DELVE INTO THE CAPTIVATING WORLDS OF MŪV
Two worlds, two colours, two scores, two thought processes... Two distinct realities, parallel and with no way of meeting one another... This is the scene you'll find before you as you enter the worlds of MŪV, the new Cirque du Soleil show in Andorra. Surprising acrobatics, modern costumes, musical rhythms known the world over, and a stunning stage design completely connected to the audience are just a hint of what awaits you in this 2022 edition
A VISUAL METAPHOR FOR THE UNIFYING POWER OF MUSIC
Equipped with their eternal headphones, the citizens of two neighbouring worlds are isolated from one another. Moving to different beats, they live in their respective bubbles and are completely unaware of the existence of their fellow citizens. Until one day, the Music Master, also known as the MM, decides to reunite the entire planet and get them to dance together to the same beat and the same music.
The members of the audience are at the centre of the action, with the MM using them as the catalysts for bringing the citizens of the two hemispheres together. Then there is the music – a set of musical hits from recent years, uniting artists and spectators in a celebration of the inspirational power of music.
The Scenic Environment
Designed to maximize the feeling of being right in the middle of the action, the stage space has been configured to provide spectators with an immersive visual and sound experience. In a modern urban setting, the acrobatic acts will be performed on a central stage in the stalls area, and on two stages located on either side of the tiered seating.
On each side of the hall, two neighbouring towns are erected, joined by a circular footbridge. The visual images surround the audience. The show’s electrifying universe is a place where the light shines on, both day and night. The graphic architectural style of the sets is inspired by the atmosphere of great modern cities.
The Music
The electrifying universe of MŪV will be accompanied by a musical framework with pop and rock sounds that invites you to move and dance, inspired by reinvented hits that will amaze the audience.
Besides their undeniable popularity, these songs have been chosen because of their lyrics, which will be used to weave the narrative framework of the show.
The Costumes
MŪV's rather eccentric state-of-the-art costumes are embellished with a touch of pop rock. Both groups of city dwellers wear monochrome costumes in two or three shades drawn from the same colour palette. The inhabitants of the world of Flames wear costumes in bright orange and warm shades of red and yellow that reflect their playful and passionate image.
In the world of Horizon, the people wear turquoise combined with pastel tones that echo their light, airy nature.
The Lighting
The lighting, which constantly showcases the artists, gives a theatrical, operatic feel to the sets, as well as being reminiscent of the pulsating vibe of a dazzling nightclub.
In perfect harmony with the musical themes and rhythms, the landscape of light takes on a truly narrative dimension thanks to the colours, the intensity and the energy.
ACROBATICS AND CHOREOGRAPHY OF THE PERFORMANCE
IIt is the artists who will breathe life into this urban fable. The show will feature a mix of skateboarding, pole dancing and bungee jumping, slackline and parallel bars, with a strong focus on break dancing and hip-hop choreography.
DISCOVER MŪV’S CREATIVE TEAM
Thank you to the whole of the creative team, the production team and to the artists that have put all of their passion, creativity and talent into this new exclusive event of the Cirque du Soleil in Andorra, which promises to be as festive as it is fascinating.
GENEVIÈVE DORIO COUPAL
Show Director
MARIE-HÉLÈNE DELAGE
Director of Creation, Events
MIKKI KUNTTU
Set and Lighting Designer
MIODRAG GUBERNIC
Costume Designer
EDESIA MORENO BARATA
Acrobatic Performance Designer
PETER CHU
Choreographer
BANX & RANX
Musical director
ALAIN JENKINS
Props Designer
HEIDI DOUCET
Make up Designer
LOUIS BOND
Hairstylist
GENEVIÈVE DORIO COUPAL
Geneviève Dorion-Coupal is known in artistic circles here and abroad. From Las Vegas to Moscow, by way of Montréal, Las Vegas, Paris, Cairo, and Warsaw, she has showcased artistic talent in ever-more spectacular productions. These creative challenges drive her to aim above and beyond fads.
Passionate, committed, and masterful, she is a reference in the arts. As creative as she is versatile, Geneviève is never shy to step off the beaten path in search of professional renewal or to work with a broad range of stakeholders to guarantee a production’s operational and artistic success. Encompassing theatre, television, film and advertising, her skills are as varied as choreography, artistic direction, and stage direction.
Genevieve has led creation teams for music performances of Celine Dion, several musicals including Les Misérables, Grease, Chicago, worked with multiple shows of 7 Fingers, TV shows such as Star Academy, So You Think You Can Dance, The Voice, The MaskED Singer, special event of the 2010 Winter Olympics, some multimedia performances with Moment Factory and lots of creations of Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas (The Beatles LOVE), Montreal (Crystal), or around the world including in Saudi Arabia in 2018 and 2022.
Her diverse background and shows abroad have led her to hone her skills in effective multicultural and interdisciplinary team management. As a people-person, she is skillful in building trusting relationships with artists, creators, and partners, bringing out the best in each. Focused on getting results, Geneviève stands apart by her ability to showcase talent and turn visions and imagination into reality.
MARIE-HÉLÈNE DELAGE
Marie-Hélène joined Cirque du Soleil in 2001 and has accumulated various experiences both on tour and as part of the Creation team. In 2016, Marie-Hélène became Creative Director of Viaggo and Sonor for Cirque du Soleil at Sea and then Bazzar in 2018.
She collaborated in 2012 with Moment Factory and then joined their team from 2019 to 2021 as Creative Director on Terra Lumina, Oceana Lumina and Nightrise. She is simultaneously responsible for guiding the teams and ensuring the integrity of each project.
As Director of Creation, Events Marie-Hélène oversees the creations of Cirque du Soleil’s Events & Experiences division, from the development of concepts to the delivery of projects. Her artistic intuitions and creative vision coupled with a strong sense of collaboration and leadership are amongst her key abilities that she has been developing for the past 20 years.
MIKKI KUNTTU
Mikki Kunttu (FIN) is an award-winning lighting, set, and screen content designer for visual and performing arts, as well as live entertainment and television.
Mikki Kunttu has created designs for over 100 contemporary dance productions and National Ballets all over the world (Finnish National Opera and Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet and the Boston Ballet). In addition to dance, he works in music, opera, television and design.
His projects include Rheingold (The Finnish National Opera 2019); Swan Lake (The Royal Danish Ballet 2015); The Nutcracker (Boston Ballet 2014) and Eurovision Song Contest (2016, 2013 and 2007).
More recently, he has collaborated with Cirque du Soleil on various occasions: Alegria: In new light (2019), Vitori (2019, Malta) and FUZION (2022, Jeddah).
In 2006, he received the prestigious Bessie Award in New York for lighting design for Tero Saarinen and Akram Khan. In 2007, Kunttu received the Säde Award from the Finnish Association of Lighting Designers, and also the Koura Award for the visualization of The Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki. In 2010, MTV3 awarded him a Venla Diploma of Merit.
In fall 2022 Kunttu’s 50th birthday will be celebrated at Tampere-talo with a festival dedicated to Kunttu’s versatile career in performing arts, television, concerts and live events.
Photo credit: Kaapo Kamu
MIODRAG GUBERNIC
Miodrag Guberinic is a New York-based designer and artisan. He grew up in Serbia and graduated from the FPU in Belgrade with a BFA in costume design and graduated with an MFA in costume design from the NU in Chicago.
Mio designed his first Cirque du Soleil show in 2019 and MŪV marks the second.
Mio's designs have been worn by Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Scarlett Johansson, and Bianca Del Rio among others. Mio was also responsible for the creation of the iconic headpieces & armor for Madonna's World Rebel Heart Tour and has collaborated with luminary designers including Anne Roth, Gregg Barnes, Arianne Phillips, and Michael Wilkinson. He has created accessories for fashion campaigns for Estee Lauder, Shiseido, and specialty costumes, crafts, and puppetry work for the iconic retailers' windows of Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, Tiffany & Co., and more.
Mio currently resides in NYC where he owns the design company Mio Design NYC focusing on the highly innovative design and artisan projects, using the newest cutting-edge materials and technology on a wide range of Costume and Wearable Art projects. His costume artisan work has been featured on numerous Broadway productions including ones currently on Broadway: Frozen, Mean Girls, Moulin Rouge; TV shows: Mrs. Maisel, Halton, Saturday Night Live, among others.
Most recently he started sharing his experiences as a lecturer and guest designer with students of Harvard University, Carnegie Mellon University, Long Island University, Parsons School of Design, Princeton University, and Rutgers University.
EDESIA MORENO BARATA
Born and raised in Barcelona, Edesia started her performance career as an elite athlete with the Rhythmic Gymnastics Spanish National Team. In 1998 she was spotted by Cirque du Soleil, who recruited her as an artist and toured the world for 10 years with the productions of “Saltimbanco” and “Corteo”.
Since 2007, Edesia has collaborated as an Artistic and Acrobatic Coach, Acrobatic Choreographer, Acrobatic Performance Designer, Stage Director, Casting Leader and Event Designer on more than 40 different creations around the world with Cirque du Soleil, 45 DEGREES, Cirque du Soleil Events and Experiences, The 7 Fingers, Cirque Eloize, Cirque Dreams and Friedrichstadt Palast Berlin.
In 2020, Edesia became the Creative Designer and Artistic Director for two interactive night walks, “AGORA - Path of Light” and “ECLIPSE – Walk with light”, with Limbic Media company, and as a Co-Founder, brought to life a performing arts consultant firm, named SPARC intl.
For 23 years, driven by a contagious passion, a proven ability to produce results, and an audacious creative approach, Edesia has developed her career unique skills combining organizational sense, flexibility, respect, leadership, team spirit, and creativity.
PETER CHU
Born in the Bronx, NY, and raised in Cocoa Beach, Florida, Peter began his training as a competitive gymnast, later nurturing his artistry at Dussich Dance Studio. Upon graduation from The Juilliard School, he performed with BJM Danse, EZdanza, Aszure Barton & Artists, Kidd Pivot, & in Celine Dion’s Vegas spectacular, A New Day.
In 2008, Peter formed a Las Vegas project based dance company, chuthis., which showcases the work of Chu & his collaborators. Chu has created works for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Staatstheater Augsburg, Charlotte Ballet, Gibney Dance Company, Cirque du Soleil, Orlando Ballet Theatre, Giordano Dance Chicago, SYTYCD, New Dialect, SALT Contemporary Dance, HSPro, & The Juilliard School, among others.
Most recently, Chu created an evening length work for Staatstheater Augsburg, Germany entitled Left Behind (you) Right. In 2022, Chu will premiere creations for Paul Taylor Dance Company and his own company, chuthis.
BANX & RANX
Channeling the strength of their creative union, Banx & Ranx have surged to the forefront of popular music both behind-the-scenes as producers and in the spotlight as artists. Tallying over 2 billion streams worldwide and over 1 billion YouTube views, the Latin GRAMMY Award-nominated Montréal duo - Zacharie "Soké" Raymond and Yannick "KNY Factory" Rastogi - attribute their success to their collaborative style in the studio and their talent for infusing their signature ECM (Electronic Caribbean Music) sound.
From the moment they became an artistic duo in 2014, their chemistry ignited the career-changing experiences of producing, co-writing and collaborating with international megastars such as Dua Lipa, Blackpink, J Balvin, Ty Dolla $ign, Sia, David Guetta, Shenseea, Ellie Goulding, Sean Paul, Diplo, Major Lazer, Gorillaz and many more established artists. Multifaceted globally successful producers, songwriters and artists, Banx & Ranx are two of the most sought-after creative minds in the industry.
ALAIN JENKINS
Alain Jenkins is passionate about objects. For the past 22 years, he has been working as a Props Designer.
Alain has worked on numerous film productions in the US and Canada. He took part in the design of the Celine Dion show A New Day in Las Vegas and several productions by Franco Dragone.
He participated in dozens of worldwide productions by Cirque du Soleil in Quebec, Malta and at sea. He has been on the creative team of more than 100 plays and musicals including Chicago, Cabaret, Sweet Charity, Fiddler on the Roof, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Footloose, and Fame.
HEIDI DOUCET
Heidi’s interest for makeup goes back to her youngest age. At 10 years old, she began her first stage make-up for her dance troupe. Further to obtaining her diploma in artistic makeup from Collège Inter-Dec, and in teaching for professional training from UQAM, she has been involved in the makeup field for more than 15 years.
She has worked for several years in fashion beauty makeup, of which 8 years with MAC Cosmetics where she was part of the MAC Pro team.
Heidi joined Cirque du Soleil in 2017. Since then, she has collaborated on various shows as assistant makeup artist such as Stone, Juste une P’tite Nuite, Alegria, R.U.N., Joyeux Calvaire, VITORI and FIERI. She also participated as makeup artist to several events among which SKODA (Spain 2017), WORLD CUP (Dubai 2018), SAND (Saudi Arabia 2018), DOUBLE ELEVEN (Shanghai 2018) and BOCCA (Monaco 2019). Today, she masters the different facets of her talent, also working as a television set makeup artist such as STAR ACADÉMIE, OCCUPATION DOUBLE and LA SEMAINE DES 4 JULIE.
Heidi stands out particularly for her ability to integrate her knowledge of fashion beauty makeup to stage makeup. In both cases, thoroughness and attention to detail remain the main priorities of her practice.
LOUIS BOND
Louis Bond needs no introduction in the cinema, television and theatre world.
Appreciated by everyone for his contagious good humour, he has turned his passion into a profession.
He was attracted to hairdressing from a very young age. Right from the start, his practice was characterised by his versatility, audacity and unconventional approach. He soon began to work on photo shoots for Canadian, American and international magazines.
It was in 1998 that he broadened his horizons by working on the creation of wigs and hairstyles for the musical Notre-Dame de Paris. This contribution allowed him to make his mark within the field of theatre arts, leading him to work on multiple theatre, television and film productions.
The quality of Louis Bond’s work has earned him numerous prizes and nominations, including four (4) Prix Gémeaux (Québec).
Louis is still just as passionate about his work, and he continues to seek to innovate, never taking anything for granted. Perfecting his art and developing new techniques are a daily source of motivation for him.