozen acrobats take turns doing astounding leaps and twists off a 150-foot-long trampoline that spans the stage.

During intermission, Wilder explained, the artists and crew race onstage and begin setting up the trampoline. But because the artists leap so high in the air and count on the trampoline to save them in case of a fall, it must be installed with absolute precision.

Thus, a computer-controlled motor under the stage pulls the trampoline taut, beginning at each end and moving toward the middle. Once taut, technicians move onto the stage and employ laser-leveling technology that ensures that the trampoline is set up exactly as designed.

"The amount we rely on our technicians is amazing," he said. "The artists trust these guys and girls with their lives every day."

In any case, as the technology used in "Corteo" and other Cirque show gets more advanced, and more is implemented, Wilder and his crew, as well as their colleagues in other shows, must continually confront a learning curve as they strive to stay as advanced as possible.

"You end up pushing your employees," Wilder said. "Our staff has to keep learning and growing with the new technology."