Following film training in Montréal and mime in Paris, Michel worked in the entertainment field as an actor, acrobat, art director, stage director and electronics programmer. He divided his creative energy between the circus, variety shows and music. From 1985 until 1988 he was a member of the original Cirque du Soleil team, as artist, touring artistic director and stage director for the production Et la Magie continue in 1989. With his own company Zakuski, he designed, produced and staged circus and variety shows in Canada and Europe, notably Le Feu du froid (2002) and Fulgor (2003) at the Montréal en Lumières Festival, and La Reine et la perle (2006) with Natalie Choquette at the Festival d’été international de Québec. Between 1999 in 2007, he wrote and staged five shows presented by New York’s Big Apple Circus which toured the Eastern United States. Since 1999, in the variety sphere Barette has been a consultant for street entertainment and special projects programming for the Festival d’été international de Québec. Between 1993 and 2000, he staged shows for La Bottine Souriante, as well as Fiesta Latino (2002) and L’autre New York (2003) for the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, as well as Le Retour au centre de la terre (2006 ) with Rick Wakeman for the Festival d’été international de Québec. In contemporary music, he has staged, in particular, Mauricio Kagel’s Variété at the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal (1992) and at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre (1994), then Exotica, also by Mauricio Kagel (2008), Mike Roy’s L’Odyssée d’Alfred le serpent (2008), La Grande Tortue (2009), Histoire de gestes (2011), the latter with Sixtrum percussion ensemble.
Translation / Adaptation: Peggy Niloff [iv-13]