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Franco Dragone
Director
 Founder of DRAGONE, Franco Dragone began his career as an actor.
Today he is universally recognized as a critically acclaimed director
and a creative genius. Born in Cairano, Italy in 1952, Dragone
moved to La Louvière, Belgium, at the age of seven. A small
industrial town, La Louvière has been a focal point of
Dragone’s life.
Franco Dragone began his classical studies in the performing arts
at the Royal Conservatory of Belgium. From traditional theatre,
he turned to studies in street performance, the circus arts, Commedia
dell’arte and political science. While working on various
collaborations throughout Europe, Dragone refined his unique style
of blending the theatre and the circus arts. In 1983, he was invited
to choreograph the year-end performance of Canada’s National
Circus School. His work there led to his first commission from
Cirque du Soleil. From 1985 to 1998, Dragone’s creative direction
provided Cirque du Soleil with its unique tone, atmosphere and
soul. He is the winner of three Obie Awards and the Los Angeles
Critics’ Award for Outstanding Achievement. In 2000, Franco
Dragone gave life to a long-standing personal dream by founding
DRAGONE, based in his home town of La Louvière
Cirque du Soleil productions directed by Franco Dragone - Le Cirque
Réinventé (1987), La Magie Continue (1989), Nouvelle
Expérience (1990), Saltimbanco (1992), Mystère (1993),
Alegría (1994), Quidam (1996) “O” (1998) and
La Nouba (1999).
www.dragone.be
Yves Aucoin
Lighting Designer
 Yves Aucoin applies his talents as stage designer, lighting designer
and stage director to a widespread range of entertainment fields:
variety shows, circus side shows, musicals, theatre, and live
events. It is perhaps in the fields of music and comedy that Yves’
work shows an intuitive, sharper edge. He has worked with Celine
Dion since 1989 and has helped shape and capture some of her most
spectacular live shows. From "This is Celine Dion",
filmed at a show in Tennessee in 1997 (broadcast on CBC, national
TV station across Canada) to "Au Coeur du Stade", filmed
in front of 90 000 spectators at the Stade du France during her
last world tour and captured on DVD to the Millenium broadcast
of her final live appearance during the December 31, 1999 3 hour
spectacular, he has proven himself as a collaborator extraordinaire.
He has most recently worked with French superstar Garou on his
Canadian and European tours and his history shows an adroitness
at straddling both sides of the Atlantic as well as juggling entertainment
genres. Previous works include Romeo & Juliette, Festival
Juste Pour Rires and its sister festival Just For Laughs comedy
festival, Grease, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, "David
Foster and Friends" TV special, as well as tours for Roch
Voisine (Europe), Human Nature (Australia), Andre-Philippe Gagnon
(Las Vegas) and Julio Iglesias (World Tour).
Pavel V. Brun
Associate Director
Pavel Brun’s passion for performance began at an early age.
After a year at the circus school of the world-renowned Moscow
Circus, Pavel trained at the Russian Academy of Theatrical Arts,
eventually earning a Masters degree in artistic direction. Pavel
combined his academic studies with work as a mime, dancer and
musician, later turning to choreography with various underground
performance troupes in Russia. When his remarkable talents were
showcased at the prestigious circus festivals of Paris and Monte
Carlo, Pavel was approached by Cirque du Soleil and began a ten-year
collaboration with the Montreal-based company. For Cirque du Soleil,
he created aerial acts, worked as a choreographer and assumed
the artistic direction for the company’s productions in Las
Vegas. With an innate passion for all art forms and a unique ability
to combine various disciplines to create new and innovative forms
of expression, Pavel joined DRAGONE where he is now the artistic
director for all North American-based projects, including A NEW
DAY…
Brian Burke
Assistant choreographer/Dance supervisor
Brian was assistant choreographer during the creative process
and has become the resident dance supervisor. He is responsible
for preserving and maintaining the choreographic integrity of
the dancers and the musicians onstage. Throughout the year, he
brings in guest teachers for the dancers, and schedules acting,
percussion, guitar and other workshops to keep the dancers artistically
enriched. He believes the theater has always been a place to present
new ideas., provoke thought and allow the audience to go on a
voyage through reality and fantasy. Brian has worked with various
famous singers and has performed on Broadway in Elton John and
Tim Rice’s Aida and appeared in national tours of Fame-The
Musical and Victor/Victoria. He includes Tap Dogs, Inappropriate,
A New Brain, Steel City and the movie Camp among his credits.
Choreographer for the 2002 Winter Olympics Games, The Tonight
Show with Jay Leno, Penn and Teller’s Sin City Spectacular
and more than 60 industrials worldwide. He trained at the American
Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City.
Michel Crête
Set Designer and Projection Content Designer
A perfectionist by even the most exacting standards, artist Michel
Crête believes the greatest threat to creativity is satisfaction.
Michel Crête began his studies at Quebec’s Conservatory
of Dramatic Art when he was 27, and in 1985, began his career
at Montreal’s Théatre de 4 sous. With his talent for
set design, décor and costumes, Crête joined Cirque
du Soleil where he designed the costumes for Le Cirque Réinventé
(1987). Endlessly creative and non-conformist, he moved on to
prove that his true genius was in set design and he guided Cirque
du Soleil’s journey throughout the 1990s as a magnificent
theatre set replaced the traditional circus ring. Crête
soon found an accomplice in Franco Dragone and together they collaborated
on Cirque du Soleil’s evolution from Big Top to the over-the-top
theatres for “O”, Mystère and La Nouba.
Dirk Decloedt
Projection Content Designer
Dirk Decloedt’s extensive audio-visual talent and expertise
have garnered widespread respect and acclaim. From original concepts
to artistic direction and the myriad technical details involved
in putting together a show, Dirk applies his cultural and philosophical
studies, as well as his extensive experience and efficiency. His
flexibility and range of skills allow him to divide his time between
fashion, corporate events and the performing arts. Among Dirk’s
most illustrious creations — “This is not a fashion
show” for Natan Delvaux, Olivier Strelli and Kaat Tilley
(London), “Prêt à porter Walter Van Beirendonck”
(the Lido, Paris), “New Technology Summit” Bill Gates
(Brussels), “Designing the Future” Philippe Starck (Samsonite
Barcelona), “Siemens 100 years” (Brussels) and “Liberty
Dance” (Tunis). For DRAGONE, Decloedt was the audio-visual
designer for the Chapeau Europa show in which Brussels’ Grand
Place was transformed into a dream-like fresco for the inauguration
of Belgium’s presidency of the European Union (July 2001).
He was the artistic director for “Bois du Cazier”, a
spectacular projection and light exhibit presented in “Wallone”
region in Belgium (September 2002).
Claude (Mégo) Lemay
Musical Director
Claude Lemay (Mégo to his friends) was born into music.
From his childhood as a member of Canada’s Petits chanteurs
du Mont Royal, Lemay spent his teenage years in bands and later
studied music at the Université de Montréal. As
a young musician, he worked with Raoûl Duguay, Fabienne
Thibault and Richard Séguin. He also worked with Dalida,
handling the French music legend’s US and Canadian engagements.
Claude achieved widespread recognition during his 14 years as
musical director of the Juste pour rire festival. But it was Claude’s
stint with Quebec’s Granby Festival (where he directed 100
songs in only four days) that proved to be his major springboard
to success. That’s when he received a call from Celine Dion
that would change his life. For the past 13 years, Lemay has been
the superstar’s musical partner. Together, they have developed
the music for Celine’s many world tours and have shared a
passion for electrifying crowds of up to 80,000 fans. Claude also
applied his arranging and producing talent to Quebec star Linda
Lemay’s album Du coq à l’âme which topped
the charts in the French-speaking world for over a year.
Dominique Lemieux
Costume Designer
In an illustrious career spanning nearly 20 years, Dominique Lemieux
has proven again and again that her creativity and imagination
are limitless. After earning a degree in graphic and fine arts
from Montreal’s Concordia University and a diploma from the
National Theatre School of Canada, Lemieux went on to become an
illustrator. In the early 1980s, she created myriad worlds of
colorful characters for a number of children’s books, and
later worked with François Barbeau in 1986 and again in
1988. In 1989, while working on films, Lemieux joined Cirque du
Soleil where she spent over a decade transforming concepts and
ideas into amazing costumes for Nouvelle Expérience, Saltimbanco,
Mystère, Alegría, Quidam, “O” and La Nouba.
Lemieux has received widespread critical acclaim for her creations
and a solid reputation for creating the boldest of characters
under the sun.
Mia Michaels
Choreographer
Devoted to redefining human movement and motivated by her boundless
passion, Mia Michaels’ work touches the soul. From the stage
to the silver screen, Mia creates singular works of unique beauty.
Mia has choreographed dance moves for some of the world’s
most celebrated recording artists including Madonna, Ricky Martin,
Gloria Estefan, Jon Secada, and the artist formerly known as Prince.
Her film and television credits include Cool Women for AMC/Dreamworks
Television and award-winning commercials for Coldwell Banker,
Ziplock,the WNBA and Star TV. Through her critically-acclaimed
New York-based company RAW, Mia has been commissed to create works
for Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Jazz Dance Chicago, Oslo Dance
Ensemble, and Ryhtmek Lightbudy. Mia’s off-Broadway credits
include If These Shoes Could Talk and Fort Chaffee. Highly regarded
by her peers, Mia has also held faculty positions at prestigious
schools of dance around the globe, from Alvin Ailey in New York
to the International Dance Festival of Italy.
www.miamichaels.com
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