Cirque du Soleil suffers tragic loss of performer during show accident

MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada - Saturday, June 29, 2013.   In a yet-to-be-explained equipment failure, one of the aerial performers in Cirque du Soleil's KÀ fell about 50 feet from above the show's massive 3-axis moving stage into the forestage pit during the fight scene at the end of a performance.  The pit is nearly 4 stories deep.  Sarah Guyard-Guillot, 31, mother of two, came loose from her safety cable and disappeared into pit unexpectedly.  The show was halted, the audience informed that they could obtain replacement tickets for a future show, and were dismissed.  The show has been suspended indefinitely pending an investigation into the root cause of the accident.  Guyard-Guillot, mother of two young children, was pronounced dead at a hospital late Saturday night.  It is reported that her safety harness was intact with her costume when she was recovered from the accident site.  She was a trained acrobat and aerialist, originally from Paris, France.  She had performed in the industry for about 22 years.

Sarah Guyard-Guillot  1979-2013

This is the first performance-related death that the troupe has experienced in over 30 years of show production.*  Guyard-Guillot was one of the original performer's in the KÀ show when it opened in 2006, and had performed the show since then.

An extremely through and rigorous safety program is entrenched in the companies' culture, so this has been shock to those that work the shows in a tight-knit group.  Cirque's safety managers have been very transparent and informative by sharing their safety culture and knowledge at numerous industry events like the annual USITT convention, LDI convention, and UNSCA's Entertainment Innovation Conference.

The death comes at an unfortunate time for the circus, a reportedly $1 Billion (US) company which employs 5,000 people globally, including 2,000 at its headquarters in Montreal, Canada.  Cirque maintains around 19 touring productions in operation worldwide, yet has recently reduced it's workforce and is trying to reign-in its expenses.

Cirque du Soleil's founder, Guy Laliberté, said in a statement:  "I am heartbroken. I wish to extend my sincerest sympathies to the family. We are all completely devastated with this news.  Sassoon was an artist with the original cast of KÀ since 2006 and has been an integral part of our Cirque du Soleil tight family. We are reminded, with great humility and respect, how extraordinary our artists are each and every night. Our focus now is to support each other as a family. " 

A thorough write-up about this incident can be found at Jim Hutchison's Jim On Light site:
www.jimonlight.com/2013/07/01/tragedy-at-ka-in-las-vegas-sarah-guyard-guillot-falls-to-her-death-during-final-fight-scene

Local news coverage:
www.kctv5.com/story/22726807/spectator-on-cirque-death-i-thought-there-was-a-net

www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/kats-report/2013/jun/30/cirque-suffers-another-accident-artist-falls-ka-mg

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* In 2009, a Cirque performer died in Montreal after sustaining head injuries from falling off a trampoline during training. Oleksandr Zhurov, who was 24, hailed from the Ukraine and was known as Sacha. There also have been several injuries during Cirque performances in the last decade. Actors have been hurt during performances of "Zumanity" in Las Vegas, Nevada; "Corteo" in Portland, Oregon; and "La Nouba" in Orlando, Florida.

The same night as the deadly fall during KÀ, Cirque's newest show, "Michael Jackson: ONE," held its opening night performance at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. That production experienced its own trouble the previous week.

On Wednesday, June 26, 2013, Cirque reported that an acrobat taking part in one of the final preview performances suffered a mild concussion after slipping through slack rope in the show's "Stranger in Moscow" scene. That performer, who is expected to return to the production, missed a protective pad below the actors and landed hard on the stage.

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FOLLOW-UP

OSHA FINES CIRQUE DU SOLEIL AND MGM GRAND
FOR PERFORMER'S DEATH AND OTHER CONCERNS

2013-10-29  - Nevada OSHA has finished its investigation into the death of Sarah Guillot-Guyard, the Cirque du Soleil performer who fell 94 feet during the climactic scene of Ka on June 29, 1013 and later died.  OSHA determined that accident happened when the wire rope she was suspended from broke. According to the report, the wire rope “was severed due to the rapid ascent of the performer, ultimately causing the rope to be freed from the sheave/pulley and scraping against a shear point.”  OSHA officials cited Cirque du Soleil with six proposed citations and more than $25,000 in fines and MGM Grand with three citations and a $7,000 fine.  Cirque du Soleil and MGM are appealing the fines.

One of the citations for Cirque du Soleil includes a failure to “protect or prevent Ka employees from striking an overhead grid during the Ka show at the Ka Theater.” Reporting for the Las Vegas Sun, John Katsilometes wrote that “This matches reports from those familiar with the Ka staging and fatal incident that Guillot-Guyard did hit the metal grid over the stage as she ascended high above the Final Battle scene, which jarred the rope connecting her to her harness.” Katsilometes also reported that Cirque du Soleil will be appealing the fine:

    In a statement that also referenced Cirque’s internal review of the incident, [Cirque du Soleil spokeswoman Rene-Claude Menard] said: “Cirque du Soleil completed an exhaustive review of its safety policies and procedures in the wake of the tragic accident involving Sarah. We have redoubled our efforts to ensure the overall diligence and safety of our performers and crew. We have received and reviewed the OSHA citations. We have initiated the appeal process as part of OSHA’s administrative protocol. Safety always has been the top priority for Cirque du Soleil, its performers and crew members.”

On the KTNV website (www.jrn.com/ktnv/news/Cirque-du-Soleil-MGM-Grand-cited-in-KA-performers-death-229744241.html), Krista Hostetler listed the citations OSHA has proposed. They are:

Summary of Cited Violations

Cirque du Soleil:
- NRS 618.375 (1): A General Duty Citation was issued because the employer did not protect or prevent KA employees from striking an overhead grid during the KA show at the KA Theater. $7,000 proposed penalty.

- The first part of the General Duty Citation was issued because the employer did not provide proper training for the KA Battle Spearman Warrior employee involved in the accident in the use of equipment and tasks used in the Ka show, battle scene at the KA Theater.

- The second part was issued because the employer had a Fall Protection Program with construction requirements that do not apply to theater settings because the KA Theater is regulated by Nevada OSHA general industry standards. $7,000 proposed penalty.

- 29 CFR 1910.132: This citation was issued because the employer did not properly assess the workplace for hazards that required personal protective equipment at the KA Theater, including opensided floors, bloodborne pathogens and other potentially infectious materials, pyrotechnic dust cleanup, and not finalizing a hazard assessment for the performers. $7,000 proposed penalty.

- 29 CFR 1910.132: This citation was issued because the employer did not certify that a workplace hazard assessment had been performed and did not include the date the hazard assessments were conducted. $0 proposed penalty, grouped with the proposed citation above.

29 CFR 1904.32: This citation was issued because the employer did not include on the OSHA Form 300 Log of Injury and Illnesses, the object or substance that directly injured or made a person ill, which prevented a trend analysis and kept the employer from recognizing and conducting employee training involving recurring injuries in accordance with Nevada Revised Statute. $3,300 proposed penalty.

Nevada Revised Statute 618.379: This citation was issued because the employer removed equipment from a fatality site on June 29 before Nevada OSHA authorized the dismantling and removal of the equipment (38 feet of wire rope that was attached to the victim at the time of the accident). $935 proposed penalty.

MGM Grand Hotel & Casino:

- NRS 618.375: This General Duty Citation was issued because MGM Grand employees were exposed to hazards due to deficiencies in the Cirque du Soleil Fall Protection Program with construction requirements that do not apply to theater settings because the KA Theater is regulated by Nevada OSHA general industry standards.

- 29 CFR 1910.132: This citation was issued because MGM Grand employees were exposed to hazards due to the deficiencies in Cirque du Soleil hazard assessments for the KA Theater that included opensided floors, bloodborne pathogens and other potentially infectious materials and pyrotechnic dust cleanup. $7,000 proposed penalty.

- 29 CFR 1910.132: This citation was issued because MGM Grand employees were exposed to hazards due to deficiencies in the Cirque du Soleil hazard assessments because Cirque du Soleil did not certify that a workplace hazard assessment had been performed and did not include the date the hazard assessments were conducted. $0 proposed penalty, grouped with the proposed citation above.
 

Actor accidentally really hangs himself.

The celebration of Easter frequently has re-enactments of significant events in the life if Christ.  In this case, an Brazilian actor, Tiago Klimeck, 27, was recreating the suicide of Judas Iscariot as he hangs himself as described in the Bible in the book of Matthew.  This is part of a production of the play "The Passion of the Christ."  The event was presented on Good Friday in the southern city of Itarare, Brazil.

The actor just before the accident.

Klemick was wearing a fall protection harness and allegedly knew how to arrange the equipment under his robe costume so that the rope around his neck would not cause him any harm.  He had borrowed the harness from the local Fire Department on previous occasions, so they did not review the donning of the equipment with him.  Witness say he was hanging nearly four minutes before anyone became concerned.

Luiz Carlos Rosner owns a sandwich cart next to the city square where the play was taking place. He described the anxiety after cast members realized Klimeck was unconscious.  "One of the actors came over to me, desperate, explaining there was someone unconscious hanging from the rope and that he wanted to cut it," Rosner told TV Record. "I was a little worried about giving him a knife in the middle of the crowd."

He was taken down and rushed to the hospital where he remained in a medically induced coma in a medically induced coma for 16 days due to extensive brain injuries from a prolonged lack of oxygen.  He passed away in he Hospital Santa Casa de Misericordia, in the neighboring city of Itapeva.

The harness, along with the rope used in the play, are now being analyzed at the Criminal Institute of Sorocaba.

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No matter how confident performers and technicians are in setting-up stunt work, it is vital that pre-show rehearsals review the effect, the equipment, and the adjustments of the components to ensure performer safety.  It is also important to have a quick way to check if performers are in trouble.  In this situation, a discrete hand signal that would only be possible if the performer is conscious might have provided just enough warning to  a spotter that the effect had been compromised.  Ideally, the harness and rope system would have been reviewed to ensure that the relative tensions were proper.  Presumably, there was someone there to lower the actor to the ground after the scene, and this person should have had eye-contact and/or intercom communications with spotters, too. The search for a knife to cut the actor down indicates that there was no easy way to lower the performer to safety.

NO stunt is worth your life.  Plan, check, certify, evaluate, think of all the ways the stunt might go wrong, re-evaluate, check again, test it, and re-test it.

Falling Down on the Job

[Today’s Theatre Safety Blog post is presented by Guest Blogger and author Jenn Zuko Boughn.  She runs the Daily Cross Swords blog at http://bonzuko.com and wrote the book Stage Combat – Fisticuffs, Stunts and Swordplay for Theatre and Film.  Jenn is an instructor at Metro State College in Denver, Colorado, and her student-run stage combat club can be found on YouTube.  Further information on the subject can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Theatrical_combat]

As a stage combat instructor (and performer); I always say that knowing how to fall properly is probably the most important movement skill one can learn.  The main reason for this is that it’s something that shows up in plays way more often than actual fight scenes do, and therefore is very often not accommodated for by the hiring of a fight choreographer or specialist.  Yet, an actor can be seriously injured if she merely hurls herself to the ground repeatedly without knowing what she’s doing.

When I teach advanced stage combat, I use different language when we learn basic skills for live theatre (stage falls), martial arts (break falls, rolls) and skills that are more for film, i.e. stunt work (being thrown, air break falls, falls from a height).  These three categories of how to fall down are vastly different in execution and are meant for very different things.

Live Theatre techniques are built for the world of the stage.  This means that actors, not stunt people or people who have training, are doing the falling.  They’re doing the falling in real time, on a hard stage floor, and with no special effects or safety equipment to speak of (barring knee pads and the like under a costume).  Most actors are not tumblers or martial artists with years of training, and even if they are, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to translate their falling skills from padded mats to a hard stage seamlessly.  Alongside the safety aspect of falling on a hard surface, there is the need for the fall to be theatrical—that is, an audience needs to be able to follow the physical move, not be yanked out of suspension of disbelief in concern for the actor, and most importantly the fall must be in line with the character’s arc. It’s not merely a cool move, it’s part of the story unfolding.

In live theatre falls an actor (again, not an expert) needs to be able to execute the move with all the above, multiple times.  A standard run for community or professional local theatre is around a month for rehearsal, and a month or two of performances.  An actor must be taught techniques that will allow them to perform these falls multiple times, often in short time frame, without injury.

Martial Arts techniques can be useful to a certain degree when it comes to staged combat for stage or film, especially as a style choice, but in general, martial arts falls aren’t a great idea for the stage.  Break falls and rolls are ways to cushion the blow of falling without undue injury when engaged in actual self defense.  The issues that arise from translating this to stage are threefold:

1)      Actual combat situations are much too fast and small for a live audience to be able to follow.

2)      Break falls and rolls on a hard floor will cause minor injury — even if done perfectly by someone with many years of training.  When done ‘adequately’ by someone who just learned how, they can result in devastating injuries.

3)      Rolling makes the character look particularly skilled in a unique way.  It’s rare that one actually plays a ninja on stage that would have these moves naturally occur within the course of the character’s story arc.  In other words, the martial arts version of falls, including rolling, can help anyone save themselves from in a variety of calamities from stage combat mistakes to slipping on the ice, but it can and will cause injury to the non-master, and is not nearly as theatrically useful.

Stunt work is different than stage combat falling in that the moves are inherently very dangerous, many not even possible to do on a regular hard stage.  This includes any falls that catch air, or come from tumbling mechanics, anything that must land from a height (even just a table), or anything that can’t be done without elaborate safety equipment in place, such as crash pads.

Stunt-type falling is typically done by a stunt person, not the actor, and is not done in real time, but rather in small bits, with many takes to ensure the best reaction makes it into the film.  Stunt work may be done repeatedly for the multiple takes, but not repeatedly in the same way over time that live theatre requires.  Wires, pads, and other equipment are available to help with the safety of the stunt person.  These things don’t violate an audience’s suspension of disbelief because they can be hidden off-camera, edited out, or otherwise concealed.

The only time that stunt-style falling can be appropriate for live theatre is if the stage itself is built for such things.  For example, the Spider-Man or Indiana Jones stunt shows seen at amusement parks are made with crash pads, wires, sprung floors, stunt people as actors, and other efforts to make the live show that is centered around the stunts.  In this case, the very visible equipment is part of the audience’s expectations, in that the show itself is not as much an immersive story but a display of skill.

This type of show is a different experience than what one would see in most live theatre, and in fact some current Broadway spectacle-musicals, such as Tarzan and Spiderman: Turn off the Dark tend to come under critical scrutiny because it’s apparent to an audience that the equipment is pervasive and clunky (which takes the audience out of the action), or the actors are in constant danger (which in effect does the same thing).

If an audience member is distracted by either too much equipment function showing, or by a true concern for the actors’ safety, there is no longer a suspension of disbelief, and therefore the audience is not engaged in an effective theatrical experience.

For falls on stage that not only work theatrically but are also safe, a trained fight choreographer must be used in the early rehearsal process, to embed the physical moves in the play in such a way that the actors may do their work without fear, and the audience may enjoy the piece without concern for their safety.