Rethinking the Circus – The New York Times

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The idea of ​​Cirque du Soleil might call for pictures of extravagant live shows with clowns, acrobats, and fire-breathers. The company is trying to change that.

Cirque du Soleil emerged from the pandemic in rough shape. So I decided to build a more expansive, disaster-proof brand—with the goal of selling not just shows but also sunglasses, fragrance, and video games, writes my colleague Emma Goldberg in a story documenting her transformation.

Emma told me, “Circus is a funny example of an attempt at cultural reinvention because I don’t think of circus as trying to be relevant.” “They were asking the question, ‘Why isn’t Generation Z interested in the circus?'” It sounds almost rhetorical. It’s because 5-year-olds are in the circus.”

The decision came after months of meetings with consultants. Since they were talking about the circus rather than, say, banking, people dropped phrases like, “I think there’s a real opportunity to elevate the art of clowning” and “Don’t focus on the circus, focus on the Soleil.”

However, the meetings succeeded in giving Cirque du Soleil a comprehensive plan to transform itself. This week, the company will launch a video game on the popular gaming platform Roblox. Produced a presentation last month for Motorola to introduce a new phone. She is working on a range of home goods (such as psychedelic curtains) and a TV documentary series (current title: “Down to Clown”).

They say: forget the circus. Forget the red-nosed clown, the big tent, and the popcorn. Think of this as a technical statement. “And they’re trying to channel that into selling consumer products.”

Read Emma’s full story, which includes more dazzling photos of the Cirque du Soleil performance, to see how the changes go.

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In your book On Boxing you have a line about how for fighters life is all about fighting and the rest is just waiting. Do you feel this way about writing?

That’s a good question. It refers to a philosophical issue regarding what is essential in our lives and what is existential or accidental. My husband was a professor and we used to talk about books all the time. Although we talked and talked for years, I don’t really remember this dialogue. All I have left of all that happiness is my writing at the time. It is a kind of devastating truth. Whatever you think is solid is actually ephemeral.

Will she give you anything The solace of knowing you at least had those books you wrote during that period of happiness?

It has some consolation to her, I suppose; Otherwise, all things will be lost. If you read Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Ovid writes about how, if you’re reading this, I’m immortal. You see this theme in Shakespeare’s poems: You’re reading this, so I’m still alive. In fact, they are not alive, they are gone. But while they were alive, they had this extra dimension in their lives. This is nothing.

So having a bunch of chores to leave behind alleviates the feeling that things are disappearing from your life?

I don’t know how to answer that. We start losing people. This is the human experience, and you suddenly realize that the human experience will be like that for you expertise. When that starts happening to you, it’s pretty amazing.

Read more of the interview here.

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