Artists perform at the Grove in Los Angeles on August 2, 2009 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Cirque du Soleil. The Cirque du Soleil is a Canadian entertainment company, based in Montreal, founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier. Cirque expanded rapidly through the 1990s and 2000s, going from one show to approximately 3,500 employees from over 40 countries producing 15 shows over every continent except Africa and Antarctica, with an estimated annual revenue exceeding 600 million USD. The multiple permanent Las Vegas shows alone play to more than 9,000 people a night. - AFP Photo[imagebrowser id=10095]