Cirque du Soleil Celebrates Film with IRIS, Beginning 7/21

As Cirque du Soleil celebrates the artists and artisans of the 2011 Academy Awards, it prepares to occupy the Kodak Theatre with its newest production IRIS, taking up permanent residence at the venue and starting preview performances on July 21, 2011.

At the beginning of March, the first group to arrive will be a contingent of production and operations personnel, who will have a month to prepare for the full load-in of the show. In April, the entire physical production will begin arriving from Montreal into the theatre and the international cast of 72 performers will begin rehearsals in early May.

IRIS is written and directed by director-choreographer Philippe Decouflé, who is the founder and artistic director of the acclaimed French dance troupe Compagnie DCA. Grammy®-and Emmy Award®-winner and Academy Award® nominee, Danny Elfman, is music composer; IRIS marks his first Cirque du Soleil show.

IRIS is a lyrical, fanciful, kinetic foray into the seventh art. Bringing together dance, acrobatics, live video, filmed sequences and animation, the show takes spectators on a fantastic voyage through the history of cinema and its genres, taking them into the heart of the movie-making process. From illustration to animation, black and white to colour, silent films to talkies, fixed shots to swooping camera movements, spectators witness the poetic construction/deconstruction of this art as an object and as a way of transcending reality.

The word "iris" refers to the adjustable opening-or diaphragm-that controls the amount of light that passes through a camera lens. The word also refers to the colored part of the eye.

Featuring 72 performers, 200 costumes, 8,300 square feet of floor surface, 174 loudspeakers, 603 lighting features, 20 video projectors, and 166,000 watts of sound, IRIS joins the other Cirque du Soleil resident productions Mystère^TM, O^TM, Zumanity^TM, KÀ^TM, The Beatles LOVE^TM, Criss Angel Believe^TM and Viva ELVIS^TM in Las Vegas, La Nouba^TM at Walt Disney World Resort, ZED^TM in Tokyo, and ZAIA^TM in Macao, in scale, scope and size.

Ticket prices range from $43 to $133. VIP tickets are available for $253 during regular performances. Tickets are available at www.cirquedusoleil.com or by calling 1-877-943-IRIS.