The Founders

A graduate from Montreal’s National Circus School, Jeannot Painchaud started his career as a performing artist, working with various circus companies and multidisciplinary artistic troupes for 12 years. He performed on stage as part of a trio, a duo and as a soloist, touring the world constantly. As a multidisciplinary artist, he was an acrobat, a juggler and an actor, with a specialty in artistic bicycle. In 1992, he won a bronze medal at the prestigious Festival Mondial du Cirque de demain in Paris for his artistic bicycle act.

He is one of the founders of Cirque Éloize in 1993. In the early years, he performed on stage, while providing artistic direction to the company. He left the stage in 1998 to devote himself to the direction of Cirque Éloize.

As the artistic director and director of creation of all Cirque Éloize’s shows in the last 17 years, Jeannot has known how to assemble the best designers and performers required to create exceptional shows.

In 2001, Jeannot staged the first version of the show entitled Cirque Orchestra which innovated by mixing contemporary dance, acrobatics and classical music performed by a live symphonic orchestra that was integrated to the show. The incorporation of other forms of entertainment to acrobatics is a driving force for Jeannot, and his vision has always been to assemble creators from different art forms such as theatre and contemporary dance.

2002 marks the moment he met Daniele Finzi Pasca, a director whose poetic style was an important influence to Cirque Éloize. He staged three of Cirque Éloize’s shows from 2002 to 2007, Nomade and Rain for Cirque Éloize and then Nebbia, in coproduction with Teatro Sunil, Finzi Pasca’s own company.

In 2006, Daniele Finzi Pasca and Teatro Sunil invited Jeannot to join the creative team of the 20th Olympic Winter Games’ closing ceremonies in Turin, Italy. As assistant-director, Jeannot was in charge of the ceremony’s acrobatic components.

Jeannot is also head of the special events department at Cirque Éloize, where he oversees the stage direction and development of tailor-made concepts for large-scale international shows, galas, corporate events, special television presentations, and more. Since 2009, he is also the president of the board of En Piste, the Circus arts national network.

With 24 years of experience in the new arts circus, Jeannot has made Cirque Éloize one of the world leaders in contemporary circus movement.

Having extensively traveled to more than 30 countries since he began as a street performer, he continues today his dream, to bring the world to discover the new circus art form. Jeannot is back to directing with iD, a truly dynamic and powerful show that will bring new ideas by mixing the world of urban dance, with the new art circus universe. iD is the 7th creation of Cirque Éloize.

A lawyer by training and a cultural events producer, Jonathan St-Onge joined the ranks of Cirque Éloize in 2001. Following a stint at the provincial crown attorney’s office, he began his career in the world of entertainment with the Just For Laughs Festival and its production administration department. For them, he drafted and negotiated various management, representation, production, and broadcast agreements for both stage arts and television. At the last Festival in which he participated he served as special assistant to the executive producer and among other things, represented general management at the Festival’s outdoor site. He then became involved in an artist management and show production and special events company for the next three years before taking on a full-time position with Cirque Éloize in 2004.

Since then, Jonathan has headed all Cirque Éloize operations and those of its affiliated companies, specifically as delegate producer of shows on tour, and special projects and events. He established a solid and effective organizational foundation enabling Cirque Éloize to respond to ultra-fast changes. He also supervises the activities of Gare Dalhousie, which is the Cirque Éloize Head Office in Old Montréal.

Jonathan received the title of Volunteer of the year in 2006 from the Association du Jeune Barreau du Québec after being active with the organization for several years. Since 2005 he has served as a member of the Board of Directors of En Piste, representing the Regroupement national des arts du cirque, with which he plays an active role, contributing to efforts to increase awareness of and improve conditions for the circus arts milieu in Québec and in Canada, specifically with respect to tax credits. He has been a member of the Cirque Éloize Board of Directors since 2008. These different activities have definitely not prevented him from being involved for several years with charitable organizations in Montréal, including the Sainte Justine Hospital Foundation.