Tech under the big top: computerized devices key to Cirque du soleil.

• Author: Schwab, Robert
• Position: High Tech Coloradobiz

ROBERT LEMOINE IS TECHNICAL OPERATIONS DIRECTOR FOR CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, the $500 million-a-year, ballet-and-circus company that has become the favorite entertainment of the nation's "creative class" in cities across the globe.

Technologically, Lemoine said, the hottest new toy to be employed in the Cirque's latest touring production, "Varekai," which opens a limited engagement June 3 in Denver on the grounds of the Pepsi Center, is its "man winches." They are computerized winches that let out and draw back cable, on the end of which acrobatic artists perform the Cirque's amazing dances, sometimes 35 feet in the air.

"'Varekai' has an aerial flavor to it, a dynamic ... that the other shows don't have," said Lemoine. "The other shows have static equipment hung with a limited area for the acrobatics. But with 'Varekai,' we've exploited a wider range of the aerial space under the big top." He does that with the "man winches," joystick-controlled by a technician who has rehearsed with the artist to ensure a safe speed and a precise performance. "So that the technician becomes an integral part of the artistic number as much as the artist on stage," said Lemoine.

The Cirque's technical-operations director is one of about 700 workers under the supervision of Luc Plamondon, vice president of production for the Cirque for the past five years. In Denver, about 30 production workers, including a computer-network technician, will accompany the touring company of about 155. The others include 55 to 57 artists, administrative staff, electricians, welders, plumbers, schoolteachers, even marketing professionals. Cirque officials don't disclose operating expenses of a touring production, but initial development costs for a touring show range from $12 million...