Tragic accident at Cirque du Soleil - Ka

[CraigMitchell]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/kats-r ... z2XjUAQkVB

Cirque performer falls to her death during the final battle scene.

"According to reports from audience members, the incident occurred Saturday night during the latter stages of the production at MGM Grand. Guillot-Guyyard was one of the artists suspended by a wire from the show’s vertical stage in the show-closing Final Battle scene. As she ascended to the top of the stage, she slipped free of her safety wire and dropped to the open, unseen pit below the performers."

Simply tragic ...

[Tom Moore]

I know that's what LVS are reporting as what happened but that cannot possibly be what actually occurred. The performers on the wires for the battle-wall are literally bolted in to the system (however much it may appear they're holding on) with so many safety procedures and precautions in place it's simply not possible for anyone on that wall to "slip off" their rope. These initial reports need to be taken with a huge pinch of salt.

It has sent a shockwave through the circus world though; despite tens of thousands of live performances (remarkably) cirque have NEVER had a serious injury (or death, that's quite a serious injury) during a performance in any of their 40+ different shows.

[Frank Quiroz]

Tom, i'm not sure what you mean here. Are you perhaps implying that this was not an accident?

[Richard Kaufman]

No, he's stating that the explanation of exactly what happened is bullsh*t.
It's more likely that the cause was metal fatique and something snapped.

[Frank Quiroz]

ahh i see, so they want to pawn it off as an error by the performer as opposed to faulty equipment

[Tom Moore]

"they"

Frank have you actually read the article? If you had you would notice that all the comments about what /apparently/ happened have come from the public/audience and unfortunately these comments are now being reported as "fact" in the media when in actual fact it would be completely impossible for what the public described happening to be what actually happened - hence my original comment that these reports need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

CdS have thus far made no comment about what actually happened; nor would i expect them to as there will now be safety inspectors and lawyer circling.

[Frank Quiroz]

read the article? yes, comments by the public? no didn't see any.
no need to take offense, perhaps i just misunderstood you.

[Tom Moore]

frank, FIRST LINE of the extract posted right at the start of this thread says - "According to reports from audience members......" then lists audience members saying that the performer "slipped free of her safety wire." Other publications are similarly presenting third-hand audience reports of what happened as fact when even the most basic research will show why what is being described could not have happened. There is no "safety wire" for the performer on the battle scene, there is their main hoist line (that's a very different thing) and the performers are literally bolted to it and the way they are attached makes it completely impossible for them to "slip" free of it. The only way for a performer to become separated from their hoist line is for the hoist line to break or some major metalwork to fail and even then there are secondary systems built in everywhere. Another possibility entirely is that the winch failed (And there's a lot of back-ups to ensure that's very unlikely) and that the line didn't fail at all but simply it spooled out un-checked. There's a whole host of possible explanations but the one thing we can say with absolute certainty is that she could not possible have "slipped free of her safety wire" whilst on the wall.

Yes, you have misunderstood and so far your misunderstandings have made out that I've implied "murder", negligence and grand scale cover-ups when in actual fact all I've said is that the current information that has been put out is VERY one-sided and inaccurate. Within the circus industry there's already "internal" reports as to what actually happened (as there's hundreds of other performers around the world trusting their lives to similar set-ups) and other shows are making adjustments as we speak. I would expect it to be weeks and possibly months before the battle-wall is re-approved for performance though.

[CraigMitchell]

USA Today have some infographics on the vertical wall & related setup

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/thea ... d/2481135/

"A Cirque representative, Renee-Claude Menard, would not discuss the open investigation. She would confirm only that Guillot-Guyard did not slip from her safety harness, as some initial reports indicated."

[CraigMitchell]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/thea ... d/2481135/