When you think of Cirque du Soleil, you might think of spectacular live shows featuring clowns, acrobats and fire-breathing. The company is trying to change that.
Cirque du Soleil has emerged from the pandemic in rough shape. So the company decided to build a larger, more disaster-resistant brand. As my colleague Emma Goldberg wrote in an article documenting the transformation, it aims to sell not only the show but also sunglasses, perfume and video games.
“Silk is an interesting example of an attempt to reinvent culture, because I’m not trying to make sense of the circus,” Emma told me. “They were asking, ‘Why aren’t Gen Z interested in the circus?'” It feels almost rhetorical. Because five-year-olds are obsessed with the circus. “
The decision was made after months of meetings with consultants. They were talking about the circus, not banking, for example, so people dropped phrases like “I think there’s a real opportunity to elevate the art of clowning” and “Don’t focus on silk, focus on soleil.”
Still, the conference succeeded in giving Cirque du Soleil a radical plan to transform itself. This week, the company will release a video game on the popular gaming platform Roblox. The company produced a show last month where Motorola unveiled its new phones. The company works on homewares (think psychedelic curtains) and a television documentary series (currently titled Down to Clowns).
“They say, ‘Forget the circus.’ Forget the red-nosed clowns and the big tents and the popcorn. Think of this as an artistic expression,” said Emma. “And they’re going to use that to sell consumer products.”
Read Emma’s full story, including stunning photos from her Cirque du Soleil performance, to see how the changes are coming.
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Israel
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent unplanned heart surgery and was implanted with a pacemaker. Doctors later said the Israeli prime minister’s condition was “very good”.
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Prime Minister Netanyahu is expected to spend at least a day in the hospital, adding uncertainty to the government’s highly controversial plan to pass a law limiting judicial power tomorrow.
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A miles-long line of demonstrators marched to Jerusalem to protest the proposal. Follow us for updates.
International
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Today’s elections in Spain may put conservatives at the top, but they will likely need far-right allies to rule.
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Mismanagement and US sanctions have devastated Venezuela’s oil industry, leaving leaky pipelines and polluted areas.
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Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko has stepped up his crackdown on dissidents since he crushed protests three years ago.
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Witnesses say a man kicked out of a Mexican bar for harassing women later returned and threw incendiary bombs into the club, killing at least 11 people.
health
other big stories
from opinion
Algorithms on social media are robbing young people of the joy of exploration and discovery. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy claim.
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Smartphone apps and QR codes were supposed to make travel easier. Rather, they made it even more annoying, Jessica Gross I wrote.
Sunday’s Question: Should No Labels Run a Presidential Candidate?
David Farris says the group has effectively become Trump’s proxy because it can siphon off voters who aren’t keen on Biden write for newsweek. But Democrats are so strong against third-party candidates, They May Keep Biden Away From Its ImpactAaron Blake wrote in The Washington Post:
Magical Creatures: A quirky and captivating animated film in the style of a Studio Ghibli theme park.
Hollywood’s secret weapon: Ann Roth is the costume designer behind iconic costumes for Midnight Cowboy, Working Girl and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottoms.
Wheel of Fortune: Cheese is part of the Swiss identity. So why are there more imports than exports?
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life lived: Richard Balanczyk was the last surviving Allied unit known as the “Monuments of Men and Women”, which preserved the European art and cultural treasures looted by Nazi Germany. He died at the age of 98.
Speak | From The Times
Joyce Carol Oates, one of America’s greatest living authors, is the author of a new collection of short stories, Zerosum. He asked Oates, 85, about our legacy.
In your book On Boxing, there is a line that says that for a martial artist, life is all about fighting and the rest is just waiting. Do you feel the same way about writing?
that’s a good question. It refers to the philosophical question of what is essential to our lives, what is existential, and what is incidental. My husband is a professor and we always talked about books. We talked for years, but I don’t remember much of that conversation. The only thing that left me with all that happiness was what I wrote about that time. It’s kind of a devastating fact. Everything that you think is solid is actually fragile and ephemeral.
does it give you something Is it comforting to know that you at least have the book you wrote during those happy times?
I think there is some comfort in that. Otherwise, all will be lost. If you are reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Ovid writes that if you are reading this, I am immortal. Shakespeare’s sonnets have that theme. If you’re reading this, it means I’m still alive. In fact, they are gone, not alive. But they had a special side to life while they were alive. It’s not for nothing.
So, does having a lot of work left to do improve the feeling that things are missing from your life?
I don’t know how to answer that. We start losing people. That’s the human experience, and you suddenly realize that the human experience is like this. your experience. When it starts happening to you, it’s quite amazing.
Read the rest of the interview here.
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what to watch out for
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Besides Spain, Cambodia also has elections today.
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Israel’s parliament is set to vote on a controversial proposal to overhaul the judicial system tomorrow, but Netanyahu’s hospitalization could change that plan.
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The Fed is expected to raise rates on Wednesday.
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The president’s son Hunter Biden is set to plead guilty to tax-related misdemeanors on Wednesday.
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President Biden is scheduled to welcome Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to the White House on Thursday.
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The Iowa Republican Party will host a Lincoln Dinner on Friday. Candidates Trump, DeSantis and Scott will speak.
