Steben Twins | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Karyne & Sarah Steben July 26, 1974 |
| Known for | trapeze duo |
| Website | www |
Karyne and Sarah Steben, also known as the Steben Twins, are Canadian twin trapeze artists. The pair were the first female innovators of the feet-to-feet catching technique.
Third-generation Italian Canadians, Karyne and Sarah Steben grew up becoming skillful at gymnastics, trampoline, dance and theater. At the age of six, they signed to do a television series Les Satellipopettes in Quebec with their father Claude Steben, the show's host. Their travels began during these early years, when they visited more than 22 countries, learned to speak French, German, English and Spanish, and participated in festivals in Sweden, Italy, France and Russia.
Their skill and unique talents led Karyne and Sarah to create an original and innovative act at the 1992 Cirque de Demain Festival in Paris, France. It won them their first gold medal. [1] The girls joined Cirque du Soleil as the featured trapeze act in Saltimbanco, [1] and toured the United States and Canada with the production for two years. Following the tour, the twins played the prestigious Tigerpalast cabaret in Frankfurt, Germany; won a Gold Ring Award at the First International Festival of Circus in Geneva, Italy, and received the YTV Achievement Award, honoring Canadian youth and excellence.[ citation needed ] Then came a feature role in the Patricia Rozema film, When Night Is Falling , starring Pascale Bussières. [2] [1]
In October 1995, Karyne and Sarah rejoined Cirque du Soleil for the European tour of Saltimbanco and three months later performed in the prestigious International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo, hosted by Monaco's Rainier III, Prince of Monaco. Here they accepted the Silver Crown Award. Only months later they presented their act at the G-7 Summit, for an audience that included the heads of state of the world's seven richest countries. In 1998, they moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, to perform in Cirque du Soleil's water-themed production, O , at the Bellagio Hotel. [3]
Following Vegas, Karyne and Sarah traveled to Italy to act and dance in a European TV special for Rai Uno, hosted by Adriano Celentano. Since their return to the United States and their arrival in Los Angeles in 2000, Karyne and Sarah have participated in the creation of Madonna's 2001 Drowned World Tour, and were featured in several commercials and a variety of music videos, including working with Aerosmith. In addition to continuing their appearances in cabarets and festivals throughout the world, they recently worked with Bill Viola for The Passions exposition at the Getty Museum. [4] They then auditioned for Robert Lepage to be the main characters of "KA" show at the MGM resort and, despite being the first choice, they had to refuse the offer because they were on a 5-year contract with HBO for the TV show Carnivàle. They then performed with the Teatro ZinZanni in San Francisco and Seattle for 2+1⁄2 years and finally performed in 4 continents with the show LE NOIR - The Dark Side of Cirque.
They appeared in the 2013 film Much Ado About Nothing , directed by Joss Whedon.
Cirque du Soleil is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 June 1984 by former street performers Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix.
Quidam was the ninth stage show produced by Cirque du Soleil. It premiered in April 1996 and has been watched by millions of spectators around the world. Quidam originated as a big-top show in Montreal and was converted into an arena format beginning with its 2010 tour in North America. It then changed back to the Big Top for a 3-month run in Seoul, South Korea before returning to an arena show for its tour to Oceania. The show performed for the final time in Christchurch, New Zealand on February 26, 2016.
Saltimbanco was a touring show by Cirque du Soleil. Saltimbanco ran from 1992 to 2006 in its original form, performed under a large circus tent called the Grand Chapiteau; its last performance in that form was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on December 10, 2006. A new adaptation of the show started touring North America on July 31, 2007, with its first stop in London, Ontario, Canada. The new version was staged in arenas with fewer performances in each city it visited. The new version closed at the end of 2012.
Mystère (my-steer) is one of six resident Cirque du Soleil shows in Las Vegas, Nevada. Held in a custom theatre at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino, the show was first performed on 25 December 1993, making it the company's longest running show. As with many Cirque du Soleil productions, Mystère features a mixture of circus skills, dance, elaborate sets, opera, worldbeat music, and street theatre-style comedy. Featuring a musical score composed by René Dupéré and Benoît Jutras, the show was created under the direction of Franco Dragone. The word "mystère" comes from a French word meaning mystery.
Solstrom is a Cirque du Soleil television series in thirteen 45-minute episodes from 2003. It was initially broadcast on the U.S. Bravo cable network and aired on Bold in Canada and SBS Television in Australia. It has also been released on DVD.
Teatro ZinZanni is a circus dinner theater that began in the neighborhood of Lower Queen Anne in Seattle, Washington. It has since expanded to a site on the waterfront at Pier 29 on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California.
Geoff Hoyle is an English performer who originated the role of Zazu in the Broadway theatre production of The Lion King. Hoyle has also performed in vaudeville shows, worked with Bill Irwin in "The Pickle Family Circus", performed with Cirque Du Soleil's Nouvelle Expérience, and performed with the Revels.
Olga Pikhienko is a circus performer who specializes in handbalancing and contortion. Pikhienko started in rhythmic gymnastics at the age of five. When she was eleven, she started performing with her father, Sasha Pikhienko, at the Nikulin Circus based in Moscow. Olga's act with her father won them a gold medal in 1992 at the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris. In 1993, they won a silver medal in Beijing, China at the World Festival.
Inspired by traveling carnivals of the 1930s, Carnivàle Lune Bleue is a live entertainment event created in Ottawa, Canada by Executive Producer and Founder Wayne Van De Graaff. Van De Graaff has stated that he was inspired to pursue his lifelong dream and recreate a vintage Depression-era carnival after watching the HBO series Carnivàle.
Tuuli Pauliina Räsänen is a circus performer and actress from Finland. Her career jump-started when she was invited to perform as the first Fennoscandian soloist with Cirque du Soleil. She was awarded a five-year grant from Finland's Central Commission of Arts to pursuit artistic work. She has succeeded in establishing her career in the international market and at the moment performs with Komische Oper Berlin.
René Dupéré is a Canadian composer from Mont-Joli, Québec, Canada.
Contemporary circus is a genre of performing arts developed in the late 20th century in which a story or theme is conveyed through traditional circus skills. This recognisable genre could arguably be more akin to Variety as animals are rarely used in this type of performance, and traditional circus skills are blended with a more choreographic or character-driven approach. Compared with the traditional circuses of the past, the contemporary approach tends to focus more attention on the overall aesthetic impact, sometimes on character and story development, and on the use of lighting design, original music, and costume design to convey thematic or narrative content.
Olga Sidorova is a Russian-born trapezist.
René Bazinet is a German-Canadian clown, mime, and stage and film actor. He is known for his work with Cirque du Soleil, first as a performing artist touring extensively with Saltimbanco, and later as the clown act creator and acting consultant for the show as well as for Cirque du Soleil's 2011 production Zarkana. He has also starred in shows at the Berlin Wintergarten and the Circus Roncalli.
Mathieu Laplante is a producer, director, choreographer, and former circus performer. He was a world-renowned gymnast from the age of 8 through 15 before joining Cirque du Soleil. He has worked on stage with artists such as Michael Jackson, Peter Gabriel, and Janet Jackson. He is best known for his work with Cirque-style shows. He began performing with Cirque du Soleil at the age of 16 and directed his first Cirque-style show at the age of 26.
Krzysztof Soroczyński is an artist, performer, trainer, and designer who works in the circus industry. Soroczyński has been involved in the circus arts for almost five decades. He has worked with many companies, including Cirque du Soleil and Cirque Éloize and has collaborated with many people, including directors Franco Dragone and Daniele Finzi Pasca.
Erika Lemay is a Canadian artist, aerial dancer, actress, and author. She is a show director specialized in luxury events, and creator of Physical Poetry.
Le Cirque World's Top Performers is a contemporary circus company based in Italy.
Kaely Michels-Gualtieri is an American trapeze artist known for her work as a leading artist with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, often performing under the stage name "Electra". She is the winner of two Golden Flyer Awards as one of the world's leading swing trapeze artists. She won a Silver Ring, Russia's highest trapeze honor, in 2017. She is the youngest person ever nominated for membership in the Circus Hall of Fame.
Andrea Conway, also known as Andrea Conway-Doba, is a former Canadian gymnast, acrobat, actor, tap dancer and clown from Pointe-Claire, Quebec.
