Cirque du Soleil makes its return to Gatineau

Cirque Du Soleil's 'Kooza' is here CTV's Dave Charbonneau gives us a preview of the Cirque du Soleil show arriving in Ottawa-Gatineau.

Preparations are underway for the return of Cirque du Soleil to Gatineau, Que. this summer, with crews raising the big top at the Zibi site.

"It’s the official arrival of Kooza by Cirque du Soleil," says Julie Desmarais, Kooza senior publicist.

Crews working hard getting ready for the new Cirque du Soleil show to open in a week, Kooza promises to be highly entertaining

"Kooza means box in Sanskrit," says Desmarais. "It’s a very high level acrobatic show with lots of funny moments."

Before you pack in the crowds, there’s simply a lot of packing. More than 100 poles to hold up the big top. And it doesn’t stop there.

"Two-thousand tonnes of equipment, 67 trailers, 2.5 megawatts of power to generate our site and to present our show," says Jean-Francois Raymond, site operation director.

It takes months of planning and about a week to set everything up, just in time for opening night next Friday.

"We have a total of 100 people that are working inside and outside of the big top doing operations," says Raymond.

Everyone here happy to be back after having to shut down some shows during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It’s just very exciting to feel the energy again inside the big top," says Desmarais. "People are excited, we are excited. And it really makes the shows even more special."

Kooza runs from Aug. 26 to Sept. 25 at the Zibi site in Gatineau.