Cirque Du Soleil Internships available!

[gafftaper]

While at LDI in October, I took a backstage tour at Cirque: Ka. I was told by several people that one of the best ways to get a job with Cirque is to get an internship. Apparently, about half the interns get hired. Our CB secret agent* at Cirque just sent me a message to pass on to you. Cirque currently has two internships available! There is a "technical theater" and a "stagemanager" position. The only real restriction I see is that you have to be able to get college credit for doing it.

Find the jobs listed here and Good luck! Maybe you can get the internship and become a secret agent too!


*Many major employers in the industry require their employees to not talk about where they work publicly. If our CB member who works for Cirque identified (her)himself that way, we would tend to think that (s)he speaks for the whole company. If (s)he gives advice, is (s)he speaking as an individual or a representative of the company... big companies tend to not like this. We have several CB members with very cool gigs that unfortunately aren't allowed to publicly post about them. Our friend at Cirque has been kind enough to occasionally privately share messages like this with me to forward on to everyone.

[dsm]

Something I'd be interested about is how long most of the crew actually stay on for.

From what I've heard from circus performer friends they go through performers at a fair rate as most only hang around for a season/tour, then leave to go elsewhere. I'd be curious if it's similar with their techies, or the the techs usually are in it for longer.

[cdub260]

A few years back a friend of mine toured with Cirque. If I remember correctly, he was with the company for about a year, maybe two.

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by dsm

Something I'd be interested about is how long most of the crew actually stay on for. ...

Speaking solely of Las Vegas, I believe there are at least six techs who have been with Mystere since its inception in 1993. Others went to O, then Zumanity, then KÁ, then LOVE. Applications are currently open for the CityCenter Elvis show. Each time a new resident show opens, there is a mix of new-hires and some transfers. The transfers create openings in existing shows, which are also filled with new-hires and transfers. The recidivism rate, at least for the resident-shows division, is fairly low among the CDS organization. I find it mildly humorous that they call their Hiring Department the "Talent Acquision Team," as though talent was a commodity. See Join Cirque.

[ruinexplorer]

Originally Posted by derekleffew

I find it mildly humorous that they call their Hiring Department the "Talent Acquision Team," as though talent was a commodity. See Join Cirque.

Yeah, but doesn't Disney call all it's employees "Cast Members" regardless of position? I wonder if that ever rubs someone the wrong way?

[dsm]

In the first part of your post you sound as if techs stay around for a while, but then later your comment about a low recidivism rate makes it sound like people only rarely come back for another show.

* dsm is confused.

[derekleffew]

I was making an ill-conceived attempt at humor by purposefully confusing recidivism rate with retention rate.

Cirque techs tend to stay with the company a long time, (although not always with the same show).

[gafftaper]

The electrician I was paired up with for my LDI Job shadow of Ka had been with them since the start. There were some others I talked to who had been there from the start as well. I was told that Ka has one of the higher turnover rates because the other cirque shows like to steal Ka crew (especially for new shows). Since Ka is such a complex show it is a great training ground to find out who has the right stuff. You get a lower level job at Ka, prove yourself for a while, and then find yourself getting a better position at a new show. Getting the job in the first place is the hard part.

I talked to some technicains who are not Cirque employees while down there. Their feeling was Cirque is a good employer however they seem to like to hire young hot shots with short but impressive resumes and mold them into the system. They felt Cirque doesn't seem to like to hire a lot of old pros who have been around the block a few times and are more set in their ways.

[dsm]

Unfortunately, I don't actually live in the US, and I doubt I could get credit towards my physics degree for it, so I'll probably have to wait. They do sound like a good place to work though.

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by dsm

Unfortunately, I don't actually live in the US, and I doubt I could get credit towards my physics degree for it, ...

Re: the former, Cirque's corporate headquarters, and where all shows are initially conceived and designed, is in Montreal, Quebec. As to the latter, sometimes some "out of the box" thinking is required in convincing a university. Certainly a great deal of physics goes on during the mechanical engineering of a Cirque show.