THE TRAINING

WORKING HARD...

With several live shows currently running, Cirque du Soleil is always in search of fresh new talent. How does Cirque find that talent? And what exactly is Cirque looking for? Florence Pot and Fabrice Becker are Cirque du Soleil talent scouts. They attend 15 major athletic competitions and around 12 auditions every year to find the right people "Sixty-five per cent of Cirque artists are acrobats," explains Florence, whose background is in gymnastics, "So our first impulse is to look for elite athletes in serious competition, who can measure up to the high standards that are going to be imposed on them." According to Florence, the athletes can come from a wide range of disciplines. These include artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, acrosport, tumbling, trampolining, diving, synchronized swimming and extreme sports.

"We try to keep track of athletes over a long period of time," says Fabrice, whose own background is in freestyle skiing. It's a long process. We have to monitor their progress, evaluate their potential, and offer them opportunities as they come along." Florence and Fabrice scouted talent at the Olympics for the first time at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney. "The Olympics were a great opportunity for casting," says Florence. "For one thing, they're a gathering point for the world's best. For another, they represent a great moment in the lives of many athletes, a period of transition. It's a good time to offer them a second career."