MONTREAL (AFP) — Canadian acrobatic troupe Cirque du Soleil, created in 1984 and now performing in all corners of the world, is celebrating its silver anniversary with the launch of its 25th show "Ovo," about insects.

The circus company, with 19 traveling and permanent shows now playing, sold 11 million tickets worldwide last year and has brought wonder and delight to almost 90 million spectators in over 200 cities on five continents since 1984.

What started as a ragtag group of 20 street performers has blossomed into a global entertainment empire with an estimated net worth of three billion dollars and 4,000 employees in 40 countries.

Founded by former fire-eater Guy Laliberte, whose idea to transform circus acrobatics into sensational, plot-driven theatre has revolutionized this sector of the entertainment industry, it has however always remained true to its root

The performers originate from n...

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Ocean City, Maryland city council passed a resolution limiting it's boardwalk buskers and street performers to two pitches "so everybody can co-exist a little bit better", said Mayor Rick Meehan. The performers lobbied against the the ordinance which would keep them away from store-fronts and benches.

In a written statement that was evidently read to the council, "If it is the intention of the council to eliminate street performing, then I urge them to pass this new ordinance", said busker Alexander Osborn whose reverse-psychology probably didn't help.

The law was passed unanimously by council members. The boardwalk is a well-known beach hangout and visited by over 2.4 million tourists a year. The performers were successful in making one change, however. They can...

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Almost 100 street performers and buskers auditioned for 3 minutes each for a spot in this summer's Grate Performances series in the Big Apple's Duffy square.

Billed as the "crossroads of the world", the Times Square Alliance events are scheduled to start May 28th.

Sadly, New York City performers are usually restricted to performing underground in the city's dark and dirty subway system. This time, however, they were allowed to perform in the sunshine and be viewed by the general public.

Revealing some fresh faces, there were some old familiar ones with even the Naked Cowboy "butting" in.

See a Daily News video here.

Hi
Just introduce myself, my name is Tim and I run group of fire performers called Juggling Inferno.

Buskers, buskers, buskers,

I'm a young guy who try to get money playing a little guitare and singing english, spanish and german songs with his French accent. (I confess that :"I'm french"... So excuse me if I don't write really well english !). I'm not a "true" busker, according to the definition some people have here or somewhere else... I'm a student and during my free-time I go to streets and I "busk" for a while. Since I've started, I've decided to put, near my hat, a paper or a board : Each time I change it. First, I wrote sentences like : Je n'a pas de talent- merci (I've got not talent-thanks), Je travaille plus pour gagner plus (I work more to get more -money- thanks), and then I've choosen to write sentences about politic or economic news.

In fact, people give money, in this way, for three reason :
First : they have pitty of me -and they give money because they just see me like a hobo. They are not interrested by my music or my message.
Second...

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