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Comment by narag | Hacker News Reader

I never liked circus. It was mildly interesting in tv or movies. The one time that I went to a show, I was lucky enough to be far from the action: a lion sprayed the two front rows. The smell was everywhere, everything had a sad vibe, even (maybe specially) the clowns. Only trapeze artists saved the evening for me.

Cirque du Soleil was an entirely different matter. Everything was shiny, cool, happy. My son had a great time. I had a great time. Sad to see them close. Hope they can come back to life somehow.

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Cirque du Soleil certainly are different and work like a tightly knit family, they do have the advantage of not being a traveling show though.

Having been back-stage at a circus many times for work, it's a really tough and hard life to live in...

They eventually removed all of their animals from their show, not because of external pressure, but because they could no longer care for the animals as they used to.

For those that haven't seen their VR experience, try and see it, it's jaw-dropping good.

Cirque has/had multiple traveling shows. They spend anywhere from a few days to a few weeks in each city, depending on whether it’s an arena or a big tent show.

There's a documentary on the traveling show logistics I remember seeing one time. It included a traveling school container so that the children of the employees could maintain an education.

I thought they where more permanent than just a few days, if so, that's impressive considering their show quality (Which probably differ a lot if they are travelling)..

They are in places like Las Vegas where they have multiple "permanent" (as in years long runs) shows. They also have traveling shows that will stay for a few days in a city and generally have their own tents and such that they setup, they don't use existing buildings or arenas.

To be fair, Cirque du Soleil is closer to art than it’s to circus.

It's basically Chinese circus with better production values.

Ever seen the Falun Gong sponsored Shen Yun production?

I watched a Shen Yun show. There was certainly some Falun Gong propaganda but otherwise the show was quite enjoyable.

You mean audience-sponsored Falun Gong front?

Why on earth is this downvoted? I saw Shen Yun here in Toronto, and also the recent Cirque one, and I've gotta say, Shen Fun really took the cake for me. Stunning.

Probably because Shen Yun is the propaganda arm of Falun Gong. That doesn't make the show any less cool, though.

They're probably not closing, just bankruptcy to restructure their debt.

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