EXECUTIVE EXCHANGE: The Inner Workings of Cirque du Soleil
Take a look behind the curtain of Cirque du Soleil and hear how the 8 shows in Las Vegas run on a day-to-day basis from a marketing to an artistic perspective. You have the unique opportunity to hear from an artist, marketing, PR, digital marketing and HR.
Ann Paladie
Ann was hired by Cirque du Soleil in November of 2001 as an Administrative Assistant for the Marketing Department through a temporary placement agency. Within 30 days, she was hired as a permanent employee.
Throughout her tenure at Cirque, she has held a variety of roles including Marketing & PR Coordinator, PR Coordinator, Assistant PR Manager and Senior Publicist managing the day-to-day operations of the PR team. Ann was promoted to Director of Public Relations in March 2015. She currently oversees a team of four publicists and acts as Publicist for the production of Zarkana.
Prior to joining Cirque, Ann worked as a manager for a theatrical merchandising company in New York City as well as part time in an off-Broadway theater box office.
A Minnesota native, Ann has a BA in International Business from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.
Mary Spees
Mary Spees is the Senior Director of Human Resources for Cirque du Soleil’s Resident Shows Division. Mary leads a staff of human resources professionals ranging from generalists to subject matter experts in all areas of human resources, including immigration, health and safety, talent attraction, compensation and benefits, workers’ compensation, and employee/artist relations. Cirque currently presents nineteen different shows around the world, and the Resident Shows Division Human Resources team is responsible for employees located in the United States, Tokyo, Macau, and other countries. Mary joined Cirque in 1998, and has held several different positions in the Human Resources Department.
Jamie Helmick
With a background in journalism and media studies from Rutgers University, Jamie Helmick has been working in media for more than ten years, with experience that spans both editorial and marketing.
Following graduation, Helmick joined the staff of the Home News, the community journalism arm of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Las Vegas Sun, where she covered several beats, including the state legislature, and won a Nevada Press Association Award for investigative reporting.
Looking for a new challenge, Helmick transitioned to marketing and copywriting with a position at VEGAS.com as a content developer for the entertainment and nightlife sections. While in that position, Helmick found an opportunity to pilot VEGAS.com’s social media presence, setting up the company across multiple platforms and turning the program in a customer service tool and revenue generator.
From there, Helmick parlayed these skills to become Cirque du Soleil’s first-ever social media and interactive marketing coordinator, joining a department that was less than two years old and helping to secure Cirque’s place among some of the biggest players in entertainment in the digital space.
Following a run as Cirque’s community manager, Helmick now oversees all digital marketing efforts for the Las Vegas and Orlando shows as digital media manager.
Pierre Parisien
As protector of the creative concept, it is Pierre Parisien’s responsibility to ensure that the artistic creation of Cirque du Soleil shows under his authority stay true to their form. A native of Montréal, Québec, Pierre is a degree-holder in Theatre, from the University of Ottawa. Before joining Cirque du Soleil in 1994, he worked as a director, artistic director, stage manager, production manager, actor and coach for different theatre companies.
His first steps within Cirque du Soleil were as the stage manager for SALTIMBANCO in Tokyo in 1994. Then, from 1995-1998, Pierre was Artistic Director for the touring show QUIDAM in North America. From 1998-2005, he became the Artistic Director of SALTIMBANCO, ALEGRIA and QUIDAM during their respective Asia-Pacific Tours.
In 2005 to 2011, Pierre was promoted to Head Artistic Director for the Resident Shows of Cirque du Soleil. He worked with MYSTÈRE at Treasure Island, “O” at Bellagio, LA NOUBA at Downtown Disney in Orlando, KÀ at MGM Grand, ZUMANITY at New York-New-York, LOVE at The Mirage, CRISS ANGEL BELIEVE at Luxor. He was also involved with ZAIA at Venetian Macau, ZED at Tokyo Disney and IRIS at the Nokia Theater in LA. From 2011 to 2013, he was back with the Touring Shows Division where he was overseeing ALEGRIA, QUIDAM, VAREKAI, KOOZA and AMALUNA. In 2014, Pierre moved back to Las Vegas to oversee KÀ, “O”, CRISS ANGEL BELIEVE, ZUMANITY and LA NOUBA. He works with over 350 performers, as well as the artistic, coaching and medical staff to preserve the creativity and artistic integrity for which Cirque du Soleil is known.
Terry Bartlett
Terry began his gymnastics training at the age of seven in England, and went on to earn a scholarship for training in Moscow, Russia.
Later, he received a gymnastics scholarship from Pennsylvania State University, where he earned All-America honors six times, and went on to obtain a BS in Physical Education and Business. Bartlett still had time to perform his duties as captain of both the PSU team and the Great Britain Men's team.
Over the years he participated in five world championships as well as three Olympic Games: Los Angeles in 1984, Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992. He served as Great Britain's team captain on his final trip. The younger gymnast pushed for a second showing at the '96 games but a broken leg ended his dreams -- he thought for good.
Having established a contact with Cirque du Soleil, the three-time Olympian showed up to his Los Angeles audition wearing a pair of baggy shorts and tennis shoes. He didn't realize the other hopefuls had arrived and warmed up hours before. After the standard gymnastic tests, the director asked auditionees to be stupid, adventurous, funny and jumpy. "It took me about five minutes to say, 'Oh, I can do this.' I always say that gymnastics for me was really a vehicle to join Cirque du Soleil," Terry said.
Sarah Davison
Sarah Davison started her formal training as a dancer with her mother in Toulouse, France. After multiple prizes on the National scene, she obtained her degree in dance and choreography from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Lyon at the age of 16. Sarah then started her professional career performing with several neo-classical and Jazz companies in France before she came to North America as an original cast member of Céline Dion’s A New Day. She continued to refine and broaden her experience in live theater in Le Reve and most recently as a cast member in Cirque du Soleil’s Viva ELVIS.
She has had the honor of being trained and work with many of the dance industry, in many styles such as Ballet, Neo-classical, Jazz, Modern, Hip-Hop and Ballroom. She also has done several TV appearances such as “Dancing with the Stars”, “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, “The Jerry Lewis Telethon and the “American Music Awards”. Beside her busy career on stage, she has been a producer and project manager of many events in the Las Vegas area, as well as teaching classes and workshops all over Europe and in the Las Vegas local scene. Now that Sarah is part of the Casting team, she can offer her expertise to artists who are joining Cirque du Soleil.